Influences
Mariam Batsashvili
Great Influences
The music of Franz Liszt has shaped the repertoire of pianist Mariam Batsashvili like no other. It goes without saying that the works of the great Romantic pianist also took center stage on her first two Warner albums Chopin, Liszt (2019) and Romantic Piano Masters (2022). With her new album Influences, Mariam Batsashvili approaches her musical, spiritual and human idol anew, but in a different way: through the works of great masters with whom Liszt felt closely connected and whose influences were reflected in various ways in his work. Joseph Haydn's Piano Sonata in D major Hob. XVI: 37 already shows something of Liszt's exuberant virtuosity in its energetic thrust, the wonder pianist and composer born in 1811. As in many of his works, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart also explored compositional techniques from the past in his Hunt Sonata in order to skillfully integrate them into his own musical language. And what would Franz Liszt be without the revered Beethoven, who has his say on Influences with what is probably his most passionate piano sonata, the Appassionata? Mariam Batsashvili, aptly described by the trade journal Concerti as "a pianistic charm offensive from Georgia," combines the sonatas of the three Viennese classics with Franz Liszt's Dante Sonata.
