Liszt is amazing and his lineage even more so - Liszt teacher was the great Czerny, who's teacher was none other Beethoven!
If you're wondering the racket Liszt created, here is my favourite - Hungarian Rhapsody no 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdH1hSWGFGU with the fun bit starting around 5m3s
Was he overly 'melodramatic'? Ehhh, sometimes. But I really enjoyed the Hung-Rhaps as a kid. (Later I preferred Brahms and Dvorak dances more.) Naive audiences do tend to be impressed by technical flash ... seems to have paid his bills ... and don't know how to relate to
the slower, more artistic (Bizet, who did both very well, a notable exception...)
But this article reminds me that I don't know anything about Liszt's later stuff...
"in these late pieces he goes much further, exploring the possibilities of unusual chords which are there not to indicate the direction of the phrase so much as to express a color or atmosphere in the present moment"
??~~!! So yeah, I'll be checking that out. Because I always thought that 5m3s thing was - sheer magic. In a 'Moment Musicale' sort of way.
> don't know how to relate to the slower, more artistic
Maybe it's just my taste (angry, fast, and chaotic), but this is why I love Rachmaninov's 3rd piano concerto (especially the 3rd movement) and don't like his second - it was way to slow and romantic for me.
I much prefer his stuff without piano, cause the piano is usually playing a million notes a minute. My favourites are The Bells (his own favourite of his works) and the 2nd Symphony. Also Symphonic Dances.
Well, if you want angry, fast and chaotic, try the 3rd movement of The Bells! It gets extremely wild, I usually give it a miss. (Pianist/composer here)
What I think is the best version of The Bells - Kondrashin 1963. This video has Symphonic Dances first, which is often pretty fiery, even has a lovely sax solo.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPHFKIn0RDc
You might like Coltrane? e.g. his solo from Mr PC, Stockholm 1963. After a minute the piano and bass drops out, just Coltrane and Elvin Jones. They used to do that for 1/2 hr on gigs apparently https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t16CX4hGkwY
He played with Miles Davis from 1955-1960, developing his...fast, angry, chaotic sound. I love everything they did together.
Coltrane died in 1967, from about 1965 he played atonal, 'free', totally chaotic music. I rarely listen to it, mostly sounds like a lot of people playing random stuff, very fast, angry and totally out there.
I listen to a lot of Miles... Rated X (1972) is extremely intense! Miles on organ. Psycho-indian-funk or something. No solos, just 7 minutes of extreme craziness. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrjFtbGKqFk
His Live-Evil (1971) is mostly pretty crazy, funky jazz-rock, I've loved it for decades. e.g. a John McLaughlin solo with the band going nuts https://youtu.be/RhOYTUjBukU?t=2692
Or there's stuff I've had flatmates love that was way too fast, chaotic, crazy and angry for me.. like John Zorn, or Ornette Coleman's Song Xhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d66Ytt2g7ns
If you're wondering the racket Liszt created, here is my favourite - Hungarian Rhapsody no 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdH1hSWGFGU with the fun bit starting around 5m3s