Liszt: Via Crucis

Featuring

Reinbert de Leeuw
Marnix De Cat
Collegium Vocale Gent
Franz Liszt

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Composition History

Liszt composed "Via Crucis" in Rome in 1878 while at the Villa d'Este, during a period of deep depression and loss of old friends.

Compositional Technique

For "Via Crucis," Liszt deliberately rejected orchestral colors, opting for a simple keyboard instrument (organ, harmonium, or piano) to accompany the choir, emphasizing economy and asceticism.

Compositional Technique

Liszt's "Via Crucis" explores atonality and uses unprecedentedly audacious modulations, pushing harmonic boundaries, especially for sacred music.

Notable Performances

Liszt's "Via Crucis" had its first performance fifty years after its composition, in Budapest on Good Friday 1929.

Composer Biography

Franz Liszt, after a period as a 'superstar' pianist, turned to a more spiritual life, receiving minor holy orders in 1865 and living the last twenty years of his life as an 'Abbé'.

Performer Biography

Reinbert de Leeuw, the conductor and pianist on this album, is a world-renowned musician in modern and contemporary music, having won numerous awards for his recordings.

Composer's Artistic Vision

In his later years, Liszt sought a radically new musical expression, free from earlier 'flashy trappings', aiming for profundity of soul and heart rather than immediate sensuality.