On his new album “Liszt: Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works” for Sony Classical, Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes explores the lesser-known side of the famed virtuoso Franz Liszt - the sacred music that offers a more intimate picture of composer and his deeply held faith.
With acclaimed vocal ensemble “The Norwegian Soloists’ Choir” led by Grete Pedersen, Andsnes recorded Liszt’s remarkable late work Via Crucis (The Way of the Cross’) for choir and piano, combining the rarely heard oeuvre with some of Liszt’s most beautiful and loved solo piano works, the Consolations, S.172.
Whilst the Via Crucis is a profound and emotionally charged musical depiction of Christ's crucifixion, combining dramatic piano writing with religious imagery and symbolism, Liszt's Consolations are a set of six solo piano pieces that express a sense of solace, peace, and contemplation, often reflecting on themes of loss, longing, and spiritual comfort. Andsnes’s album also includes two movements from Liszt’s Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, a magnificent 10-movement cycle written in 1853, inspired by poetry by Alphonse de Lamartine.
