After having listened to De Leeuws performing Satie, I was dreading this recording of the late Liszt works. And yet, for the elderly Liszt nearing the end of his days, it fits. It brings the message home somehow. A message of spiritual transcendence. Liszt by this time had grown into an enigmatic person.
Liszt live a long life. He lived when Beethoven was still alive, and helped the careers of Wagner and Debussy. That way his own spans the whole 19th century. Halfway that age he had a crisis of faith, with existential questions brought along by the death of his son. In 1865 he got the minor holy orders and receiving the tonsure. Pianist and sex symbol Liszt became Abbé Liszt.
It is the contrast between the sexy superstar of the Lisztomania versus the mystic artist that makes him so interesting. This collection makes that very clear.