Báll Dávid piano concert

Just like the whole of Liszt’s work as a composer, this evening too is imbued with the impressive duality of devotion and virtuosity. The programme opens with Sancta Dorothea, the tribute paid by the deeply religious Liszt to the legend of the martyr Saint Dorothy who remained true to her faith. The sacred mood continues with the ethereal Ave Maria, followed by the contrast of two popular virtuoso pieces from the Paganini transcriptions. The No. 5 etude is a brilliant piano arrangement of Paganini’s 9th capriccio (also known as “La Chasse”), while the popular No. 6 etude is Liszt’s fiendishly difficult arrangement of Paganini’s best known theme. The whimsical capriccios are followed by the even more capricious Hungarian Rhapsody No. 14, with its highly rhapsodical changes of tempo, theme and mood; the forbidding mood of the beginning finally culminates in a lively verbunk. After the Valse impromtu, reminiscent of the lightest Chopin waltzes, the programme ends with Liszt’s Tristan paraphrase (Isolde’s Liebestod). It gives us an opportunity to marvel once again at the amazing way the “king of pianists” was able to capture with ten fingers the complexity of Wagner’s music and the sound of a full symphony orchestra.

Programme:

Liszt:
Sancta Dorothea
Ave Maria R.194.
Scherzo und Marsch
En rêve
Ave Maria
Bellini-Liszt: Norma-Reminiscences