Word: liszt
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...piano contest between the two great virtuosos at the Princess Cristina Belgiojoso's, that spring of 1837, had been one of the unmistakable successes of the Paris season. The cream of society had crowded the princess' salon to hear famed Franz Liszt outthunder another darling of the day, suave Sigismond Thalberg. If she could enlarge the duel to a multiple piano exhibition, the princess thought, perhaps a goodly sum could be raised for the benefit of her needy Italian compatriots in Paris. So six of the most famous pianists of the day were asked to compose variations...
Chopin was interested. Thalberg agreed. Liszt's old teacher, onetime Beethoven Pupil Carl Czerny, promised to come from Vienna. The others were Thalberg's teacher, Johann Peter Pixis, Pianist-Composer Henri Herz and Liszt himself...
...musical brow somewhere between chin and navel. The first eight: Strauss's The Blue Danube (conducted by Leopold Stokowski); La Donna è Mobile, from Verdi's Rigoletto (sung by Caruso); Carry Me Back to Old Virginny (sung by Marian Anderson); Franz Liszt's Liebestraum (performed by the First Piano Quartet); Victor Herbert's Italian Street Song (sung by Jeanette MacDonald); Bluebird of Happiness (sung by Jan Peerce); Jalousie (performed by the Boston Pops Orchestra); Make Believe, from Show Boat (sung by Allan Jones...
Bartok: Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra, Opus I (Andor Foldes, pianist, with the Lamoureux Orchestra, Roger Désormierė conducting; Polydor-Vox, 1 side LP). Composed in 1904, Bartok's first published piece echoes some early influences, e.g., Liszt and Richard Strauss, but there is striking, youthful originality too. Hungarian-American Pianist Foldes plays' it (and the Fifteen Hungarian Peasant Songs and Sonatina on the other side) in a clean and fresh style. Recording: good...
...Going." Success as a composer first came to Berlioz when he was 26, with the huge work for which he is still best known, the Symphonic Fantastique. Franz Liszt, eternal friend of struggling composers, made a piano transcription of it, won more fame for Berlioz by playing it all over Germany and France. Eight years later, famed Violinist Nicolo Paganini knelt before Berlioz in public, to show his admiration for Harold in Italy, a Berlioz symphony which is almost a concerto for viola. More important for the impecunious Berlioz, Paganini made him a gift of 20,000 francs...