Review (PDF)

Franz Liszt, Vol. 3: The Final Years, 1861-1886

The third volume in Alan Walker's magisterial biography of Franz Liszt."You can't help but keep turning the pages, wondering how it will all turn out: and Walker's accumulated readings of Liszt's music have to be taken seriously indeed."―D. Kern Holoman, New York Review of Books"A conscientious scholar passionate about his subject. Mr. Walker makes the man and his age come to life. These three volumes will be the definitive work to which all subsequent Liszt biographies will aspire."―Harold C. Schonberg, Wall Street Journal"What distinguishes Walker from Liszt's dozens of earlier biographers is that he is equally strong on the music and the life. A formidable musicologist with a lively polemical style, he discusses the composer's works with greater understanding and clarity than any previous biographer. And whereas many have recycled the same erroneous, often damaging information, Walker has relied on his own prodigious, globe-trotting research, a project spanning twenty-five years. The result is a textured portrait of Liszt and his times without rival."―Elliot Ravetz, Time"The prose is so lively that the reader is often swept along by the narrative. . . . This three-part work . . . is now the definitive work on Liszt in English and belongs in all music collections."―Library Journal

Paperback: 624 pages

Publisher: Cornell University Press; 1 edition (November 25, 1997)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0801484537

ISBN-13: 978-0801484537

Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.6 x 9.3 inches

Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #831,863 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #30 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Sheet Music & Scores > Composers > Liszt #304 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Biographies > Classical #2855 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > History & Criticism

How can one write anything at all about so magisterial a study dedicated to one of the most extraordinary men who ever lived and which took its author about 1600 pages and more than two decades of his life to write?Impossible. But that doesn't mean one cannot at least try.In short, Alan Walker's three volume study Franz Liszt is an incredible literary and scholarly achievement. It really is hard to believe that such combination of brilliant writing style can be coupled with so high an informational content and with such an impeccable scholarship. But it happens to be true. Small wonder that Mr Walker's three volumes are currently the most comprehensive and the most authoritative study of Franz Liszt's life available in any language. Indeed, this is likely to remain so for a good many years ahead.To say that Alan Walker's style is absorbing, gluing to the pages and reads like a novel is so trite and so hackneyed a cliche that hardly bears repetition. But it happens to be true - and is the best proof known to me that a biography can be scholarly written and enjoyable to read at the same time; claims that the former is incompatible with the latter are often made - chiefly by excellent scholars who are indifferent writers or vice versa. As for Alan Walker's literary style, considering the complexity of his subject and the scope of his work, it simply cannot be bettered; even his Acknowledgments sections are readable. It is a style not just clear, lucid and perfectly organized, but also engaging, amusing, and penetrating, one that boldly approaches perfection, namely being like a conversation with an old friend beside the fireside with a glass of something sufficiently alcoholic in hand.

Franz Liszt, Vol. 3: The Final Years, 1861-1886 Liszt: A Chorus of Voices (Franz Liszt Studies) (Franz Liszt Studies Series) The Piano Master Classes of Franz Liszt, 1884-1886: Diary Notes of August Göllerich Lisztian Keyboard Energy: An Essay on the Pianism of Franz Liszt : Liszt Et LA Pedagogie Du Piano Complete Piano Transcriptions from Wagner's Operas (Dover Music for Piano) by Liszt, Franz, Classical Piano Sheet Music (1981) Paperback Classic baseball cards: The golden years, 1886-1956 Northward over the "Great Ice": A Narrative of Life and Work along the Shores and upon the Interior Ice-Cap of Northern Greenland in the Years 1886 and 1891-1897. Volume 1 Panama : a personal record of forty-six years, 1861-1907 Dignity Therapy: Final Words for Final Days Official NCAA Men's Final Four Records Book (Official NCAA Final Four Tournament Records) MASON JAR RECIPES BOOK SET 5 book in 1: Meals in Jars (vol.1); Salads in Jars (Vol. 2); Desserts in Jars (Vol. 3); Breakfasts in Jars (Vol. 4); Gifts in Jars (Vol. 5): Easy Mason Jar Recipe Cookbooks Bloomingdale's Illustrated 1886 Catalog The Chronicle of Coca-cola Since 1886 Our Rightful Share: The Afro-Cuban Struggle for Equality, 1886-1912 Night on Bald Mountain (Rimsky–Korsakov version (1886)): Full Score [A1854] India's Prisoner: A Biography of Edward John Thompson, 1886-1946 The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861 The American War of Sucession - 1861-1862 - Bull Run to Malvern Hill [Illustrated Edition] (Special Campaigns Series Book 11) We Shall Meet Again: The First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run), July 18-21, 1861 A Shattered Nation: The Rise and Fall of the Confederacy, 1861-1868 (Civil War America)