Liszt: Ballades / Polonaises / Trois Morceaux Suisses

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Franz Liszt (1811-1886):Ballades Polonaises Trois morceaux suissesThe power of ambition urged him on. A chaos of ideas fermented in him. He must have a world...in which he couldat the same time rule alone. Chopin had given romantic piano music a powerful impetus. He made use of it. Thiswas now his world. - The pianoforte the throne from which he exercised his creative might.Carlo: Liszt and French Romanticism.Wiener Zeitschrift f??r Kunst, 5th May 1838Born at Raiding, in Hungary, in 1811, the son of AdamLiszt, a steward in the service of Haydn's formerpatrons, the Esterhazy Princes, Franz Liszt had earlyencouragement from members of the Hungariannobility, allowing him in 1822 to move to Vienna, forlessons with Czerny and a famous meeting withBeethoven. From there he moved to Paris, whereCherubini refused him admission to the Conservatoire.Nevertheless he was able to impress audiences by hisperformance, now supported by the Erard family, pianomanufacturers whose wares he was able to advertise inthe concert tours on which he embarked. In 1827 AdamLiszt died, and Franz Liszt was now joined again by hismother in Paris, while using his time to teach, to readand benefit from the intellectual society with which hecame into contact. His interest in virtuoso performancewas renewed when he heard the great violinist Paganini,whose technical accomplishments he now set out toemulate.The years that followed brought a series ofcompositions, including transcriptions of songs andoperatic fantasies, part of the stock-in-trade of avirtuoso. Liszt's relationship with a married woman, theComtesse Marie d'Agoult, led to his departure fromParis for years of travel abroad, first to Switzerland, thenback to Paris, before leaving for Italy, Vienna andHungary. By 1844 his relationship with his mistress, themother of his three children, was at an end, but hisconcert activities continued until 1847, the year in whichhis association began with Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, a Polish heiress, the estranged wife of aRussian prince. The following year he settled with her inWeimar, the city of Goethe, turning his attention now tothe development of a newer form of orchestral music,the symphonic poem, and, as always, to the revision andpublication of earlier compositions.It was in 1861 at the age of fifty that Liszt moved toRome, following Princess Carolyne, who had settledthere a year earlier. Divorce and annulment seemed tohave opened the way to their marriage, but they nowcontinued to live in separate apartments in the city. Liszteventually took minor orders and developed a pattern oflife that divided his time between Weimar, where heimparted advice to a younger generation, Rome, wherehe was able to pursue his religious interests, and Pest,where he returned now as a national hero. He died in1886 in Bayreuth, where his daughter Cosima, formerwife of Hans von B??low and widow of Richard Wagner,lived, concerned with the continued propagation of herhusband's music.His friend Chopi