Liszt: Legende S.175 No. 1, St Francis of Assisi preaching to the birds (St. François d'Assise - La Prédication aux oiseaux)

Pierre-Laurent Aimard honours Franz Liszt’s 200th birthday (October 22, 1811) with his most ambitious recording for Deutsche Grammophon to date. In this extensive 2-CD set, Aimard juxtaposes a selection of Liszt’s works with compositions by Liszt’s contemporaries and successors who were inspired by the Hungarian composer. Recorded live in Vienna’s Konzerthaus over two evenings, Pierre-Laurent Aimard’s Liszt project is a pinnacle of the Liszt Year commemorations.

Winfried Bönig, appointed Cologne Cathedral organist in 2001, plays the two cathedral organs together from the new console “towards using the greatest possible number of stop combinations when both organs are played simultaneously . . . [the recording is] dedicated in its entirety to the Romantic symphonic conception.” The Klais firm of Bonn built a new “swallow’s nest” tracker organ of 71 ranks in the nave in 1998, and completed in 2002 the rebuilding and enlargement to 117 ranks the electropneumatic Choir organ which the firm had originally built 1948-56, providing a new console from which both others may be played electrically. Hybrid SACD Compatible with conventional CD players and SACD surround sound.

'Fever' is a powerful, impassioned portrait raised to the sublime by the magical sound of Claire Chevallier's Erard. A great collector of pianos, she lives surrounded by them; they are part of her daily world. It was after buying an 1876 Erard, Liszt's favourite piano, that she felt the presence of the great composer behind its very characteristic sound and found she wanted to make this recording.

This Chinese pianist studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. He continued his studies in Hannover. He has won many prizes and scholarships, including a silver medal in the International Vladimir Horowitz Piano Competition in Kiev. His Liszt recital includes Sonata in B minor and Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.

Liszt’s solitary sonata for piano (1851-3) is perhaps the summit of keyboard writing in the romantic period. Taking Beethoven's development of the piano sonata to its logical conclusion, and marrying it with the structure of Schubert’s ‘Wanderer’ Fantasy, Liszt created a towering masterpiece that consists of six sections, divided into sixteen, played without a break. These are interlinked with leitmotivs that develop, fuse together, clash with each other, and disintegrate over the course of the sonata’s half-hour span. It is an architectural masterpiece, and one of the most exciting works in the repertoire.

The Petrarch Sonnets date from 1838, and were originally for voice and piano. In the versions for solo piano they become songs without words, Liszt vividly capturing the sentiments of the original poem. Liszt composed two Legends in 1863, both dedicated to his daughter Cosima. Although originally for orchestra, it is the piano versions that have become the most popular. The one on this CD depicts St Francis’s sermon to the birds. It is a delicate and solemn piece, a world away from the turbulent sonata.

New recording made in 2008

Yingdi Sun won the prestigious International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in 2005, held in Utrecht. After winning the first prize he has embarked on an extensive tour of the Netherlands, Europe, America, South Africa, China and Indonesia He has performed with many of the world’s major orchestras, including the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra

He was invited by President Hu Jintao to perform in part of the festivities to honour the US President George W Bush during his 2005 visit to China