Les Siècles
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
Maitrise de Caen
Olivier Opdebeeck

In his "Dante Symphonie", Liszt sought to evoke the three canticas of the "Divine Comedy" and lead us, as Virgil led Dante, from Hell to Paradise, via Purgatory. The first "Inferno" movement opens on a pounding brass theme, an expression of the terrifying exhortation engraved on the Gates of Hell: "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." The orchestra deploys spectacular effects to plung the listener into the fires of Hell and the torments of the damned. In the "Pugatorio" movement, depicting souls awaiting salvation, Liszt develops a series of vague and subtle harmonies which finally gather definition to lead us into the "Magnificat" - the ultimate "Vision", that of Heaven - with its choirof
angels bringing forth the radiance of theophany. It has been thought that Wagner convinced Liszt to not compose a "Paradizo" movement due to mortal limitations. This does not tell the full story. liszt did indeed compose a "Paradizo", in accordance with the subtleties of the "Divine Comedy" and his own perfect knowledge of its theology. Liszt's orginal title for the "Magnificat" was "Vision", , Liszt knew that at the end of the "Purgatorio", Dante is invited to contemplate Heaven, and at this moment, time and space evaporate. Heaven is an immaterial province of ecstasy, perfectly expressed by an extraordinary score, formed of a fine and subtle transparent gossamer of murmuring instruments, a
radiant rustling swathe of luminescent seraphims' wings, which accompanies the angel's canticle to the Virgin Mary.