Liszt's organ works, like the Fantasie and Fugue on 'Ad nos', abandoned traditional polyphonic structures for a symphonic and orchestral style, incorporating virtuoso pianistic features.
Composer Biography
Franz Liszt's pioneering efforts in piano and orchestral music are so significant that they often overshadow his organ compositions.
Composition History
Liszt's Variations on 'Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen' originated from a piano prelude written in Rome upon receiving news of his eldest daughter Blandine's death at age 26.
Compositional Technique
Liszt's Fantasie and Fugue on 'Ad nos, ad salutarem undam' is a typical example of his monothematic compositional style, where an eight-bar chorale pervades almost the entire half-hour work.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Liszt showed a keen interest in the organ throughout his career, even involving himself in its technical construction.
Composition History
Liszt wrote his Prelude and Fugue on B A C H for the inauguration of the magnificent Friedrich Ladegast organ in Merseburg, built between 1853 and 1855.
Instruments
The organ used for this recording in Stockholm's Katarina Church was built according to the principles of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, a renowned French organ builder who developed the French symphonic organ.
