Liszt and Virtuosity - by Robert Doran (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

CO-WINNER: The Triennial Alan Walker Book Award, sponsored by the American Liszt Society 2023

A new and wide-ranging collection of essays by leading international scholars, exploring the concept and practices of virtuosity in Franz Liszt and his contemporaries.

In the annals of music history, few figures have dominated the discussion of virtuosity as much as Franz Liszt. A flamboyant performer whose hair-raising technical feats at the piano created a sense of awe-inspiring excitement andan icon whose star power radiated far beyond the realm of music, Liszt was, along with his early model, Paganini, among the first major performer-composers to define himself principally by virtuosity.

Featuring new essays by an international group of preeminent scholars, Liszt and Virtuosity offers a reevaluation of the concept and practices of virtuosity as shaped and defined in Liszt's multifaceted oeuvre, as well as a reconsiderationof Liszt's relation to other major and lesser-known musical figures, including Czerny, Schubert, Chopin, Brahms, Debussy, and Marie Jaëll.

Set in the context of larger trends within the fields of music history, musicanalysis, intellectual history, and performance studies, these capacious explorations demonstrate that Liszt's uniqueness and significance resided in his ability to transform virtuosity into a revolutionary musical force, pushingthe piano aesthetic to the limits of sound and poetic meaning.

Review Quotes

Doran has organized the collected articles thoughtfully. The early chapters help to prepare for the later chapters [so] the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. [The chapters] work together to impart a clarified understanding of Liszt's attitudes towards difficulty in piano music.-- "JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN LISZT SOCIETY"

The book brings together these insights by the world's most important Liszt's scholars and performers. [...] [This book] deepen[s] our understanding of the concept of virtuosity and of different approaches [and] re-evaluates virtuosity, specifically its given definitions and practices, through Liszt's own understanding in connection to his contemporaries--NINETEENTH-CENTURY MUSIC REVIEWS

There is a lot to think about in this volume. It is dense and rich, well researched, and thoughtful. Perhaps it is virtuosic in its own way, with its apparent casual command of fine detail. This is the kind of collection where single lines might spark new scholarship.-- "MUSIC & LETTERS"

This splendid volume dispels any lingering prejudices against nineteenth-century piano virtuosity and especially against Franz Liszt--often suspected of practicing a musical dark art. By casting new light on Liszt's singular virtuosity in essays on his instruments, technique, and teaching through to his revolutionary compositional aesthetic, the internationally distinguished authorship aspires to a level of understanding no less transformational than the work of the spectacular figure at center stage.-- "John Rink, Professor of Musical Performance Studies, University of Cambridge"