Liszt: Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses, (Guy)

One of Liszt’s most visionary sets: epic but inwardly so, full of radiant space where you might expect virtuosity, and filled with with gorgeous experiments in colour and harmony. 1. Invocation. An ecstatic meditation built from almost-constant development of 4 motifs (A: the rising 4-note motif starting from m.5; B: the rising/descending octave figure in the LH of , C: the LH descent in ; D: the melodic RH figure in ). The harmony here is striking: in m.6 you get an almost-fully voiced B13 chord (heard as Amaj7/Bsus2), for instance. The hair-raising passage from is one of the best things Liszt wrote: it’s built from the tail of Motif A, and bereft of any sense of tonal centre. At you dwell on an F augmented maj7 chord, and the F7-Eb-Abm harmonic cell that repeats from is voiced so as to grind in the A in the RH against the Ab in the bass. (This harmonic cell is also deployed in reverse at .) 2. Ave Maria. After 17 measures of introduction beneath an upper F pedal, a simple melody is introduced and developed. The modulations in this one are especially lovely. 3. Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude. The interval of the 3rd provides both large-scale tonal structure, in-the-moment harmonic colour, and melodic shape to the work. ABCA form, which each section’s key dropping a maj 3rd. A: built from a gorgeous soaring tenor line and coloured by use of the b6 chord, which anticipates the tonality of the next section; B: , with a theme built from a chain of descending 3rds harmonised fauxbourdon-style; C: , actually a prelude which Liszt had written in 1845. Its melody is like the A section’s – built from a rise/fall pattern that repeats itself higher each time. The C melody is presented in diminution at . At the A section returns, more sweepingly than before. The ending of this piece quotes the C section () before magically introducing a theme untethered from the surrounding material at . The B theme is quoted, the C theme reemerges (with a foray into D lydian), and the piece closes. The different ways Liszt decorates the A theme constitute some of the prettiest stuff ever written for piano -- note the use of water/wave-like patterns. 4. Pensée des morts. An opening 19 measures of tonal and rhythmic ambiguity (containing Motif A, a 3rd descent/rise), followed by a terrifying lament (note Motif A at and similar, in the bass from , and the melody starting in ). A huge recitative on Psalm 130 enters at (those modulations at !), followed by a recap/combination of material from the first 2 sections. At , a tranquil echo of the Moonlight Sonata (the modulation at !), which integrates Motif A at and similar. The ending ( onward) beautifully integrates Motif A (,) and other preceding motifs. 5. Pater Noster. Recalls 4-part cantus firmus writing from the middle ages, but Liszt goes far beyond this in creating a kind of harmonic dreamscape where otherworldly modulations drift in and out of focus. 6. Hymne de l’enfant à son réveil. AB form. Liszt wrote 5 versions of this. It’s not hard to see why – it’s a very nice (set of) melody(-ies), and doesn’t need to pretend to be more. 7. Funérailles. Lots of astonishing stuff in this one. Opens with one of the best introductions ever written – a growling bass ostinato (a minor 9th that agonisingly expands), while the RH wails out a rising chromatic line (harmonised with diminished 7th chords). The low notes are probably tolling bells – Liszt syncopates the RH so that it never obscures them. The rest of the work is in ABCAB*C* form, and is notable for exploiting the #5/b6 sound – it’s in the stark fanfare at , the E of the A theme at the Fb of the B theme at ), and colours the final recollection of the C theme in the work’s final bars. The introduction A&C themes are marches, and it’s nice how Liszt gives them all such a distinct character. 8. Miserere, d’après Palestrina. A stylistic exercise in Renaissance sonority, massively expanded by the possibilities afforded on the piano. (No link to Palestrina that we know of, though.) 9. (Andante lagrimoso). Sounds like late Faure! ABA form. The A section is based on a 4-bar theme () built around a 2-note lamenting slur motif (in the 3rd beat of each bar, and also in diminution in m.2), with a walking bass below. The A theme is developed until , when the B theme (a loose inversion of the A theme, with its 2nd bar a retrograde inversion) is introduced and developed. At the A theme returns in reduced form (3 repeated notes slur) in glowing Ab maj, before reverting to its original mournful posture. The piece ends with 5 bars of extraordinarily modern harmony, which lead directly into the 10. Cantique d’amour. In the key of E, ending the cycle as it began. ABA form; the outer sections variations on a lush 14-bar melody, and the middle section () chromatic and wistful.