Faculty Artist Concert Series: Ryan Behan, piano

Franz Liszt, Années de pèlerinage, Deuxième année: Italie.  

Forged in the crucible of extensive travels and profound introspection, Franz Liszt’s Années de pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage) extends an invitation to a spiritual journey, illuminating the mysteries of our souls and the Divine. Alfred Brendel eloquently depicts the evolutionary Liszt as man, composer, and perpetual revisor of his own work: “The first two (Years) combine a youthful directness…with the advanced clarity and control of the Weimar period, while the Third Year offers generous examples of Liszt’s late style before it shrank into fragmentary and enigmatic brevity…draw(ing) for their inspiration on a reservoir of diverse impressions – nature and musical folklore, art and religion, craving for freedom; above all, on poetry and literature… (Musical Thoughts and Afterthoughts).