50 years after his victory in the International Liszt-Bartók Piano Competition, David Wilde – student of Solomon and of Nadia Boulanger – brings to the studio a lifetime’s experience with the music of Franz Liszt.

The diabolically difficult 'Mephisto Waltz' No 1 is dispatched in a reading which overflows with personality and conviction, while 'Funérailles', too, is compellingly reimagined by an artist who cleaves to an earlier generation’s ideals of recreating both the self and the music in every inspired performance.

Pianist and composer David Wilde was born in Manchester in 1935. A busy wartime career as ‘boy pianist’ brought him to the attention of the legendary pianist Solomon, who arranged for Wilde to study with his pupil and assistant Franz Reizenstein. Later, from 1949, Wilde studied composition with Professor Richard Hall at the Royal Manchester College of Music (precursor of the Royal Northern College of Music), of which he was elected a Fellow in 1953. In the same year he was awarded the prestigious Walter Dayas Gold Medal.

In 2007 EMI reissued Wilde’s 1968 HMV Liszt recital, coupled with Liszt recordings by Earl Wild. Wilde now records exclusively for Delphian Records: in addition to the present repertoire, a Chopin recital (DCD34010), the complete piano works of Luigi Dallapiccola (DCD34020), a highly acclaimed Liszt Sonata coupled with the seven Elegies of Busoni (DCD34030), a Schumann recital (DCD34050), a Brahms recital (DCD34040) and a Beethoven recital (DCD34090) are all available.