Franz Liszt: Petrarca Sonnets Nos. 47, 104 & 123

Daniel Heide writes: “This complete recording of Franz Liszt’s Petrarch Sonnets attempts to highlight the significance of his different versions of the three Sonnets 47, 109, and 123- possibly for the first time. Musicologists are baffled by the fact that Liszt wrote several versions of the same works. He even set the same texts to different music: not twice, but occasionally three or more times- an absolute exception in the history of music. This is both bewildering and rewarding: Liszt aficionados can embark on a treasure hunt through the scores. Just imagine our astonishment if Beethoven had modified his Piano Sonata Op. 13 in C Minor, Pathetique, several times in the course of his life, composing the initial movements each time in a different way while introducing new harmonic structures. That would have left us with three Pathetiques in parallel- a sensation!”