In the featured release below, virtuoso pianist Louis Lortie performs all three "Years" of Franz Liszt's Annèes de Pélerinage (Years of Pilgrimage), a work rarely recorded in its entirety.  The works were inspired by Liszt's travels; the first and second Years written much earlier than the final Year, written when Liszt was in his sixties, and at a time when both the man and the style of his music had undergone a vast change.  In Liszt's own words, the work was "written for the few rather than the many - not ambitious of success, but of the approval of that minority which conceives art as having other uses than the beguiling of idle hours, and asks more from it than the futile distraction of a passing entertainment."

Louis Lortie has made more than thirty recordings for Chandos, covering a repertoire from Mozart to Stravinsky.  His recording of Beethoven's Eroica Variations won an Edison Award:  his disc of works by Schumann and Brahms was judged one of the best CDs of the year by BBC Music, and his interpretations of Liszt's complete works for piano and orchestra and of Beethoven's complete piano sonatas were both selected as Editor's Choice in Gramophone.  For a limited time, take 10% off the companion titles below.