Two views of Franz Liszt...

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...from violist and NPR commentator Miles Hoffman, and from pianist and writer Kenneth Hamilton in the New York Times.  And an interestingly balancing pair of views they are.  Indeed, balance and equivocation seem to be the norm in assessing Liszt, a composer capable, even in the same piece, of the most sublime beauty alongside the most turgid bombast.  I fall more in the "great despite the flaws." rather than the "important but not great" camp.  Indeed, I seem drawn to composers who dare big and sometimes fail big (e.g, Richard Strauss, Shostakovich, Bernstein, Sondheim) but whose confidence in their own vision leads them to accomplish great things.  Happy 200th to one of the greats.