Franz Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. posth. (S.125a), was possibly composed in 1839. It is believed that this piece was composed before the first two concertos, but the dating is inconclusive as there are claims it was not finished until 1847. Like his second piano concerto, it is a one-movement piece.
Rediscovery
editIt was virtually unknown until 1989. It was identified and assembled from multiple sources by Jay Rosenblatt, a doctoral candidate at the University of Chicago. Parts of the score were located in Weimar, Nuremberg and Leningrad, and, to the extent they were known at all, it had been assumed they were early drafts of Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1, also in E-flat major. Liszt made no mention of this third concerto in his writings, so the existence of the piece was unknown to researchers.[1]
When Liszt died, his housekeeper let his pupils go through the house and take away manuscripts as mementos. These were not always complete scores. The Nuremberg sheet came from Max Erdmannsdörfer, who came into contact with Liszt while he was kapellmeister at Sondershausen. In 1882 he became kapellmeister in Moscow. It is possible that he had the whole score and that part of it eventually found its way to the Leningrad library after his death.[1]
Performance history
editThe concerto was premiered by Janina Fialkowska on May 3, 1990, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Kenneth Jean conducting.[2][3]
It has not yet entered the standard repertoire, and remains little known, although there have been recordings by Janina Fialkowska, Jerome Lowenthal,[2][4] Louis Lortie, Jenő Jandó, Leslie Howard,[5] and Joshua Pierce.[6]
References
edit- ^ a b Will Crutchfield (January 18, 1989). "New Liszt Concerto Discovered". New York Times. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
- ^ a b Allan Koznin (May 5, 1990). "Review/Music; Rediscovered Liszt Work in Premiere". New York Times. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
- ^ "Janina Fialkowska - Biography". Archived from the original on June 22, 2013. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
- ^ John Henken (August 7, 1990). "Music Reviews : Lowenthal Plays Newly Discovered Liszt Concerto". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
- ^ "Liszt: The complete music for solo piano, Vol. 53 – Music for piano & orchestra I". Hyperion Records. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
- ^ "Liszt: The Three Piano Concertos & Totentanz". MSR Classics. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
