Nicholas Angelich plays Liszt: Years of Pilgrimage, Second Year

This concert was filmed in 2011, when the bicentenary of Franz Liszt's birth was being celebrated all over the world.

To honor Franz Liszt, it is one of the most famous American pianists of his generation, Nicholas Angelich, who performed the "Second Year: Italy" of the Years of Pilgrimage at the International Piano Festival of la Roque d'Anthéron.

A genuine summation of Liszt's musical art, the Years of Pilgrimage is a masterwork whose title refers to Goethe's famous novel Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. In an introduction to the score, the composer wrote:

"Having recently travelled to many new countries, through different settings and places consecrated by history and poetry; having felt that the phenomena of nature and their attendant sights did not pass before my eyes as pointless images but stirred deep emotions in my soul, and that between us a vague but immediate relationship had established itself, an undefined but real rapport, an inexplicable but undeniable communication, I have tried to portray in music a few of my strongest sensations and most lively impressions."

When he was seven, Nicholas Angelich gave his first concert. A few years later, he started brilliant studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris. Since then, he has been playing classical, Romantic and contemporary works with total ease and great talent. In 1989, Nicholas Angelich won the 2nd prize at the Casadesus International Piano Competition, and in 1994 he won the 1st prize at the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition. In 2013, the French Victoires de la Musique Classique named him "Best Classical Instrumental Soloist."

Don't miss his performance of the Second Year of Liszt's Years of Pilgrimage on medici.tv!