Liszt's Totentanz in Building a Library with Iain Burnside and Andrew McGregor
Iain Burnside chooses his favourite recording of Liszt'z Totentanz (Dance of Death) and Marina Frolova-Walker makes her pick of the best new releases.
Andrew McGregor with the best new recordings of classical music.
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Marina Frolova-Walker makes her pick of the best new releases.
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Building a Library
Pianist Iain Burnside choses his favourite recording of Liszt's Totentanz.
Composed in the 1830s and revised in the 1850s, Liszt's Totentanz (Dance of Death) was possibly inspired by a fresco Liszt saw in the Campo Santo during a visit to Pisa, The Triumph of Death. It is a fiendishly exhilarating piece for piano and orchestra based on the Dies irae plainchant from the medieval Mass for the Dead, exuding an aura of supernatural fear and terror with piano writing that challenges even the most virtuosic soloists.
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Record of the Week: Andrew鈥檚 top pick.
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