So 2011 is Liszt year. Does this sound less evocative than Handel year, Chopin year or Mahler year (not forgetting of course that this is our second consecutive Mahler year, 2010 marking the 150th anniversary of his birth, this year the centenary of his death)? It shouldn’t, yet Liszt has been, at worst, maligned as an empty showman and, more often, regarded with indifference. “Yes,” we all say, “we know he’s a great composer, but he’s not really one of the titans, is he?” Those in the know, however, many of them musicians and composers, are aware just how inspirational a figure he is. A brilliant teacher, dazzling pianist, a composer who rewrote the rulebook and showed those who came after him new ways to go, this was no also-ran.

In this issue, Liszt devotee Jeremy Nicholas, who wrote a facinating cover story about Chopin last year, shows precisely why Liszt deserves to be spoken of in the same breath as the three composers I mentioned at the top and how his range was far wider than many now realise. As we go to press, incidentally, some exciting Liszt news from Hyperion which didn’t make our cover story. In February the label is to issue the complete piano music (only 99 CDs), played by that indefatigable Liszt specialist Leslie Howard, while Marc-André Hamelin turns to the composer with a new album for May.

Switching composers, Sir Andrew Davis has just recorded Gustav Holst’s The Planets. In a way, Liszt and Holst share some issues. No problem with The Planets’ reputation; but, that fabulously successful suite aside, Holst suffers from “one-hit wonder” syndrome. In fact, Davis tells John von Rhein that plunging back into Holst’s world has made him appreciate anew the inspiration suffusing so many more of his works.

So two composers reassessed, we plunge into a third with Rob Cowan’s masterly traversal of Dvorák’s Cello Concerto on record. The big question for fans will be, does the famous Pablo Casals version still top the list? Liszt, Holst, Dvorák: not a bad way to start 2011.

james.inverne@haymarket.com