Franz Liszt: Songs

Although a prolific songwriter Liszt is not commonly regarded as a lyricist in the same way as are his contemporaries Wolf or Brahms. In this recital Keith Lewis aims to offer support for the contention that Liszt's songs are deserving of a more prominent place in the vocal repertoire. 'We must understand Liszt as the arch-Romantic who, like Byron, was an amalgam of all the passions, excesses and human frailties that are intrinsic elements of the Romantic artist. It is both the greatness and the critical failure of his music that its inspiration came from the heart before the mind, often as an almost involuntary outpouring of emotion that retains the indiscipline implicit in such acts of spontaneity.' - Virgil Pomfret