Liszt: Lebenswanderung Alexandra Kaptein

• Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828): Winterreise, 12 Lieder von Franz Schubert, S. 561:
• 1 Schubert: Winterreise, 12 Lieder von Franz Schubert, S. 561: I. Gute Nacht 05:39
• 2 Schubert: Winterreise, 12 Lieder von Franz Schubert, S. 561: II. Die Nebensonnen 04:53
• 3 Schubert: Winterreise, 12 Lieder von Franz Schubert, S. 561: III. Mut 01:29
• 4 Schubert: Winterreise, 12 Lieder von Franz Schubert, S. 561: IV. Die Post 03:40
• 5 Schubert: Winterreise, 12 Lieder von Franz Schubert, S. 561: V. Erstarrung 03:22
• 6 Schubert: Winterreise, 12 Lieder von Franz Schubert, S. 561: VI. Wasserflut 04:02
• 7 Schubert: Winterreise, 12 Lieder von Franz Schubert, S. 561: VII. Der Lindenbaum 05:17
• 8 Schubert: Winterreise, 12 Lieder von Franz Schubert, S. 561: VIII. Der Leiermann 03:04
• 9 Schubert: Winterreise, 12 Lieder von Franz Schubert, S. 561: IX. Täuschung 01:52
• 10 Schubert: Winterreise, 12 Lieder von Franz Schubert, S. 561: X. Das Wirtshaus 04:33
• 11 Schubert: Winterreise, 12 Lieder von Franz Schubert, S. 561: XI. Der stürmische Morgen 01:04
• 12 Schubert: Winterreise, 12 Lieder von Franz Schubert, S. 561: XII. Im Dorfe 04:32
• Robert Franz (1815 - 1892): 12 Lieder von Robert Franz, S. 489:
• 13 Franz: 12 Lieder von Robert Franz, S. 489: Auf geheimen Waldespfaden 02:20
• 14 Franz: 12 Lieder von Robert Franz, S. 489: Drüben geht die Sonnescheiden 03:34
• 15 Franz: 12 Lieder von Robert Franz, S. 489: Trübe wird's 01:38
• 16 Franz: 12 Lieder von Robert Franz, S. 489: Sonnenuntergang 01:19
• 17 Franz: 12 Lieder von Robert Franz, S. 489: Auf dem Teich 02:49
• 18 Franz: 12 Lieder von Robert Franz, S. 489: Der Schalk 03:19
• 19 Franz: 12 Lieder von Robert Franz, S. 489: Meerestille 03:01
• 20 Franz: 12 Lieder von Robert Franz, S. 489: Der Bote 04:33
• 21 Franz: 12 Lieder von Robert Franz, S. 489: Treibt der Sommer seinen Rosen 01:57
• 22 Franz: 12 Lieder von Robert Franz, S. 489: Gewitternacht 05:28
• 23 Franz: 12 Lieder von Robert Franz, S. 489: Das ist ein Brausen und Heulen 01:40
• 24 Franz: 12 Lieder von Robert Franz, S. 489: Frühling und Liebe 02:07
• Total Runtime 01:17:12

Info for Liszt: Lebenswanderung

Composer, pianist, organist, and conductor Franz Liszt is a fascinating and intriguing figure in the music world. His legendary and charismatic personality, along with his musical innovations, significantly influenced Romanticism and the subsequent generations of composers. Liszt’s innovations involved the changing role of the piano, the development of tonality, and the connection of art, literature, and religion with music.

I recently discovered Liszt’s transcriptions and was amazed at their quantity. Almost half of his œvre consists of arrangements of music by other composers, and song transcriptions are a specific subcategory. Here, Liszt creates “Lieder ohne Worte” or “songs without words” because the poetry and text, which are crucial elements of the songs, are missing. It’s fascinating to see how Liszt translates the poetic content into the musical narrative, creating an additional interpretive layer that enhances the symbolic content of the poem. Through pianistic and virtuosic elaborations, Liszt changes the aesthetic of the performance. Playing and analyzing these transcriptions has changed my love and appreciation for these pieces. We’re fortunate to have Liszt’s transcriptions notated, since they are translations from one medium to another, bringing out what Liszt believed to be the essence of the original composition, becoming far less ambiguous than the original compositions.

Alexandra Kaptein, piano

Alexandra Kaptein
(1999, The Netherlands) started piano lessons at the age of 5. At the age of six she already won her first prize at the piano competition ‘Jugend musiziert’ in Germany. This was the beginning of a long series of national and international piano competitions throughout Europe. She won the first prize of the ‘Von Bremen Piano Competition’ in Dortmund, Germany and of the ‘EPTA International Piano Competition’ 2016 in Belgium and won the first prize and audience prize in the ‘International Piano Competition for Young Musicians’ in Enschede. In 2017 she won the first prize, audience prize and Franz Liszt Prize in the final of ‘Koffie bij de Piano’ in Den Bosch, the Netherlands. In 2018 Alexandra won the first prize and special jury prize in the final of the ‘Geertruidenberg Classical Competition’. And in 2019 she also won the first prize in the International Competition in Val Tidone ‘Silvio Bengali’ Italy.

Alexandra participates in many masterclasses and music festivals in Greece, Italy, Poland and Germany and performs in solo concerts in the Netherlands and Germany. She also performed at the Dutch radio station of Radio 4 (AVRO/TROS).

She has been studying with Frank van de Laar since 2019. In 2020 Alexandra graduated cum laude from the ArtEZ Conservatory in Zwolle and she is currently studying with Frank van de Laar in her master’s degree at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. In 2020 Alexandra also started a second bachelor, Theory of Music at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.

Booklet for Liszt: Lebenswanderung