Word: lizst
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...plays are somewhat boring: a "Beethoven" Bayatelle which is just that, a piece of little interest revolving around an absurdly simple little figure; a pensive, delicate, yet only mildly competent "Schubert" Moment Musicale; a "Chopin" Impromptu in F Minor which is rather heavy and plodding; and so on through Lizst, Debussy, and Brahms, and over to the second side on which Mrs. Brown gives us an inspirational message before commencing what sounds like a series of second-year piano drills...
THIS IRONIC contradiction between supposed free will but actual determinism continues throughout. The first flashback's subject--the end of Lola's affair with Frantz Lizst--couls show her perfectly free (it's constantly filled, for example, with romantic music), and therefore like the heroes of Ophuls' early films. But Ophuls' static one-shots emphasize the separateness of the two lovers. Large objects in these shots' foregrounds express their estrangement. The characters' harmonious existence depends now entirely on their restraint, their good taste (Lizst, for example, being a musician). There is no exuberant, graceful triumph over surroundings; the first time...
Added to the primary ingredients in the current opus are: Lauritz Melchior as a tubby (what else?), good-hearted-but-tending-to-be-grouchy-at-first baritone; long (vintage 1900) skirts; an opera rustled up by California technicians from odd bits of orchestral music by Lizst and Mendelssohn and sung patently in English; Peter Lawford as a timid male debutant who calls a girl "darling" because it turns out she can speak Greek; and many others of lesser note...
...quite sure if it was Franz Lizst who was responsible for the beginnings of transcriptions, but he seems to have more or less instituted and popularized a custom which, although it has had its useful aspects, has more often resulted in "veritable prostitution of the art." The dear old modest fellow, not wishing to pass up any opportunities, Lizst emasculated and rewrote established works to suit Lizst, placed his name next to that of the rightful composer, and then went merrily about astonishing his audiences by playing the music, which had been absurdly bedecked by frills, trills, and what-nots...
...whether it hails from Vienna or the other side of the tracks. No "classicist" in his right mind would fail to recognize jazz, when well done, as art, deserving as much, if not more, respect than many of the patched-up things which, under the name of a Lizst, a Smetana or a Rossini, pass for "classical" music. It is up to the popular musicians to get over their inferiority complex, and work to give their style of music the place in the musical hierarchy it is potentially worthy...