Liszt: Symphonic Scenes Kit Armstrong

• Franz Liszt (1811–1886): from Lernau´s Faust
• 1 Midnight Procession, S. 513a 14:48
• Dance in der Village Inn (Lernau´s Faust)
• 2 Mephisto Waltz No. 1, S. 514 10:43
• Funeral Triumph of Tasso (Epilogue to the Symphonic Poem Tasso)
• 3 Funeral Triumph of Tasso, S. 517 11:35
• Mephisto Waltz No. 2. S. 515
• 4 Mephisto Waltz No. 2. S. 515 11:08
• Salve Polonia, S. 113, No. 2 (From St. Stanislaus)
• 5 Salve Polonia, S. 113, No. 2 11:33
• Mephisto Waltz No. 3, S. 216 (S. 215a)
• 6 Mephisto Waltz No. 3, S. 216 (S. 215a) 09:58
• Total Runtime 01:09:45

Info for Liszt: Symphonic Scenes

As an eagerly anticipated follow-up to his debut album, which featured works by Bach, Ligeti and a piece of his own composition, Kit Armstrong has now recorded works by Franz Liszt for his second CD for Sony Classical. Kit Armstrong has long been in love with Liszt's music had a desire to champion works by the composer that are not all that well known, especially among his orchestral works, for which a number of these incredible pieces of music also exist in piano transcriptions that Liszt himself prepared. Armstrong's aim was to record the “Symphonic Scenes” in their entirety. Individual pieces such as “Le triomphe funèbre du Tasse” and the “Salve Polonia” were also to be included, as were the Two Episodes from Lenau’s Faust and the Mephisto Waltzes.

Kit Armstrong, piano

Kit Armstrong
Only 20 years old, Kit Armstrong’s concert diary contains solo appearances with the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, the Bamberger Symphoniker, l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. He has collaborated with such conductors as Ivor Bolton, Riccardo Chailly, Thomas Dausgaard, Christoph von Dohnányi, Manfred Honeck, Sir Charles Mackerras, Bobby McFerrin, and Jonathan Nott. Orchestral tour projects during the 2011|2012 season are with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Robin Ticciati, as well as with Berlin’s Konzerthausorchester.

Chamber music is among of Kit Armstrong’s core interests, both as a pianist and a composer. He performs regularly with the Szymanowski String Quartet and in a trio with Andrej Bielow (violin) and Adrian Brendel (cello). During the 2011|2012 season, Kit Armstrong made his first appearance in a lied recital with Schubert’s Schwanengesang. Further highlights of the current season include recitals at Hamburg’s Laeiszhalle, the Philharmonie in Cologne and the Liederhalle in Stuttgart.

Kit Armstrong also is an accomplished composer who has written for a wide variety of ensembles. “Composing is the basis upon which I think about music”, says Armstrong (interview in Concerti magazine). His compositions include a quintet for piano and winds (premiered by members of the Concertgebouw Orchestra at the International Music Festival, The Hague) and a quintet for piano and strings. Among his commissions are a clarinet concerto for the Frankfurter Bachkonzerte (premiered at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt with Paul Meyer as soloist), a string quartet commissioned by the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig in honour of Alfred Brendel’s 80th birthday (premiered by the Szymanowski String Quartet), and “Half of One, Six Dozen of the Other”, a solo piano composition for Till Fellner. Further works are “Time flies like an arrow”, a piano trio for the Klavierfestival Ruhr, and a solo piano fantasy on B-A-C-H for the Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker. His most recent commission is “Andante”, an orchestral overture that was premiered by the Musikkollegium Winterthur in March 2012.

Booklet for Liszt: Symphonic Scenes