Liszt, a modern at heart

Le Regard Libre N° 64 - Jean-David Ponci

Child prodigy, piano virtuoso, showman, orchestra conductor, renowned teacher, famous lover, composer, entrepreneur, traveler... mystical from his teens onwards, donning the cassock at the end of his life. Too much for one man. But who is Liszt really? What characterizes him?

Unable to give a concert, Neuchâtel Conservatoire piano teachers Raphaël Colin and Emile Willemin released a video on May 9, in which they play three pieces guaranteed to be coronavirus-free. These are three four-hand pieces by Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt. We've already covered the first two in these pages, so let's take a look at Liszt this month.

On the face of it, Liszt enjoyed life to the full. At the age of twelve, he was a star on his first recording.