Franz Liszt was a unique personality in the musical world of the 19th century. He was a model and inspiration for many generations of musicians and was magnificently successful as a virtuoso pianist, educator, composer and conductor. Presenting a cornucopia of musical delights, this selection of Liszt favourites includes works inspired by folklore and Italian culture, literary texts and poetry, opera, the brilliance of Paganini and a sheer delight in pianistic virtuosity. Goran Filipec joins a long tradition of making arrangements and personal adaptations to find new vitality and freshness in this much-loved music.

Acclaimed pianist Goran Filipec has approached Liszt from yet another angle in this album of Liszt’s ‘Best’ piano works, accepting that no single programme can embrace the entirely of Liszt’s prodigious output, but that a carefully curated and superbly performed recording of highlights and favourites can appeal both to a wider public as well as to seasoned fans and musicians all too familiar with this composer. One aspect of this is Filipec’s own respectful arrangements of some of these works, looking for personal alternatives in performance in the spirit of Liszt and pianists of the grand style that came after him, a feature of this recording that will make it attractive and interesting beyond more traditional interpretations.

Filipec has appeared internationally as a recitalist and soloist with symphony orchestras across Europe, the Americas and Japan. He has been invited on multiple occasions to the Mariinsky Theatre Contemporary Piano Faces festival, Progetto Martha Argerich and Dubrovnik Summer Festival. Filipec is co-founder and president of the Société Franz Liszt de Geneve, which is devoted to the appreciation and study of the Hungarian composer’s oeuvre.