麻豆社

Donald Macleod marks Halloween by exploring the dark and demonic side of Liszt鈥檚 life and music.

Franz Liszt was the original musical heartthrob - the most photographed man of the 19th century, who left a legacy of more than 700 compositions and in the course of his career made well over 1000 concert appearances. With his electrifying talent at the keyboard, he transformed the status of musician from servant to demigod. But he was also a man of complex character, who wore many masks and repeatedly reinvented himself. All this week, Donald Macleod looks at 5 faces of Liszt, uncovering key slices of his soul and identity.

Today, Donald explores Liszt鈥檚 lifelong fascination with death and demons and how that macabre obsession seeped into his work, infiltrating some of the most beguiling and terrifying pieces of classical music ever composed. Shaped by unsettling experiences in his youth and the influence of his idol Paganini, the black-clad Liszt was a goth at heart who would probably have been equally fascinated and appalled by the gruesome story of his own corpse.

Mephisto Waltz No 4
Leif Ove Andsnes, piano

Der Doppelg盲nger (after Schubert鈥檚 Schwanengesang)
St茅phane Degout, baritone
Ensemble Pygmalion
Raphael Pichon, conductor

Grandes 茅tudes de Paganini, No 5 鈥淟a Chasse鈥�, S141
Marc-Andr茅 Hamelin, piano

Totentanz, S126
Krystian Zimerman, piano
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Seiji Ozawa, conductor

La lugubre gondola II
Stephen Hough, piano

Funeral Odes, No 3 鈥淟e triomphe funebre du Tasse鈥�
麻豆社 Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Ilan Volkov, conductor

Produced by Amelia Parker for 麻豆社 Audio Wales and West