‘Lost’ Liszt Concerto to Be Performed

A piano concerto written by virtuoso-composer Franz Liszt and lost to the world for more than a century and half will be played for the first time in public Thursday.

The one-movement, 15-minute work in E flat major titled “Opus Posthumous” will be performed by Canadian soloist Janina Fialkowska with the Chicago Symphony under the direction of Kenneth Jean.

“A few people have heard me practice it and their reaction has been astonishingly excited. I love the piece,” Fialkowska said.

“I find that the second theme is one of the most remarkable melodies he ever wrote. Some of the technical passages are so clever, so brilliant. There is incredible virtuosity,” she said.

Fialkowska, who was born in Montreal, is known for her interpretations of the Hungarian composer’s works.

She said the work compares favorably to the two well-known concertos that Liszt wrote around 1839, when the newly discovered piece was also believed to have been written.

“He went back and reworked the other two 10 years later. Nobody knows why he didn’t do the same with this one. The ideas in this one are certainly more evolutionary and perhaps more interesting.

“It’s an adolescent piece but a remarkably supple one,” she said.

The concerto was discovered by Jay Rosenblatt, a doctoral student from the University of Chicago who was gathering material for his dissertation at a Budapest musical archive.