Anima Eterna - Jos van Immerseel

Jos van Immerseel and Anima Eterna, whose preferred repertoire when they started out was baroque and classical, have, after acclaimed projects on Schubert, Beethoven, Johann Strauss and Tchaikovsky, now also turned their attention to the nineteenth century. In this programme they tackle the orchestral work of Franz Liszt, the remarkable poet, humanist, thinker (religious and otherwise), Wagnerian and of course legendary keyboard virtuoso, who is certainly very dear to the heart of Van Immerseel, also a pianist. The piano is often found in Liszt's orchestral works too, though not always with great emphasis. The First and Third Hungarian Rhapsodies are transcriptions of the piano works of the same name. 'Totentanz' is a single-movement piano concerto based on the Gregorian Dies Irae. Even 'Mazeppa', Liszt's sixth symphonic poem, is also reminiscent not only of the seventeenth-century Ukrainian hero but also of the fourth 'Etude d'Exécution Transcendante'. The symphonic poems 'Les Préludes and Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe' show how wrong it would be to classify Liszt merely as a pianist. In 'Les Préludes' (1853) we hear a richness of orchestral colour rare for the period and a sense of thematic transformation that marks out a path for the future. 'Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe' (1881), a later addition to his series of thirteen symphonic poems, bears the hallmarks of a composer who was, for his time, a visionary creator.