Recording
- 4. Au bord d’une sourceEugen d’Albert, piano · 1912–133:49
Au bord d’une source is the fourth piece of Liszt’s Années de pèlerinage I: Suisse, S. 160; in it the left hand crosses over the right to play short notes above the running accompaniment. Eugen d’Albert, a pupil of Liszt, plays it on an early Odeon disc.
Listening notes
- Opening, crossed hands
Liszt marks the opening Allegretto grazioso, with the melody sweet and tranquil. The right hand plays semiquavers. The left plays short notes, first beneath them, then two octaves higher.
- Switzerland with Marie d’Agoult, 1835
In 1835 Liszt left Paris with Marie d’Agoult. They settled in Switzerland, where he taught at the Geneva Conservatory; their daughter Blandine was born in December. He later gathered his Swiss pieces, this one among them, into Années de pèlerinage.
- D’Albert, Glasgow to Weimar
D’Albert was born in Glasgow and studied in London under Arthur Sullivan. While still a teenager he went to Vienna and stayed with the conductor Hans Richter. He then joined Liszt’s pupils in Weimar.
- Scales and arpeggios between statements
Scales and arpeggios connect the successive statements of the melody. They climb into the piano’s highest register, run down again and lead back into the tune.