Liszt was the first superstar musician. He was famous all over Europe, and women in particular would flock to see his performances, desperate for a small souvenir from the hugely attractive star. He retired from performing at just 35 to concentrate on his composing career and wrote hundreds of incredible works in all genres. His true masterpieces are all, of course, for piano.

These two epic pieces were inspired by religious tales and were written in 1863 during a difficult time for Liszt. Two of his adult children had died and he was becoming increasingly reclusive. The first légende describes St Francis of Assisi’s Sermon to the Birds – Liszt even writes birdsong into the music. The second retells St Francis of Paola walking on the water. This one was especially significant to Liszt who was a member of the order of St Francis of Paola and carried his picture with him. Just two years after these compositions, Liszt took holy orders.

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Salina is a Wellington-based New Zealand-born composer and violinist. She was concertmaster of the NZSO National Youth Orchestra in 2012 and from there went to study at the New Zealand School of Music and then in Manhattan. She has since won several awards. This piece, from 2023, is inspired by a teenage trip to Sumner Beach in Christchurch where Salina and her friends watched the sea ebb and flow in and out of a cave: one minute calm and serene, the next minute surging and almost taking them with it. It is dedicated to Debussy, of whom she says ‘captured my heart during those formative years’.

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Claude Debussy was born in Paris in 1862, the son of a shopkeeper. He was an exceptionally talented pianist and entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of ten. As he grew up he began to resent the training he was receiving and rarely turned up to class. After winning the prestigious Prix de Rome composition prize in 1885 he announced that he was going to write in his own unique style regardless of what anyone else thought. The music that followed was based on a completely new take on the rules of harmony that favoured exotic chords and modes over the traditional major and minor scales and gave Debussy’s music its instantly recognisable sound.

L’isle joyeuse from 1904 is inspired by the Jean-Antoine Watteau painting ‘The Embarkation for Cythera’ which depicts the start of a journey to the island home of Aphrodite. After sailing across the seas, the travellers experience ecstatic ‘unions of love’ on arrival.

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Thank you for joining us for this Friday Lunchtime Concert.

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