James Lisney Plays Romantics

Franz Liszt                          
Années de Pelerinage: Suisse S. 160
Chapelle de Guillaume Tell
Au lac de Wallenstadt
Pastorale
Au bord d’une source

Robert Schumann   Fantasy in C Op 17

Frederyk Chopin
Barcarolle Op 60
Polonaise-fantasy Op 61
Nocturnes Op 62

Chopin/Liszt Mädchens Wunsch

Schumann/Liszt  Widmung

Liszt
Années de Pelerinage: Italie S 161
Sonetto del Petrarca 123

James Lisney returns to St George’s following his acclaimed Endgame Series and Chopin recital, this time featuring the ‘holy trinity’ of Romantic composers for the piano: Franz Liszt, Frederyk Chopin and Robert Schumann.

Franz Liszt’s three suites of Années de Pelerinage are a summation of his musical style and places him in line with the Romantic literature of the period, drawing upon inspiration from Schiller, Byron or Senancour. In the first four of his journeyings through Switzerland, he evokes natural images and Switzerland’s hero William Tell.

Robert Schumann’s passionate Fantasy is at once an intensely personal piece (its genesis dates from his separation from his beloved Clara Wieck); and one that is also a public ‘monument’ to Beethoven (some ten years after his death).

Lisney returns to three sublime masterpieces of late Chopin before presenting three Liszt transcriptions of songs by Chopin, Schumann, and Liszt himself.

 “A breath-taking interpretation of some of the last works of the great composers.” Seen and Heard International on Endgame at St George’s

“I’ve nothing but praise for James Lisney`s piano playing; he combines velvet touch and wide range of colour with complete understanding of phrasing and dynamic shading. This is someone who can really give the mechanical box of wires and wood a singing soul” The Telegraph