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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

Composer of the Week - Brand

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Franz Liszt (1811-1886)

Composer of the Week: Franz Liszt (1811-1886): Episode 2: Trailblazer on the Podium

Franz Liszt (1811-1886)

Episode 2

Episode 2: Trailblazer on the Podium

Trailblazer on the Podium

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Franz Liszt (1811-1886), Trailblazer on the Podium

Donald Macleod focuses on how Liszt protected his friend Wagner as he fled arrest.

Donald Macleod focuses on how, once established in Weimar, Liszt protected his friend Wagner as he fled arrest and developed a unique style as a conductor.

Donald Macleod explores Liszt's symphonic poems. Now established in Weimar, Liszt protects his friend Wagner as he flees arrest.

In 1848, as revolution raged across Europe, Franz Liszt made the decision to walk away from his life as the most scandalous and brilliant piano virtuoso in the world - and settle down in the provincial German city of Weimar. Over the next twelve years he would forge a reputation as one of the most original composers of the Romantic Era - inventing a genre of composition that became known as the 'symphonic poem'. Liszt's new form of orchestral piece spun poetic or literary fables in music, evoking moods and images in its themes and harmonies, depicting heroes and villains, dramas and triumphs - a radical departure from the symphonic ideal of Beethoven and Brahms. This week, Donald Macleod presents a unique opportunity to hear all twelve of the symphonic poems Liszt created in Weimar - plus his final, valedictory symphonic poem, composed many years later, just before his own death.

As Liszt began to establish a reputation as a composer in Weimar, he also began to cultivate a reputation as an innovative and dynamic conductor. Liszt was diverted from his musical work by the travails of his friend Richard Wagner, who was fleeing arrest after inciting revolution in Dresden. Donald Macleod introduces the symphonic poems Mazeppa and Heroïde Funebre - both rarely played in the concert hall - as well as Liszt's take on the Orpheus myth.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Franz Liszt

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Franz Liszt with a rare opportunity to hear all 13 of his symphonic poems

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Franz Liszt (1811-1886)

Episode 2: Trailblazer on the Podium

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