A documentary completed in the bicentenary of the birth of Franz Liszt: the extraordinary, highly eventful life of the great Hungarian composer, with the participation of Charles Rosen, Leslie Howard, Antonio Pappano and Evgeny Kissin.
"With Liszt, one no longer thinks of difficulty overcome; the instrument disappears and music reveals itself." This is how Heinrich Heine, the inventor of the word "Lisztomania," attempted to explain the huge power of fascination of the Hungarian virtuoso in the middle of the 19th century.
Well-know for being an egery in the Parisian salons during the Romantic era, Liszt also altered the general course of music history a lot. His music unquestionably influenced such diverse figures as Dvořák, Debussy, Scriabin, Schoenberg and Bartók. Stylistically speaking, his work is one of the milestones of our musical heritage, and had long-lasting impact on future generations. But the aura of the man exceeded his work. He also was a character of multiple identities, a daring traveller, a man disposed to love passions beyond reason, a devote capable of taking holy orders, who read Dante and Petrarch, admired Beethoven and Wagner...
A brief history of Franz Liszt, whose entire life could be resumed in this one formula – the title of one of his Major pieces for solo piano: Pilgrimage Years.
