Au bord d'une source

From solo flute to solo piano next, and we touch upon the towering figure of Franz Liszt (1811-1886). Endowed with skills almost beyond comprehension for his day, Liszt worked tirelessly to put technique to the service of greater artistic expression. In his youthful works, he may be forgiven for sacrificing a little too often at the altar of sheer virtuosity. Liszt was not always satisfied with those juvenilia. For instance, he made extensive revisions to the Album d’un Voyageur (1835) as it evolved to become the Années de Pèlerinage completed between 1855 and 1883. In the first year of pilgrimage, titled “Switzerland,” Liszt includes Au bord d’une source (Beside a Spring), whose main motive uses water as inspiration. The shimmering texture requires almost incessant hand crossing, not to mention flawless technique in chromatic scales, chromatic double-thirds, and various trills. Compared to the demands made upon the pianist by such composers as Beethoven, Schubert, or even the fleet-fingered Mendelssohn, Liszt’s requirements are unforgiving in the extreme.

(c) Jason Stell