Lisztomania

 Lisztomania was one of those Ken Russell films from another age entirely and one hopes to be forgiven for thinking that the term originated there. But, no, it was coined at an early stage of Liszt's career when he was the prototype for the outlandish adulation accorded to superstar performers on a routine basis by now.

It was a recent Composer of the Week programme that encouraged me to avail myself of the biography by Oliver Hilmes. While the music biography shelves have the 'main men' - Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven and Shostakovich (Bolan, Bowie, Lou Reed, Ronnie Spector), there is room to expand into and while Liszt is unlikely to ever been a huge favourite, he had a spectacular life.

His childhood replicates Mozart's in many ways with the early onset of genius, the tours arranged by his manager-father, the royal courts and aristocracy of Europe but, despite all that ongoing financial precariousness. That was largely solved by his relationship with the unlikely Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein, impressive more for her intellectual aspiration, it seems, than her looks, especially given the charisma that brought such amorous success to Liszt. Her influence on him seems out of all proportion to what could reasonably be expected by such matters are not for outsiders to properly understand. Financial difficulties seem to have been successfully overcome when he lives in a castle with his own private wing furnished with instruments previously owned by Mozart and Beethoven.

It's a brilliant book written so clearly and so well organized that it makes for a captivating story whether one has an interest in composers or not and makes the reading experience much more enjoyable than Don Quixote did. By way of immersing myself in the subject to best effect, a box set of 9 CD's, the Piano Music by Jorge Bolet is on its way because I'll always take a bargain when I see the right one. By how much this will enhance Liszt's position on my list isn't obvious but it's stuff worth reading and a major turn up that he gets in ahead of Brahms. 

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Forthcoming at DGBooks,

Maggi Hambling in Pallant House, Chichester; Stewart Lee's books; The Scapegoat: The Brilliant Brief Life of the Duke of Buckinghamby Lucy Hughes-Hallett, a few more concerts in Chichester and Portsmouth and then a review of a year full of highlights.