Government House Ballroom, Perth

Liszt, the eminent nineteenth-century composer and pianist, is best known for his fiery, dramatic showpieces and virtuosic piano fireworks.

Less well-known is the side of Liszt that is tender and intimate – the lyrical poet for the piano who sought to convey his innermost feelings and experiences through the language of instrumental music.

In the late 1840s, Liszt was at the height of his fame as a concert pianist, and shocked the world when it was announced that he would retire from performing in order to focus his attentions on composition. He would spend the next several decades pushing the boundaries of musical art and expression to bold new places.

Along with my friends Hannah Th'ng, Jordan Proctor and Izaac Masters, I had much fun presenting Liszt by Candlelight on 27 February 2021. A celebration of Liszt, not by the blinding lights of the concert stage, but by the tender light of the spirit known by those who knew him in these later years – not as a man of glittering pomp and display, but as a man of shining artistic ideals, ardent religious beliefs, and inexhaustible generosity and kindness.

I spoke from the podium on Liszt's ideals as a musician, artist and thinker, and played three works by Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No.11, Soirées de Vienne No.3 and Vallée d'Obermann

Photography by Julian Masters