Episode 2: The Liszt Factor

David Walliams takes a ride through the magical career of legendary film composer John Williams, from Star Wars to Harry Potter – with a little help from a ghost. Each episode is also accompanied by a playlist in Apple Music – you can find those here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/ ...  Show more

From a helicopter quartet to a vegetable orchestra, prepare to have your idea of what an ‘instrument’ can be blown wide open. David Walliams explores some of the most fantastical, needlessly complex and sometimes tasty musical instruments that human beings have ever created. Each ...  Show more

A proud Hungarian by birth, Franz Liszt was a pioneer both in his piano playing and in his compositions. He was also the nearest thing to a rock star that classical music had in the 19th century. Fans would reportedly swarm over him, try and grab his gloves, even smoke his discar ...  Show more

SynopsisOn today’s date in 1841 an all-Beethoven concert was given at the Salle Erard to raise funds for the proposed Beethoven monument in Bonn, the late composer’s birthplace. Franz Liszt was the piano soloist in Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto, conducted by Hector Berlioz.About a ...  Show more

The German poet and journalist Heinrich Heine coined the term “Lisztomania” on 25th April 1844 to describe the phenomenon of frenzied fandom in Europe where women would physically assault Franz Liszt by tearing his clothes, fighting over broken piano strings and locks of his shou ...  Show more

This is the piece of music made famous by Bugs Bunny! One of the all-time favorite classical piano works - Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. I only recorded excerpts from this piece for two reasons. First, because I used this as an audition piece for a talent competition for whic ...  Show more