Liszt: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 66 – Mozart & Donizetti Opera Transcriptions
6/27/2025, 4 Tracks, 55:58
Featuring
Konstantin Scherbakov
Franz Liszt
Ferruccio Busoni
Did you know?
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Compositional Technique
Liszt's opera transcriptions were not mere arrangements; he perfected the art of selecting and presenting material to illuminate and characterize the opera, rather than following its plot sequentially.
Performer Biography
Konstantin Scherbakov's recording of Liszt's transcriptions of Beethoven's symphonies for Naxos earned the prestigious Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik in 2005 for the Ninth Symphony.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Liszt embraced the trend of opera transcriptions for piano, with nearly half of his solo piano works during the 1830s and 1840s comprising such pieces.
Composer Biography
Franz Liszt, a child prodigy, moved to Vienna in 1822 to study piano with Carl Czerny, and then to Paris in 1823 to give concerts and teach.
Performer Biography
Konstantin Scherbakov, the pianist on this album, is a Swiss-Russian artist renowned for his profound artistry and technical brilliance, having recorded over 50 albums.
Critical Reception
Johannes Brahms, a contemporary composer, considered Liszt's old operatic fantasies to represent 'the classicism of piano technique'.
Cultural Impact
During his international touring from 1839, Liszt's fame reached 'Lisztomania' proportions, with his deliberate cultivation of a stage presence representing the performer as hero.
