Now that we have moved on from last year’s “double bicentennial” honoring Frédéric Schumann and Robert Schumann, it is time to recognize that 2011 is the bicentennial year of Franz Liszt, who was born on October 22, 1811. Pianist William Wellborn is already planning a Franz Liszt Birthday Gala concert in San Francisco on October 23; but today he initiated his contributions to the festivities with an all-Liszt program for today’s Noontime Concerts™ recital at Old St. Mary’s Cathedral (“San Francisco’s Musical Lunch Break”). Only two works were performed, the massive 1853 sonata in B minor, preceded by the much briefer “Sposalizio,” the first selection in the second (Italian) year of Liszt’s Années de Pèlerinage series, composed between 1837 and 1849…
