F. LISZT - Dante Symphony for 2 Pianos S.648

VITTORO BRESCIANI and FRANCESCO NICOLISI play the piano-duo version of the "Symphony to Dante's Divine Comedy" by FRANZ LISZT. The Dante Symphony consists of the two movements "Inferno" and "Purgatorio" which could be considered symphonic poems on their own. The 2nd movement concludes with the "Magnificat" that was initially supposed to be a third movement ("Vision") depicting the perception of the "Paradiso" from afar. Liszt was persuaded to focus on the musical description of "earthly" places such as the Gates of Hell and the Mount Purgatory from Dante's Divine Comedy alone, because it was seen as an impossible task to faithfully depict Heaven in music. The symphony was dedicated to Richard Wagner, who also convinced Liszt to drop the loud "St. Dominic" ending and instead finish the piece on the preceding pianissimo Coda. This trend of quiet decrescendo B major endings can be seen in multiple Liszt works such as "Bells of Geneve", the Sonata, the 2nd Ballade etc. According to his pupil August Stradal, Liszt himself felt that the pianissimo ending was the "only" right way to end the piece, which is why I took the liberty to cut the loud 2nd ending from the recording. Even though the duo play the version for two pianos, a Soprano/Alto choir for the Magnificat was fortunately included. The Dante symphony had a tremendous influence on Wagner and serves as one of the crowning achievements of the Neue Deutsche Schule. In my opinion, there simply cannot be a better musical depiction of Dante's and Virgil's journey through the different layers of Hell.

COMPOSER/PERFORMERS: 00:00

I. INFERNO: 00:09
II: PURGATORIO: 20:13

Paintings by Frederico Zuccari
Composer: Franz Liszt (1811-1886) - 00:05
Performers: Vittorio Bresciani and Francesco Nicolosi - 00:05

#liszt #dante #symphony
#pianoduo #franzliszt #ferencliszt #romanticmusic #pianomusic #piano #classical #classicalmusic #romanticism #composer #composition #composing #pianopiece #pianocomposition #sonata #symphonicpoem #dantesymphony #divinecommedy #richardwagner #wagner #programmmusic #newgermanschool #dminor

Video made by pianobern69