Tone Poems Vol.5

BBC Philharmonic, Gianandrea Noseda

This monumental survey draws to a close with Dante’s Symphony, coupled with Two Legends.

Based on Dante’s Divine Comedy, Liszt’s Dante Symphony was completed in 1856 and dedicated to his friend and mentor, Richard Wagner. Liszt had conceived a work that was to combine music, poetry and the visual arts. He wrote to Wagner in 1855 ‘I have long been carrying a Dante Symphony in my heard – this year I intend to get it down on paper. There are to be three movements, Hell, Purgatory and Paradise – the first two for orchestra alone, the last with chorus. Liszt inscribed Wagner’s copy of the Dante Symphony, ‘As Virgil guided Dante, so you have guided me through the mysterious regions of the life-imbued worlds of tone. From the depths of his heart calls to you ‘Tu sei lo mio maestro, e il mio autore!’ and dedicates this work to you in unchangeably faithful love, your F.Liszt.’ Liszt quotes the words Dante spoke to Virgil, ‘You are my master, and my author’ from Inferno, canto 1, line 85.

Two Legends complements Dante Symphony. It is best known as a solo piano work, and is rarely recorded in its orchestral version. This makes for a useful addition to the catalogue.

Liszt:
 Dante Symphony, S. 109
 2 Legendes for orchestra, S. 354

"Once again in this superb series Noseda and the BBC Philharmonic erase all possible bombast and inflated rhetoric in performances of a special refinement and romantic fervour. …throughout, you are made to feel the composer's humility before Dante's greatness. Once more Chandos has done the orchestra and conductor proud in a recorded sound of a special brilliance and transparency."
Gramophone Magazine - August 2009