Franz Liszt - Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works (Leif Ove Andsnes)

Information

Composer: Franz Liszt

• Via Crucis, S. 53
• Consolations, S. 172
• Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, S. 173

Leif Ove Andsnes, piano

Oystein Stensheim, tenor

Olle Holmgren, bass-baritone

Mari Askvik, mezzo-soprano

The Norwegian Soloists' Choir

Grete Pedersen, conductor

Date: 2025

Label: Sony Classical

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Liszt’s spiritual music is both personal and universal. His inner search for transcendence and the connection to the sacred is very inspiring.

For me, Via Crucis feels like an encounter with Liszt’s soul – a man for grappling with the mysteries of faith, redemption, and human suffering. The work is remarkable for its avant-garde harmonic language and stripped-down textures. Equally fascinating is the emotional impact; this is as much a prayer as it is music, embodying a timeless message of compassion and transcendence. I am so happy to have had the possibility to explore this unique and enigmatic work together with the outstanding Norwegian Soloists’ Choir and conductor Grete Pedersen.

The Consolations for solo piano are like a quiet, tender conversation between Liszt and the listener, and in the “Andante lagrimoso” of the Harmonies poétiques et religieuses we feel the fragility of the human spirit through aching harmonies and tearful melodies. “Miserere, d’après Palestrina” brings us back to the chantlike beginning of Via Crucis, but this time the singing erupts into ecstasy, in a blend of reverence and Romantic intensity that has Liszt’s personal stamp all over it. — Leif Ove Andsnes