Anna-Victoria Baltrusch - Liszt: The Organ Composer (2022) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Franz Liszt was not an organist. On the organ he never acquired anything like the level of virtuosity that distinguished his pianism; his pedal playing in particular remained limited. Nevertheless, Liszt regularly appeared at the organ, even during his years as a travelling piano virtuoso. His earliest performance probably took place in the Swiss city of Fribourg in 1835. In 1839 he played in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome, in 1843 in St Peter and Paul in Moscow and in 1845 in Mulhouse in Alsace. From his Wei mar period (1848-1860) onwards, the organ became increasingly important for him, partly because in Weimar he had the opportunity to meet and work with a number of Thuringian organ masters such as Johann Gottlob Töpfer, Carl Müller-Hartung and Alexander Wilhelm Gottschalg, and partly because he now returned to and developed his plans, dating back to 1834, to advance a reform of Catholic church music inspired by the Cecilian Movement. Liszt’s own religious disposition awakened in him early on the desire to receive ordination to the priesthood, which is why he was known as “Abbé Liszt” in his old age. In addition, it was here, whilst revisiting and increasingly devoting himself to symphonic orchestral works, that he became convinced that the organ, with its richness of colours and polyphonic possibilities, was the link between the piano and the orchestra.

Liszt’s own organ works can be divided into three groups. Firstly, we have the main works, which are almost revolutionary in formal, harmonic and virtuoso terms: the Fantasia and Fugue on the chorale “Ad nos, ad salutarem undam”, Liszt’s first independent organ composition from 1850; the Prelude and Fugue on the name B-A-C-H, which Liszt wrote in two versions between 1855 and 1870; and finally his Variations on the basso continuo of the first movement of the cantata “Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen” and the Crucifixus from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Mass in B minor of 1862/63. The second group of his organ works includes arrangements for the organ of his own or other composers’ works, such as the Agnus Dei from Verdi’s Missa da requiem, the Pilgrims’ Chorus from Wagner’s Tannhäuser, Mozart’s late motet Ave verum corpus, as well as movements from his own Symphony to Dante’s “Divina Commedia”. Liszt’s late organ oeuvre includes smaller individual works written for the liturgy, in which he ascetically renounces all outward virtuosity and where he, at times, restricts himself to the simplest spirituality.

Tracklist:
Disc 1 (46:46)
1. Prelude and Fugue on the name B-A-C-H, S. 260: I. Prelude (04:36)
2. Prelude and Fugue on the name B-A-C-H, S. 260: II. Fugue. Andante (03:01)
3. Prelude and Fugue on the name B-A-C-H, S. 260: III. Fugue. Allegro (03:50)
4. Prelude and Fugue on the name B-A-C-H, S. 260: IV. Fugue. Maestoso (02:33)
5. Fantasia and Fugue on the choral "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", S. 259: I. Moderato (04:26)
6. Fantasia and Fugue on the choral "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", S. 259: II. Animando poco a poco (a capriccio) (01:58)
7. Fantasia and Fugue on the choral "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", S. 259: III. Vivace (03:56)
8. Fantasia and Fugue on the choral "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", S. 259: IV. Recitativo (00:50)
9. Fantasia and Fugue on the choral "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", S. 259: V. Adagio (06:48)
10. Fantasia and Fugue on the choral "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", S. 259: VI. Un poco più di moto (02:32)
11. Fantasia and Fugue on the choral "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", S. 259: VII. Adagio (01:00)
12. Fantasia and Fugue on the choral "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", S. 259: VIII. Allegro deciso (01:12)
13. Fantasia and Fugue on the choral "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", S. 259: IX. Fuga. Allegretto con moto (02:34)
14. Fantasia and Fugue on the choral "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", S. 259: X. Allegro con brio (01:08)
15. Fantasia and Fugue on the choral "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", S. 259: XI. Vivace molto (02:33)
16. Fantasia and Fugue on the choral "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", S. 259: XII. Più mosso (01:39)
17. Fantasia and Fugue on the choral "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", S. 259: XIII. Choral. Adagio (02:10)

Disc 2 (39:50)
1. Totentanz. Paraphrase on the 'Dies Irae', S. 126: I. Andante - Presto (01:02)
2. Totentanz. Paraphrase on the 'Dies Irae', S. 126: II. Allegro (00:32)
3. Totentanz. Paraphrase on the 'Dies Irae', S. 126: III. Allegro moderato (00:30)
4. Totentanz. Paraphrase on the 'Dies Irae', S. 126: IV. Variation 1 (01:01)
5. Totentanz. Paraphrase on the 'Dies Irae', S. 126: V. Variation 2 (00:45)
6. Totentanz. Paraphrase on the 'Dies Irae', S. 126: VI. Variation 3 (00:40)
7. Totentanz. Paraphrase on the 'Dies Irae', S. 126: VII. Variation 4 (03:47)
8. Totentanz. Paraphrase on the 'Dies Irae', S. 126: VIII. Variation 5 (03:19)
9. Totentanz. Paraphrase on the 'Dies Irae', S. 126: IX. Cadenza (01:34)
10. Totentanz. Paraphrase on the 'Dies Irae', S. 126: X. Sempre allegro, ma non troppo (00:32)
11. Totentanz. Paraphrase on the 'Dies Irae', S. 126: XI. Allegretto scherzando (03:29)
12. Totentanz. Paraphrase on the 'Dies Irae', S. 126: XII. Allegro animato (00:57)
13. Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen. Prelude after J. S. Bach, S. 179: I. Lento (05:03)
14. Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen. Prelude after J. S. Bach, S. 179: II. Poco a poco accelerando e crescendo (02:02)
15. Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen. Prelude after J. S. Bach, S. 179: III. Quasi allegro (02:47)
16. Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen. Prelude after J. S. Bach, S. 179: IV. Recitativo. Lento (01:34)
17. Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen. Prelude after J. S. Bach, S. 179: V. Quasi andante (04:30)
18. Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen. Prelude after J. S. Bach, S. 179: VI. Choral. Lento (03:29)
19. Preludes, Op. 28: No. 4 in E Minor. Largo (Arr. for Organ by Franz Liszt) (02:17)


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