In a 1912 concert review, Maurice Ravel wrote, “are the failings in all Liszt’s works really so important to us?

Are there not sufficient strong points in the tumultuous, seething, vast and glorious chaos of musical material on which several generations of famous composers have drawn? Let us be honest. It is very much to these shortcomings that Wagner owes much of his declamatory vehemence, that Strauss owes his over enthusiasm, Franck his prolix sublimity, the Russian School its occasional harsh and picturesque style, and the French School the uncommon coquettishness of its harmonic charm. For all their dissimilarity, do not these writers owe the best of their qualities to the overflowing musical generosity of their great predecessor?” In his very personal attempt to rehabilitate the status of Franz Liszt as a composer of undeniable genius and influence, Ravel was decades ahead of his time. After his death, the Hungarian composer’s talent was quickly relegated – at best – to that of a skillful, charismatic performer who composed; and, at worst, to that of an egocentric charlatan who was nothing but a light-weight, superfluous composer. The fact remains, however, that during his lifetime, Liszt was considered not only the most successful and, perhaps, the greatest concert pianist of his day, but also a highly influential, revered teacher and composer of extreme personal magnetism and charm. Even the great German composer, Richard Wagner, said of Liszt, “Do you know a musician who is more musical than Liszt?” During his lifetime, Liszt’s two published piano concerti (in E flat and A Major) were tremendously popular pieces. Both works were composed over very long periods of time and underwent many revisions. Although there are early sketches which date from the early 1830’s, these two concerti were not completed until 1849. Liszt also sought out the assistance of his pupil Joachim Raff in matters of orchestration, but one is uncertain as to the extent of Raff’s input, considering Liszt went back and did even more revisions in the 1850s. While both concerti are highly influenced by the great French composer, Hector Berlioz, it is actually Ludwig van Beethoven’s E flat Piano Concerto (the ‘Emperor’) which seems to have inspired Liszt’s own E flat Major Concerto the most. Both concerti, for instance, open with a similar large cadenza and both have linked final movements. An even stronger feature of Liszt’s two concerti, however, is the concept (inspired by Berlioz and Beethoven, but realized in a totally different fashion by Liszt) of taking a single musical idea which then evolves and develops throughout the entire work thus creating an even greater degree of internal unity. To cite only one example, one need only recall the beautiful melody in the Quasi Adagio movement of the E flat Major Concerto which clearly evolves into the march of the finale. A masterful and innovative orchestrator, Liszt often gave prominence to various orchestral instruments – either alone or in small groups – thus imbuing each concerto with its own distinctive, individual character (such as the lyric ‘cello solo does so exquisitely in the D flat section of the A Major Concerto). As for the E flat Major Concerto, it achieved a certain notoriety for the composer’s prominent use of the triangle. It was even dubbed the Triangle Concerto. In an open letter written in 1857, Liszt defended himself with the following words: “As far as the triangle is concerned, I make no secret of the fact that it may cause offence, especially if struck too hard and imprecisely. There is a preconceived dislike and objection to the use of percussion instruments, an objection which is not unreasonable considering how often they are misused. Few conductors are circumspect enough to show off these instruments to their best advantage in compositions where they are used with due care, having regard for the composer’s aim to introduce a rhythmic element without the crude addition of a clumsy noise.” As for Liszt’s piano cadenzas, they are not simply pieces of improvisatory flights of fantasy, but were carefully written out by Liszt. In fact, they contain absolutely essential elements of musical substance (especially in the A Major Concerto) which provide vital transitions between starkly contrasting moods. The first performance - on February 17, 1855 - of the E flat Major Piano Concerto was a particularly noteworthy occasion. Liszt was himself the piano soloist with no less a figure than Hector Berlioz as conductor. As for the A Major Piano Concerto, it had its première in 1857, with Liszt at the podium and his pupil Hans von Bronsert as soloist. Carl Taussig, Hans von Bülow, Eugen d’Albert, and other such major artists, were all subsequent performers of the concerti in Berlin, Weimar, Prague, Aachen, Liège and Zurich during Liszt’s lifetime and in his presence.

In December of 1839, Liszt wrote his publisher Tobias Haslinger, “Be so good as to have Carl send to me in Pest as soon as possible the Maometto Fantasie, and three scores (accompaniment to three new piano concertos of my composition).” It is evident from this brief note, therefore, that the E flat Major Piano Concerto, Opus Posthumous, like its other more famous brethren, was composed before 1839. But whereas Liszt carefully revised the other two concerti in later years, the Opus Posthumous Concerto was completely lost and/or forgotten. In fact, as far as we know, the Opus Posthumous Concerto was never actually performed. It was only in the 1980’s, when an earnest young doctoral student from Chicago, Jerry Rosenblatt, while rummaging around archives in Weimar, St. Petersburg and Nürnberg researching his thesis on Liszt piano and orchestra works, discovered the various parts of the manuscript. As it turned out, the autograph score, which Rosenblatt subsequently pieced together like a puzzle, turned out to be complete except for two folios. In order to finish the reconstruction of the work, he had to rely upon a copy made of the entire work by Gaetano Belloni, who traveled with Liszt as secretary and concert manager after 1841. Although we do have most of the autograph score, Liszt put in absolutely no markings regarding tempi or dynamics, leaving this to Rosenblatt, as editor, and to the performer. Why the Opus Posthumous Concerto was set aside and never heard of again - until recently – remains something of a mystery. Although it is a very short work and relatively unsophisticated, in form it resembles Liszt’s other two concerti. With the brooding opening – with four bars of solo timpani followed by diminished chords played by the winds over the relentless timpani motif – one is immediately given the entire embryo or DNA of the piece. The orchestral writing is relatively sparse and – apart from occasional flashes of genius – rather uninteresting (particularly when the orchestra is accompanying the solo piano passages). The cadenzas, which act so brilliantly as transitional passages in the A Major Concerto, are less successful here, and the piece suffers from a lot of emotional stopping and starting. As in the A Major Concerto, the cello presents us with a magnificent solo during the middle lyrical section of the piece, and some of the technical writing in the piano part is more daring, innovative and more technically challenging than the other two. Reservations aside, the Opus Posthumous Concerto is a fascinating illustration of the youthful Liszt’s musical mind at work. But what a pity that it did not undergo a series of creative revisions – as Liszt did with his other two concerti. One can but speculate upon how magnificently the elder Liszt would have developed and improved upon the work had he chosen to do so. But that mystery remains. The work was given its world première in May 1990, in Chicago, with Kenneth Jean conducting the Chicago Symphony and myself as piano soloist. The honour of premiering Liszt’s Opus Posthumous Concerto brought me not only great joy, but also a certain number of rather unexpected perks. Liszt scholars and devotees from all over the world now sought me out in order to exchange ideas and views and to discuss our beloved ‘Abbé’. One of these delightful, quasi-fanatics was the President of the Liszt Society in France. It was because of him that I first heard of - and managed to obtain - the score for the Ungarische Zigeunerweisen, a delightful virtuoso tour-de-force on Hungarian gypsy tunes composed by not one, but two of our greatest composers. For over a hundred years, this piece was known and performed as a work of the German pianist Sophie Menter (1846-1918). Born in Munich, Menter was one of Liszt’s best pupils, and studied with him in Weimar from 1869. She subsequently taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia between 1883 and 1887, where she became friendly with Tchaikovsky. Liszt described her as “the greatest pianist of her day” and his “only legitimate daughter as a pianist”. She was at his bedside when he died in Bayreuth in 1886. Sophie Menter had another very close friend, also a pupil of Liszt, named Vera Timanoff, who died in 1941. It was to Vera that she confided (who then told the eminent Liszt scholar Professor Milstein, who then told my French friend Roch Serra, who, in turn, told me) that the Sophie Menter Concerto was, in reality, a piece composed for her by Liszt. After her move to Russia, it is alleged, she asked Tchaikovsky if he would provide an orchestral accompaniment for ‘her’ piece. Presumably she did not dare tell him that it was Liszt who had actually composed the work. Why? Perhaps because she knew Tchaikovsky loathed Liszt (“his music leaves me completely cold”, he once wrote) and it was well-known that he was not at all pleased with Liszt’s piano transcription of his Polonaise from the opera Eugene Onegin. Tchaikovsky, however, graciously complied with Menter’s request and for many years the piece was known as the Menter-Tchaikovsky Concerto, the whole truth being revealed only very recently. The piano part, if possible, has almost more Hungarian flavour than any other piece by Liszt. It is wonderfully rhapsodic, full of wild czardases and cimbalom effects, whirling gypsy melodies and rhythms, all of which accelerate in a breathless, thrilling race to the finish. While Tchaikovsky’s orchestral accompaniment is magically inspired and expertly woven into the fabric of the piece, it also gives the concerto an unmistakable ‘Russian’ quirkiness, which merely adds to the work’s charm and good spirits.

JANINA FIALKOWSKA, piano
Hailed as one of the leading pianist of her generation, the Montreal-born pianist, Janina Fialkowska, has been recognized for her exceptional artistry with enthusiastic accolades worldwide. Celebrated for her interpretations of the classical and romantic repertoire, she is particularly distinguished as one of the great interpreters of the works of Chopin and Liszt. She has also won special recognition for a series of important premières, most notably the world premiere performance of the recently discovered Liszt Piano Concerto, Opus Posthumous, with the Chicago Symphony, in May 1990. Janina Fialkowska appears regularly with the foremost American and European orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Scottish National Orchestra, Bonn Philharmonic, Halle Orchestra and the Warsaw Philharmonic. She has also performed with the Israel Philharmonic and the Hong Kong Philharmonic, as well as with all the major Canadian orchestras. A prodigeous recitalist, Janina Fialkowska is also a founding member of the Wolfville International Piano Festival and of Piano Six, a group of internationally renowned Canadian pianists who are committed to a ten year program that will bring important – but affordable – recitals to remote areas throughout Canada where classical music performances are a rarity.

CALGARY PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra is considered one of the best and most versatile orchestras in Canada. Except for a brief interruption between the two world wars, there has been a symphony orchestra in Calgary since 1910. The present day orchestra was formed in 1955. The CPO moved into the new Jubilee Auditorium in 1957. In 1985, the CPO found a new home in the Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary’s Centre for the Performing Arts. Besides an extensive schedule of concerts at the Jack Singer, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra also performs as the resident orchestra for both the Calgary Opera and Alberta Ballet. The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra has toured western and central Canada and the eastern United States. Hans Graf was appointed Music Director and Principal Conductor of the CPO in 1994. In 1997, Bramwell Tovey was named Principal Guest Conductor. Rolf Bertsch was named the CPO’s Resident Conductor in 1999. Mario Bernardi has been Conductor Laureate of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra since he stepped down as Music Director of the orchestra.

HANS GRAF, conductor
Born in Austria, Hans Graf studied conducting in Austria and Russia and attended masterclasses with such distinguished teachers as Franco Ferrara, Sergiu Celebidache and Arvid Jansons. In 1979, he won first prize at the Karl Böhm Competition. Hans Graf has conducted major orchestras such as the Boston Symphony, Vienna Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, NHK Symphony (Tokyo), St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic. He has also appeared at major international festivals including Aspen, Mostly Mozart (Lincoln Center), Aix-en-Provence, Salzburg, Bregenz, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Savonlinna. Prior to becoming involved with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra in 1995, Maestro Graf served as Music Director of the Mozarteum Orchestra and the Landestheater in Salzburg (1984-1994). In October 1997, he extended his contract with the CPO until the end of the 1999-2000 season. He is also the Music Director of Opera and the Orchestre National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine (ONBA). Maestro Graf’s first recording with CBC Records was the Juno-nominated Nights in the Gardens of Spain (SMCD 5195). He has also recorded for EMI, Erato, JVC and, for Capriccio, the complete symphonies of Mozart and Zemlinsky’s Es war einmal.