By LISA YUI

Jerome Lowenthal (Photo by Debbie Rowe)

Franz Liszt is probably one of the most exalted and, at the same time, denigrated major musicians. As a pianist, he is often believed to have been merely a bombastic charlatan. "Serious" concertgoers sniff and say, "Ah, Liszt … wasn't he just a showman? And a womanizer, too?" Why should one be scorned for having a superhuman technique? (And, one might ask, since when does being appealing to members of the opposite sex mean one is a superficial artist?) Of his status as a composer, many assume that all of Liszt's music is virtuosic and attractive, but musically shallow and even cheap. Being known as "a Liszt player" implies that a pianist has fast fingers, but is superficial and showy. Real connoisseurs do not play or listen to Liszt; for them, there is Bach and Beethoven, or Busoni and Boulez.

It is in order to dispel these fallacious notions about the man, the pianist, his music, and the pianists who play his music that I have organized the eight-part "Liszt at Yamaha" lecture/concert series at the Yamaha Artist Services, Inc. (YASI), between March 22 and May 4.

As a man, Liszt was most alluringly complex. He was a saint, a devil, an aristocrat, a Don Juan, a Napoleon, a Byron, all in one. A child prodigy, he became the most idolized virtuoso of his time, surpassing the fame even of Paganini. He traveled throughout the European world, rave reviews and delirious women trailing after him. He was a great philanthropist and supporter of contemporary musicians. He later became Abbé Liszt, receiving four of the seven degrees of priesthood, composing and giving master classes (never charging money; génie oblige [genius has obligations] was his motto), teaching a whole school of great pianists of the next generation.

Leslie Howard (Photo by Matthew Gough)

As a pianist, Liszt was the original traveling virtuoso, playing more extensively than any other musician of his time (and engendering "Lisztomania" wherever he went). He revolutionized public performance when he introduced the format of the solo piano recital in 1839. Liszt was also the father of modern pianism; he literally changed the way pianists played their instrument, freeing the arms and playing by weight transfer from the back and shoulders to the fingers. He championed the works of the past and the present alike. Liszt also learned to play to the audience as none had done before. Many of his contemporaries despised what he symbolized, but none could deny his power to affect the audience.

As a composer, Liszt is often looked down upon as merely a creator of bombast and noise. But what of the ground-breaking etudes? The sublime Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude? The evocative range and vision of the three books of Années de pèlerinage? The sonorous mastery of the Hungarian Rhapsodies? The grandiosity of the B-Minor Sonata? The lean, prophetic late works? The illuminating transcriptions of songs, operas, and symphonic works, which occasionally even improve upon the original works? Liszt's music is like the man: a combination of nobility and sentimentality, poetry and sometimes vulgar effects. But it is always bold and original. He wrote with a new technical and sonorous understanding of piano, opening the way for the music of Wagner, French Impressionism, and even atonality.

Lisa Yui (Photo by Keit's Studios)

On casual observation, the pianists Arthur Friedheim, Ferrucio Busoni, Claudio Arrau, Vladimir Horowitz, Louis Kentner, Jorge Bolet, Gyorgy Cziffra, Alfred Brendel, Leslie Howard, and Jeffrey Swann seem to have little in common. Yet all are known as advocates of Liszt's piano music. As with Liszt himself, champions of his music are multifaceted, but all tackle his music with the earnestness of handling a Bach fugue. As Brendel writes: "One has to take Liszt seriously in order to play him well … It is a peculiarity of Liszt's music that it faithfully and fatally mirrors the character of its interpreter. When his works give the impression of being hollow, superficial, and pretentious, the fault lies usually with the performer, occasionally with the (prejudiced) listener, and only very rarely with Liszt himself."

"Liszt at Yamaha" aims to reveal some of the many sides of Liszt. The series opens on March 22 with master classes and a lecture-concert by Leslie Howard, who has recorded the complete piano works of Liszt. Alan Walker, author of numerous books (including a three-volume biography of Franz Liszt) gives a lecture, "Liszt as Cultural Ambassador," on April 13. On April 27, Thomas Mastroianni, president of the American Liszt Society, speaks on the last two books of Années de pèlerinage. Then, there are six concerts, each covering a general theme: Etudes of Transcendence (March 23); Transcriptions (March 30); The Diabolical and the Sublime (April 6); Rhapsodies, Impromptus, Ballades (April 20); The Traveler: Years of Pilgrimage (April 27); and Large Forms (May 4). I will introduce each work with historical and musical commentary.

Jeffrey Swann (Photo by James Kriegsmann)

Among the more than 30 pianists participating are Juilliard faculty, students, and alumni, as well as other performers renowned for their performance of Liszt's music, including Koji Attwood, Rufus Choi, Henry Wong Doe, Gila Goldstein, Gayle Martin Henry, Christiaan Kuyvenhoven (a prizewinner in the 2005 International Franz Liszt Piano Competition), Frank Levy, Jerome Lowenthal, Jeffrey Swann, and Yu Zhang.

Busoni wrote that "[Liszt] lifted [the piano] to a princely position in order that it might be worthy of himself." Surely, with such an impressive battalion of musicians and scholars joining forces, "Liszt at Yamaha" will carry on his legacy by continuing to raise Liszt's music to heights worthy of the composer himself.

All concerts (except for Leslie Howard's master classes and concert) take place on Thursdays at 7 p.m. The Piano Salon at Yamaha Artist Services is located at 689 Fifth Avenue on the third floor (the entrance is located on 54th Street). Tickets are $15 per concert; $50 for any four concerts; $100 for the entire series. (The master classes are free.) Juilliard students pay $10 for concert tickets. For more information on the series and for pianists who would like to perform in Leslie Howard's master classes, call (212) 339-9995, ext. 227, or visit yamahaartistservices.com.

Lisa Yui (B.M. '98, piano) is on the faculty of Juilliard's MAP program. She is also on the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music, and teaches a course on the social history of the piano at Marymount Manhattan College.