Liszt: Piano Concertos 1 & 2, Sonata in B Minor (VRT Muziek Edition) Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort, Brussels Philharmonic & Enrique Mazzola

• Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886): Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, S.124:
• 1Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, S.124: I. Allegro maestoso (VRT Muziek Edition)05:38
• 2Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, S.124: II. Quasi adagio (VRT Muziek Edition)05:22
• 3Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, S.124: III. Allegretto vivace - Allegro animato (VRT Muziek Edition)04:14
• 4Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, S.124: IV. Allegro Marziale Animato (VRT Muziek Edition)04:28
• Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major, S.125:
• 5Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major, S.125: I. Adagio sostenuto assai - Allegro agitato assai (VRT Muziek Edition)07:38
• 6Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major, S.125: II. Allegro moderato (VRT Muziek Edition)05:30
• 7Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major, S.125: III. Allegro deciso - Marziale un poco meno allegro (VRT Muziek Edition)07:12
• 8Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major, S.125: IV. Allegro animato (VRT Muziek Edition)01:52
• Piano Sonata in B Minor, S.178:
• 9Liszt: Piano Sonata in B Minor, S.178: I. Lento assai - Allegro energico - Grandioso - Recitativo (VRT Muziek Edition)11:29
• 10Liszt: Piano Sonata in B Minor, S.178: II. Andante sostenuto (VRT Muziek Edition)07:14
• 11Liszt: Piano Sonata in B Minor, S.178: III. Allegro energico - Andante sostenuto - Lento assai (VRT Muziek Edition)10:40
• Total Runtime01:11:17

Info for Liszt: Piano Concertos 1 & 2, Sonata in B Minor (VRT Muziek Edition)

As a student, Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort won several piano prizes and was a laureate of the International Steinway Competition. He has performed internationally and can often be heard on radio and television, both home and abroad.

Franz Liszt (1811-1886) created an oeuvre of around 1500 compositions, written between 1823 and the end of his life. His best known repertory mostly dates from the period 1848- 1861, when the composer had stopped giving concert tours and had become conductor of the court theatre at Weimar. He was doing well and could invest the necessary time and energy in writing large-scale compositions. In that same period, Liszt also revised works he had writ- ten in earlier years (1839-1847), when he was the most celebrated pianist of his time and gave concerts all over Europe. For the most part, Liszt had composed these earlier works for his own use. As the greatest virtuoso of his time, he did not have to make any concessions as far as technical abilities were concerned.

When Liszt revised these earlier pieces during his time in Weimar, he did take into account that other pianists had to be able to play them and he simplified those notes that might pose insurmountable problems to others. At the same time, the composer, who was becoming more mature, discovered that he could produce more effect by using less notes. Liszt would continue this trend until the end of his life, by which time he cut back nearly all ‘unnecessary’ notes so only the musical essence remained. This essence is often very visionary, modernistic and always original.

Liszt was an innovator in every musical genre he tried his hand at. He broke radically with the traditional forms of the Classical era, in order to make room for the imagination. He liked extra-musical sources of inspiration, such as literature, a painting, a sculpture or a landscape.

Liszt introduced a way of composing in which a motive is developed by means of transformation. He experimented with unusual chords and unexpected modulations. This composition method was diametrically opposed to that of the conservative Leipzig School of Mendelssohn and Brahms. Liszt, as the founder of the New German School, paved the way for the music by Wagner, Ravel and Bartók.

Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort, piano
Brussels Philharmonic
Enrique Mazzola, conductor

Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort
Prize winner and audience favorite of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2007, Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort built a rock-solid reputation as a concert pianist. Since then, he has performed on international stages throughout Europe, Israel, China, South Korea, South Africa, Canada and the United States.

His extensive repertoire ranges from Bach to the present day and includes about 40 piano concertos performed with orchestra from composers like Bach, Mozart, Beethoven (the complete works for piano and orchestra), Chopin, Brahms, Liszt, Grieg, Ravel, Gershwin, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Prokofieff Shostakovitch,… with orchestras such as Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, Belgian National Orchestra, Youth Orchestra Flanders, Casco Phil, l’Orchestre National d’Ile de France, Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau, Kölner Akademie, Krakow Philharmonie, European Union Chamber Orchestra, Cape Town Philharmonic, Johannesburg Philharmonic, led by reputable conductors as Brossé, Herreweghe, Hrusa, Judd, Kochanovsky, Mazzola, Pehlivanian, Tabachnik, Varga, Weller, …

A passionate chamber musician and Steinway Artist, Liebrecht shares the stage with such lauded artists as violinists Ning Kam, Stella Chen, Tobias Feldmann and Timothy Chooi, pianists Severin von Eckardstein and Vitaly Samoshko, tenor Thomas Blondelle, cellists Hayoung Choi, Yibai Chen and Camille Thomas, and is a member of the Roeland Hendrikx Ensemble. He also forms a successful piano duo with jazz pianist Jef Neve. Many of these collaborations get an important place in his discography, which now counts 14 CD recordings and is internationally appreciated and broadcast.

His predilection for chamber music and passion for musical entrepreneurship also translates into his engagement as artistic director of the international festival “Klassiek Leeft” in Knokke-Heist and of the international “Piano LAB” at the Grand Commandery Alden Biesen in Belgium.

Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort perfected his skills under renowned pedagogues as Jan Michiels, Menahem Pressler, Russell Sherman and Elissó Wirssaladze, as well as receiving valuable advice from such exceptional personalities as Leif Ove Andsnes, Jacques De Tiège, Alexander Korsantia and Hans Leygraf.

Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort is professor of piano at LUCA School of Arts in Leuven (B). He is regularly invited for master classes – from Brussels to Cape Town and from Boston to Seoul – and is a much sought-after jury member at various piano competitions.

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