Backstage: NJSO Celebrates Liszt's 200th
By Victoria McCabe
Exactly one week from today, one of classical music’s great visionaries celebrates his 200th birthday, and the following week, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra will honor Franz Liszt with a special program that features both of his piano concertos, alongside his moving tone poem Les Préludes. Music Director Jacques Lacombe says that celebrating Liszt’s milestone anniversary deserves a unique program: “Liszt was one of the first superstar performers—both as a concert pianist and a conductor, and of course as a composer,” he says. “I wanted to present his two piano concertos on the same program; it’s rare that you hear them together, so by itself it’s an exciting idea. “I also wanted to present Liszt as a composer of orchestral music, since he was such an important composer of program music and tone poems. To perform these concerts on almost the exact date of his birthday (October 22, 1811) is truly special.”
Pianist André Laplante, who joins the Orchestra as soloist for both piano concertos, is renowned for his Liszt interpretations. The Fort Worth Star Telegram writes that Liszt works are “perfect for a pianist with the flair and fingers of Laplante." Liszt was certainly known for his flair. The composer was a virtuoso performer who was perhaps the original rock star; considered in some circles to be the greatest pianist of all time, he was as well known for his good looks and star power as he was for his music. “Lisztomania”—a foreshadowing of Beatlemania, Bieber Fever and the like—took Europe by storm. Female fans displayed all the symptoms of true heartthrob hysteria, vying for his handkerchiefs and gloves, and weeping in his presence.
But there was much more to Liszt than his crown as European Idol. Laplante discussed Liszt and his legacy on the “Conversations with Keith” series at the 2011 Festival of the Sound in Parry Sound, Ontario. The French-Canadian musician says that it’s important not to pigeonhole Liszt as merely a terrific piano talent. “A lot of people come to Liszt with a kind of virtuoso approach, and there’s nothing poetic left, nothing musical left,” Laplante told the audience. “That’s why I play his music—it’s to show the poetic side of Liszt and the musical side of Liszt, because when he decided to compose really good music, he could sit down and do it. His writing for the piano is phenomenally good.”
“Everything Liszt composed was extraordinarily ‘pianistic’ [and very] well composed for the medium, because he was a great pianist himself,” Laplante says. “He was probably the first [composer] to treat the piano like an orchestra, after Beethoven maybe. [With Liszt,] it was like going from an ensemble to a philharmonic. [His music is] hugely orchestral, hugely colorful and very difficult by the same token.”
Laplante will bring his nuanced approach to both of Liszt’s piano concertos, which the composer penned to perform at his own solo appearances. The First Piano Concerto is flashier, the Second more lyrical; each has passages of great technical demands and powerful orchestrations.
Liszt’s symphonic poem Les Préludes, which closes the NJSO program, shows the pinnacle of the composer’s gift for orchestration. The introduction to the score for the Romantic work bears Liszt’s most famous musing—“What is our life but a series of Preludes to that unknown song, the first solemn note of which is sounded by Death?” In a single movement, Les Préludes sweeps through themes of great passion, conflict and tranquility.
The program keeps all the music in the same family. It opens with Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll; Wagner married Liszt’s daughter Cosima, making the former composer Liszt’s son-in-law.
Lacombe is looking forward to working with his countryman: “[Laplante and I] are both from Quebec, and we know each other, but this is the first time we will work together—I’m very excited.”
The NJSO presents Liszt the Pianist on Thursday, October 27, (1:30 p.m.) and Sunday, October 30, (3 p.m.) at NJPAC in Newark; Friday, October 28, (8 p.m.) at the Richardson Auditorium in Princeton and Saturday, October 29, (8 p.m.) at the State Theatre in New Brunswick. Classical Conversations begin one hour before the performances on October 28–30 and are free to all ticketholders. For more information or to purchase tickets, click here. Read extended program notes from Laurie Shulman here.
The October 27 performance is presented in part by The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey.