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ROGER MURARO
Then there’s the Liszt who pays tribute to his predecessors, notably to Bach. Bach
the organist, naturally, but also the composer of numerous works for the keyboard
who inspired the Fantasia and Fugue on B-A-C-H with the strange four-note motif
that structures the piece. This imposing work prefigures Schoenberg: the use of
diminished seventh chords and the unsettling, almost atonal Fugue create a very
special atmosphere, whether on the organ or the piano. One finds that same
modernity in the fugato of the Sonata. Even if that section has a quite different
source of inspiration, it retains a similar ‘diabolical’ chromaticism.
Saint François de Paule marchant sur les flots
is typical of the programmemusic so dear
to Liszt, who of coursewas also the inventor of the symphonic poem. It tells a story
of faith, of a man walking towards the light, indifferent to the tumults around
him. Similarly, the Sonata leads us down tormented paths and finally unveils a
‘redemption’.
It’s impossible for me not to mention the reciprocal influences between Liszt and
Wagner, or at least, here, to underline howmuch Liszt brought to the composer of
Parsifal
. Wagner was inspired by the orchestral colours and the sense of elevation
that emanates from certain motifs of Liszt that prefigure the ‘leitmotif’, and was
always prompt to praise the beauty and perfection of the Sonata in B minor.