Lisztomania
Ladies love a virtuoso. Just look at Franz Liszt's pouting eyes, his rakish tie, his middle finger cocked with the promise of 19th century manual dexterity. What apple-cheeked girl wouldn't squeal and squirm when Liszt began to shower trills and tremolos upon music that had only ever before been played with strict adherence to the composer's score?
And squeal they did, prompting Heinrich Heine to coin the term "Lisztomania" to describe the antics of the performer's ardent fans, who would pack performance halls to catch a glimpse of the Hungarian hunk, fainting and fluttering with every flamboyant flourish.
The parallels to modern rock stars are obvious—enough to prompt a 1975 film by Ken Russell about Liszt, who cast The Who's Roger Daltrey as Franz, with a synth-heavy soundtrack by virtuosoic keyboard player Rick Wakeman, who, when he wasn't busy writing soundtracks added cinematic overtones to the rock band Yes.
Watch the above trailer to get a taste of the music, which Wakeman based in part on Liszt's compositions—quite faithfully, in fact, compared to Russell's interpretation of 1800s Germany, which from what I can recall from any history book that isn't from White Wolf, had considerably fewer vampires. (Of note: The Japanese cover of the soundtrack is particularly phallic.)
Why's the term back now? French pop band Phoenix has named their lead track "Lisztomania", a happy ditty in morbid contrast to a video trip that takes the band to the Franz Liszt museum to look at portraits and death masks in simulated, '60s quality faux retro film.
So there's that. Now maybe someone else can explain why Phoenix named the album "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix."
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"I'm afraid "pout" means to push the lips outwards, and so eyes, lacking lips, ar..."
"although the trailer looks choppy thats because they could only use the bits of ..."
"Oh I forgot. The last ten minutes involves an epic rock battle between Liszt and..."
"In my first film sound class at USC we got a visit from the folks at Dolby. They..."
Illusionarykunch on Lisztomania...
"You might want to see the 'unofficial video' already posted - much geekier, and ..."
Joel Johnson on Lisztomania...
"Yeah, it's a great CD. I've got 10-15 plays on it already and I still love it fr..."
"I haven't watched this video yet, but I like the other one better. it was posted..."
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zikman
#1 – 10:35 AM June 23, 2009
I haven't watched this video yet, but I like the other one better. it was posted on regular boingboing a little while ago.
I'm digging this whole CD actually. very summer
Joel Johnson
#2 – 10:41 AM June 23, 2009
Yeah, it's a great CD. I've got 10-15 plays on it already and I still love it from start to finish.
Illusionarykunch
#3 – 3:21 PM June 23, 2009
You might want to see the 'unofficial video' already posted - much geekier, and much more fun! http://boingboing.net/2009/06/06/awesome-infringing-m.html
Marcelo
#4 – 5:06 PM June 23, 2009
In my first film sound class at USC we got a visit from the folks at Dolby. They used a clip from Lisztomania, specifically the last ten minutes, to demonstrate Dolby SR (the lecture was all about the history of sound release formats).
To this day it's a cult favorite at USC film school because everyone takes that class. Sad it's not on DVD.
Marcelo
#5 – 5:09 PM June 23, 2009
Oh I forgot. The last ten minutes involves an epic rock battle between Liszt and Wagner, who (spoiler alert!) reveals himself to be a bloodthirsty vampire.
The battle is kickass and rocktastic, and Liszt wins with the power of his clear plastic piano, which you can catch a glimpse of in that trailer.
KanedaJones
#6 – 1:13 AM June 24, 2009
although the trailer looks choppy thats because they could only use the bits of the movie where there were not any giant penises or butts or other strange wierdness. Although they seem fine keeping in the giant red panties heheh, I guess the penises would scare the men folk away.
that japanese soundtrack cover was like that for a reason. My wife still has nightmares of giant foam rubber penises from that flick.
definately not for the whole family.. OR definately for the whole family if you are twisted like the addams.
Bodhi
#7 – 7:06 PM June 25, 2009
I'm afraid "pout" means to push the lips outwards, and so eyes, lacking lips, are unable to pout. Perhaps you mean something like "soulful."