Description
Liszt: Études d'exécution transcendante d'après Paganini, S140
Performer: Goran Filipec
As it happened, the foremost virtuoso of the age was not Liszt; in fact, he was not a pianist at all, but a violinist. Already during his own lifetime, Paganini had become a legend: he was the supreme artist who could do anything and his virtuosity was such that in order to account for it all, people supposed him to be in league with the Devil. Everywhere his works were regarded as unplayable, until Paganini turned up and played them; a particular speciality of his was to play an entire piece on one string alone, with which he would bring the house down. He guarded his secrets jealously: whenever he rehearsed a concerto he would never allow the orchestral players a chance to observe what he did during the cadenza, for he would play his cadenzas once, and once only, and that was at the performance; these were moments of supreme virtuosity, when the man and his violin became one, and the hushed audience would witness such marvels of execution that it seemed, indeed, as if the very Devil had taken possession of him.
In April 1832, the great violinist would give a benefit concert in the Paris Opera House for the victims of cholera, with Liszt present in the audience. In the lives of most great men there sometimes comes a blinding flash of revelation when they see their future destiny clearly marked out before them, and Liszt's "blinding flash" occurred right there in response to hearing Paganini play. Liszt was so entranced by the unfettered expressiveness of his playing, and the Italian wizard's ability to turn to utterly musical account a technique of legendary transcendence, that he experienced an artistic awakening and the young composer immediately declared his intention of achieving upon the piano an equivalent new technical mastery, something he would achieve with much toil (according to his own testimony 10 or 12 hours practice a day.)