Listen & tracks

6 works · 51:24

1 Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C-sharp minor Franz Liszt 11:38
2 Nine Waltzes from Op. 39 Johannes Brahms Piano solo version 11:24
3 Sonata in A-flat, Hob. 46 Franz Joseph Haydn Adagio in D-flat major 7:10
4 Grande Valse Brilliante in A-flat major, Op. 42 Frédéric Chopin 4:06
5 Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat major, Op. 61 Frédéric Chopin 12:48
6 Sonata No. 1 in C major Carl Maria von Weber Presto 4:18

Recorded live in the Llewellyn Hall, Canberra, these six works by Liszt, Brahms, Haydn, Chopin and Weber catch Tozer at the height of his powers.

The programme runs from the crowd-pleasing Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, with its improvised cadenza of Australian folksongs, to Chopin’s late Polonaise-Fantaisie and Weber’s dazzling Presto.

In the artist’s words

Geoffrey Tozer was an artist of the first rank, a consummate musician, a concert pianist and recitalist with few peers, possessing perfect pitch, a boundless musical memory, the ability to improvise, to transpose instantly into any key or to create on the piano a richly textured reduction of an orchestral score at sight. He was a superb accompanist and a generous collaborator in chamber music. He was also a composer.

Tozer composed from childhood and left more than 160 compositions several of which he performed publicly in Australia and overseas. His prodigious abilities were recognised early in his childhood and during a professional career that lasted for nearly fifty years he developed into a mature artist, fully realising his abilities and earning renown around the world with recitals and concerts on five continents.

— Peter Wyllie Johnston

Artists

Geoffrey Tozer

piano

Geoffrey Tozer (1954–2009) was an Australian concert pianist and composer of the first rank, gifted with perfect pitch, a boundless musical memory, and the ability to improvise, transpose instantly into any key, or reduce an orchestral score at sight.

Franz Liszt

composer

Franz Liszt (1811–1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic era. His vast output reshaped piano technique, invented the symphonic poem and pushed harmony toward the twentieth century.

Johannes Brahms

composer

Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) was a German composer and pianist of the Romantic period. His music for piano, chamber ensemble, orchestra, and voice remains central to the concert repertoire.

Franz Joseph Haydn

composer

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period, central to the making of the symphony, the string quartet and the piano trio. A vast body of chamber, orchestral and sacred music from his long career shaped the language of his age.

Frédéric Chopin

composer

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the early Romantic period. He wrote almost exclusively for the piano and remains one of its defining poetic voices.