Liszt: Années de Pèlerinage; Deuxiéme année – Italie & Legende 1

If the legend of the ‘sermon to the birds’ constitutes a magnificent example of narrative art on the piano, for this way of expressing extra-musical ideas solely with notes the three series of Années de Pèlerinage would seem to be a salient cycle in Liszt’s oeuvre. These ‘years of pilgrimage’ contain a total of 26 character pieces, forming a kind of musical diary for Liszt’s years of travelling. After the very successful release of Volume 1 (C944182) the young and talented italian pianist Francesco Piemontesi takes care of the second part, “Italy”. Again, an impressive movie accompanies the pianist on his trip through Italy, on the traces of Franz Liszt. This DVD shows not only the beauty of the landscape but also interesting statements from Francesco Piemontesi about his actual recording (a film by Roberta Pedrini).