# Liszt's Orchestral Music



## R3PL4Y (Jan 21, 2016)

What do you think of Liszt's orchestral music, especially beyond just the two symphonies and the concertos?


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

He wrote some of my favorite symphonic poems. Hunnenschlacht (The Battle of the Huns) is my favorite even though it does not garner much popularity. Unlike some symphonic poems from other composers, you really feel what Liszt is trying to describe.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

A bit of a mixed bag.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Buy the Karajan Liszt orchestral works on DG and you will have more than 2 hours of shear joy.


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

His Faust Symphony and 1st and 2nd Piano Concertos are each among the best of their genre.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

I've played quite a few of Liszt's orchestral works - Hunnenschlacht and Hungarian Rhapsody #2 are fun to play...

of course, "Les Preludes" is the best-known, and most often programmed....
I do remember one performance in particular - :devil: - the conductor took the entire work so slow, so ponderously, glacially draggy - it was torture - a parody of the real thing....ever since, we've always referred to that concert - when we played
*"Les Quaaludes"* :lol::lol:


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Some of the symphonic poems are a little mundane, perhaps not surprising seeing Liszt composed thirteen of them but, on the whole, I like his orchestral output.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

I always like Liszt. Both symphonies are wonderful, I always get chills in the Purgatorio movement of the Dante... it has this feeling of painful crawling and striving, as if the knees are bloody but the eyes are fixed on Heaven... I have only the Karajan set of symphonic poems. It's really top class, best interpretation ever, but it's only a fraction of the whole set. I'd like to have the Arpad Joo set of all of them, but I can't seem to be able to find it anywhere. "Tasso" is wonderful, and "Hungaria"... "Les Preludes" and "Mazeppa" are a whole lot of fun... 

Then there is his sacred music for full orchestra and chorus+solists, which people should really check out. "Christus" and "Elisabeth" oratorios, "Gran" and "Hungarian Coronation" masses are some of the best music he ever wrote.


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

Some of the orchestral works outstay their welcome for me, I'm afraid. I like some of Liszt's piano music very much, but for me he tends to lose his way too easily when painting on a wider canvas.


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

I love Liszt's orchestral music. He's my favorite composer of symphonic poems. (Is there a name for that? Symphonic poet perhaps?)


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Bettina said:


> I love Liszt's orchestral music. He's my favorite composer of symphonic poems. (Is there a name for that? Symphonic poet perhaps?)


Agreed, especially the Fantasies on Hungarian Folk melodies.


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

Bettina said:


> Is there a name for that? Symphonic poet perhaps?


Works for me. Would Talk Classical be considered the Dead Symphonic Poets Society then? 

But, yes, I agree about Liszt's symphonic poems.


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## WildThing (Feb 21, 2017)

I believe I only have one album of his orchestral works, conducted by Solti. They didn't leave much of an impression on me. Any recommended recordings?


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

WildThing said:


> I believe I only have one album of his orchestral works, conducted by Solti. They didn't leave much of an impression on me. Any recommended recordings?


Post no 4 in this list .:angel:


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

It's not serious music of course, but I prefer Liszt's orchestral version of the Rákóczy March performed by Willi Boskovsky over any Berlioz version I've heard.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Like Artrock I'm divided on his orchestral output. I like some a lot but others I find dull as dishwater. Ive had that Masur symphonic poems collection for centuries and like it but I do skip through it when I get around to playing it.


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