Have you ever asked yourself “What if Liszt had written an opera?”.  I hadn’t either.  But he did start one; Sardanapalo.  It’s based on a Byron poem and tells the story of Sardanapalus, king of Assyria, who met a rather grisly end with his favourite concubine Myra after his subjects revolted, objecting to his decadent lifestyle.  The libretto is by an unknown hand and it seems only Act 1 ever got written.  Liszt made a start on setting that, leaving just about enough material for Cambridge scholar David Trippett to produce a performable version.  This was duly performed and recorded in Weimar in 2018.

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