FRANZ LISZT CYCLE
A unique opportunity to hear virtuoso pianist Vassilis Varvaresos in the great Romantic composer’s first two suites of a set of three entitled Années de pèlerinage.
The first suite (‘Première année: Suisse’) was born of Liszt’s journey to Switzerland with his mistress and travelling companion Marie d’Agoult: they visited William Tell’s Chapel, listened to the Bells of Geneva, were moved by the beauty of Obermann’s Valley, and were enchanted by Lake Walenstadt. Inspired by the scenery, Liszt quotes extracts from Byron, Schiller, and Senancour. The second suite (‘Deuxième année: Italie’) is a musical recollection of his visit to Italy: he composes for a Raphael painting, and for Michelangelo’s Il Penseroso; he draws inspiration from three love sonnets by Petrarch, and from Dante’s Divine Comedy. Nature, painting, sculpture, literature, and music are united in two of the finest Romantic works for solo piano.
– Franz Liszt: Years of Pilgrimαge, Volumes 1 and 2
Vassilis Varvaresos piano