Franz Liszt: 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139 Mélodie Zhao

• Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886): 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139:
• 1 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: I. Preludio 00:57
• 2 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: II. Molto vivace 02:14
• 3 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: III. Paysage 04:56
• 4 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: IV. Mazeppa 07:06
• 5 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: V. Feux follets 03:37
• 6 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: VI. Vision 05:31
• 7 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: VII. Eroica 04:46
• 8 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: VIII. Wilde Jagd 05:17
• 9 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: IX. Ricordanza 10:12
• 10 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: X. Allegro agitato 04:54
• 11 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: XI. Harmonies du soir 10:00
• 12 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: XII. Chasse-Neige 05:22
• Total Runtime 01:04:52

Info zu Franz Liszt: 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139

Has there ever been a musician as praised and as pilloried as Franz Liszt? We have no recordings to judge his playing, though the reports of his contemporaries leave no doubt as to his breathtaking virtuosity. His playboy antics would assure him a tabloid reputation even today, living and loving as he did in the public eye like a contestant in his own Big Brother show. A trail of broken piano strings, broken hearts and broken marriages was left in his wake. But at the height of his powers he withdrew to Weimar to concentrate on composition, conducting and teaching and then, two decades later, capped it all by taking minor holy orders in Rome. His composing continued into old age, though his music became as ascetic and rarefied as the ‘Abbé Liszt’ himself perhaps imagined he ought to be.

The knowledge that Liszt’s early orchestral music was scored with the help of others led to suspicions of amateurism, his piano arrangements of other men’s work made him appear to some a kind of second-hand Rose, while yet others equated his music’s virtuosity with empty display. Not until the 20th century did a reassessment take place, when Béla Bartók and others rightly drew attention to avant-garde aspects of Liszt’s music that had long been ignored. ...

Liszt emerged at a point in music history when the development of his instrument, the surge of capitalism and the buying power of the European bourgeoisie allowed virtuosity to become a commodity to be exploited for immense profit. Liszt was simply one of the first to understand how to manipulate these societal and economic circumstances to his own benefit.

Melodie Zhao, piano

Melodie Zhao
Swiss pianist of Chinese origin, Mélodie Zhao was born in 1994 in Gruyère into a musical family. Extraordinarily gifted with perfect pitch, she began studying piano at 3 years old at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. When she was 9, she entered the Geneva Conservatory under the instruction of Mayumi Balet-Kameda. Since 2007 she studies with Pascal Devoyon, first at the Geneva Superior Conservatory and then at the Berlin University of the Arts. All along her musical studies Mélodie has been coached by her father, formerly one of the topmost violin teachers at the China Central Conservatory of Music, who plays a key role in her evolution.

Between 2009 and 2011, Mélodie has been a Migros Cultural Percent Soloist and was awarded Leenaards Foundation’s 2011 scholarship. At the age of 14, she gained her Bachelor’s Degree with the highest honours, also receiving the François Dumont Prize for the best interpretation of a Beethoven sonata. At 16, she was awarded her Master Soloist Diploma with distinction, as well as the Georges Filipinetti and Carola Pajonk prizes for the musician with the highest and most refined musical sensitivity.

Accustomed to the stage since she was 6 years old, she gave her first solo recital in Geneva as well as her debut performance as a soloist with an orchestra when she was 10. Since then, she has performed regularly with ensembles such as the Suisse Romande Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Schweiz, Geneva Symphony Orchestra, Chinese National Symphony Orchestra, Lithuanian National Opera, Russian Symphony Orchestra of Belgorod…

She plays regularly at festivals and concert series such as the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, Zermatt Festival, Zurich Festival, Migros-Classics Tour, Festival Chopin Valldemossa, Merano Music Weeks, Bratislava Music Festival, Davos Festival…

At the age of 13, Mélodie Zhao recorded Chopin’s 24 Etudes and at the age of 16, she extended her discography with a recording of Liszt’s 12 Transcendental Studies under the Swiss label Claves Records. In 2014 she released the complete Beethoven piano Sonatas and in 2015 both piano concertos of Tchaikovsky with the Suisse Romande Orchestra under Michail Jurowski also by Claves.

In April 2010, at the Festival of Jinan (China), Mélodie Zhao played to great acclaim a work of her own composition “Sources”, a suite in the form of three tableaux for solo piano. It received a standing ovation when it was premiered in Europe and her achievement has featured on numerous radio and television programmes. Since then, she has been involved in various composition projects for orchestras, sometimes on order. In 2015, she created her first symphonic piece “Ouverture Classique”. She developed writing and orchestration with Prof. Jean-Claude Schlaepfer in Geneva and Nicolas Bacri in Paris and Brussels. Since 2013, Mélodie has regularly conducted symphonic formations. She is still studying direction with Misha Damev in Zurich and Yi Zhang in Beijing. She has been invited by the Rudra Béjart dance workshop in Lausanne to conduct a ballet in April 2016.

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