This is the second CD in the series “Liszt: The Sound of Weimar” being performed by the Vienna Academy Orchestra under the Austrian conductor Martin Haselböck and released by NCA as part of the celebrations to mark the 200th anniversary of the Franz Liszt’s birth.

Liszt wrote 13 symphonic poems in all, and those featured here are No.3 - “Les Preludes”, No.4 - “Orpheus”, and No.1 - “Berg-Symphonie”. As with the previous disc, the music on this volume is performed on original instruments of the 19th century.

The orchestral project “The Sound of Weimar” will include all the orchestral works of Franz Liszt in the original orchestration of the live premieres in Weimar. The recordings take place at the Austrian Liszt Raiding Centre.

Martin Haselböck is the musical director of Musica Angelica in Santa Monica, California, and the director and founder of the Vienna Academy Orchestra. He is also a professor at the University of Vienna, where he teaches organ.

“The Orchestral version (of A la Chapelle Sixtine) is among the most moving of Liszt’s compositions, and Haselböck offers a most beautiful performance of it… An auspicious start then to what should prove an important new series…” - Rob Cowan, The Gramophone, August 2011