Zuohuang Chen conducts Liszt

Franz Liszt: Les Préludes

Les Préludes is the third of Franz Liszt's thirteen symphonic poems. Directed by Liszt himself, the piece was premiered in a concert called Hoftheater in Weimar in February 1854. Among Liszt's symphonic poems, Les Préludes is the most popular. The full title Les Préludes refers to an ode of Alphonse de Lamartine's Nouvelles Méditations Poétiques. The composer once stated: "……What else is our life but a series of preludes to that unknown Hymn, the first and solemn note of which is intoned by Death?"

Part of the NCPA's celebration of the 200th anniversary of Liszt's birth