Franz Liszt — From Poetry to Dance

Franz Liszt — Consolations, S.172
Six pensées poétiques
No. 1 in E major — Andante con moto
No. 2 in E major — Un poco più mosso
No. 3 in D-flat major — Lento placido
No. 4 in D-flat major — Quasi Adagio
No. 5 in E major — Andantino
No. 6 in E major — Allegretto sempre cantabile

Franz Liszt — Soirées de Vienne, S.427
Valses-caprices d’après François Schubert
No. 1 in A-flat major — Allegretto malinconico
No. 2 in A-flat major — Poco allegro
No. 6 in A major — Allegro con strepito – Poco allegro
No. 7 in A major — Allegro spiritoso
No. 9 in A-flat major — Preludio a capriccio – Andante con sentimento

Liszt’s Consolations and Soirées de Vienne offer two very different ways of looking back. In the Consolations, memory becomes intimate and contemplative; in the Soirées de Vienne, it is transformed into movement, colour and theatre. This programme follows precisely that transformation: from poetry to dance, from solitude to the salon, from the most intimate Liszt to the virtuoso capable of turning memory into spectacle.

The programme opens with the six Consolations, S.172, Liszt’s Six pensées poétiques. The title itself suggests something private: thoughts rather than displays, memories rather than declarations. The writing is remarkably spare, and often a simple melodic line or harmonic progression is enough to sustain an extraordinary expressive intensity.

The first two pieces, both in E major, establish an intimate atmosphere. The Andante con moto of No. 1 and the more flowing Un poco più mosso of No. 2 seem almost to emerge from speech and breath. The third and fourth move to D-flat major, creating the most suspended and introspective part of the cycle. No. 3, Lento placido, and especially No. 4, Quasi Adagio, reveal a Liszt capable of extraordinary restraint and an almost austere expressive control. Beneath this apparent simplicity, however, one can already sense harmonic ideas and gestures that anticipate the more radical Liszt of his later years.

The final two Consolations return to E major. The Andantino of No. 5 is lyrical and suspended, while No. 6, Allegretto sempre cantabile, brings the cycle to a more flowing conclusion. Particularly fascinating is the relationship between the two versions of the Consolations: the first generally features denser, weightier writing, while the later version, S.172, achieves greater transparency and intimacy. The Schubertian character of the final Consolation also creates a natural bridge to the Soirées de Vienne.

From this intimate world, the programme gradually opens out towards Vienna.

The Soirées de Vienne, S.427, are Liszt’s Valses-caprices d’après François Schubert. They are far more than simple transcriptions of Schubert’s waltzes. Liszt takes the language of Schubertian dance and transforms it through his own pianistic imagination, expanding the small gestures of the Viennese salon into something theatrical, virtuosic and, at times, almost orchestral.

The first Soirée, Allegretto malinconico, begins in A-flat major, but its melancholy immediately casts a shadow beneath the elegance of the dance. No. 2, Poco allegro, continues this world with greater lightness and animation. The atmosphere changes radically with No. 6, Allegro con strepito – Poco allegro. Its brilliance and rhythmic energy reveal the spectacular side of Liszt’s imagination: the pianist as interpreter, entertainer and magician.

No. 7, Allegro spiritoso, returns us to the warmth and elegance of A major. Finally, No. 9, opening with its Preludio a capriccio and leading into the expressive Andante con sentimento, seems almost to look back on everything that has come before. Dance becomes memory once again: Vienna is no longer merely a place of entertainment, but something remembered and transformed through Liszt’s imagination.

I have chosen to perform this programme on a reconstruction of an 1830 Pleyel by Paul McNulty because this instrument creates a particularly fascinating bridge between the musical worlds evoked by Liszt and the virtuoso piano for which the composer would later become celebrated.

A Pleyel of this period has physical and sonic characteristics very different from those of a modern concert grand. Its lighter action, clarity of articulation and distinctive palette of colours allow the intimate writing of the Consolations to speak with particular immediacy. The instrument’s ability to sustain a singing tone highlights the vocal character of Liszt’s melodies, while its transparency allows inner voices and subtle harmonic colours to remain perceptible.

The choice becomes even more significant in the Soirées de Vienne. These pieces look back to Schubert and to the world of the Viennese salon, a musical universe much closer, in period and sonority, to an early Pleyel than to the modern concert grand. On this instrument, the waltzes can retain something of their original intimacy and dancing character, while Liszt’s virtuosity becomes a transformation of the instrument’s possibilities rather than simply a pursuit of volume and power.

The programme therefore asks the Pleyel to move through different worlds: from the whispered poetry of the Consolations, through Schubertian memory, to the brilliance and theatricality of Liszt’s Vienna.

Rather than presenting Liszt solely as the revolutionary virtuoso of the modern piano, this programme seeks to explore the composer through the instruments, sounds and memories that surrounded him. The Pleyel thus becomes an integral part of the narrative: a piano from the nineteenth-century salon accompanying the music from poetry to dance, from memory to spectacle.

Julian Trevelyan

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Julian Trevelyan is a 26 year old concert pianist who performs regularly throughout Europe and in the UK. He moved to France after winning the 2015 Long-Thibaud-Crespin international competition at the age of 16, becoming the youngest prize-winner in the competition’s history. He has since won prizes at international piano competitions such as the Leeds, Géza Anda & Horowitz.

He has appeared as a piano Soloist with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, London Mozart Players & Worthing Symphony Orchestra in the UK. He has played with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Orchestre national du capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre de Picardie, Orchestre de la Suisse Romandie, Musikkolegium Winterthur, Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia & St Petersburg Philharmonic, NMA Academic Symphony Orchestra, Sofia Soloists, I Pomeriggi Musicali, ORF Wien, Danubia Obuda Orchestra & Baden-Baden Philharmonic.

Julian has made recordings with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the London Mozart Players and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. The first CD under the baton of Christian Zacharias was released in 2022 with the label ALPHA: Mozart’s Concertos Nos. 23 and 24. Further releases under the baton of Howard Griffiths will follow in 2025.

Julian is the assisant of Rena Shereshevskaya at the École Normale de Musique de Paris “Alfred Cortot”. He studied in London with Christopher Elton and Elizabeth Altman. As a teenager he was part of Aldeburgh Young Musicians. This fuelled his love for contemporary music, where he premiered new music every month. He cares about supporting female and living composers and is pianist and composer in residence with Ensemble Dynamique.