Schubert and Liszt

Franz Liszt was an ambitious and innovative musician, creating a radically new sound for the piano and ‘inventing’ the symphonic poem – using the orchestra to freely evoke mood, colour, people and places. Poetry was often his inspiration, and in his Dante Symphony he looked to the Divine Comedy, a towering literary masterpiece. Enjoy the vividly infernal, voluptuous and heavenly music of Liszt’s work as the Sydney Symphony Orchestra lead them through Hell and Purgatory and on to an angelic song of faith. Along the way they visit famous characters like the tragic Francesca di Rimini. A heavenly choir makes for a truly celestial finale. And Liszt wraps orchestral finery around one of Schubert’s great solo piano masterpieces, the Wanderer Fantasy, to create a kind of concerto. It’s a poetic vehicle for Louis Lortie’s dazzling insightful and pianism, in a concert that showcases Simone Young’s affinity for richly expressive music.