[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/alanwalker.jpg” caption=”Alan Walker will be given Hungary’s Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit in January. The prestigious award recognizes more than three decades of research performed on the life, music and legacy of composer Franz Liszt. “]Alan Walker refers to Franz Liszt as “the greatest pianist of his time.”

In January, the McMaster professor emeritus will be hailed as perhaps the greatest
scholar of his time when it comes to the famed Hungarian composer.

Walker will be awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of
Hungary during a special ceremony in Ottawa.

The award recognizes more than three decades of Liszt research – a pursuit which yielded three
comprehensive volumes on the life, music and legacy of the composer.

“He was the father of modern music,” said Walker, who served as chairman of the
Department of Music at McMaster from 1971-80 and again from 1990-93.

Known for his extensive body of work, Liszt is commonly celebrated as a pianist, but
also broke new ground as a composer, teacher, author and transcriber.

He died in 1886 and left behind a vast catalogue of more than 1,400 pieces. Although
many of Liszt's students lived into the age of the gramophone record, Liszt himself was
never captured on a phonographic cylinder.

The Knight's Cross is typically reserved as a military decoration, but Walker's in-depth
research and overall dedication led to a nomination in the Civil Division. He is generally
regarded as the world's preeminent English-language scholar of Franz Liszt, and
attends music conferences and symposia throughout the world.

Born in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England, Walker lectured at the Guildhall School of
Music and London University during the 1950s and 60s, and spent a decade as a BBC
music producer from 1961-1971.

After joining the Department of Music at McMaster in 1971, Walker began work on his
three-volume biography of Liszt – a quest that often involved “packing a suitcase” and
scouring archives all over North America and Europe in search of new information.

The resulting books, Franz Liszt: Volume One, Two and Three, were recently used as
source material for a nation-wide high school competition on the composer in Hungary,
where they are viewed as standard texts.

“McMaster gave me the time to concentrate on research,” said Walker, reflecting on his
earlier days with the Department of Music. Even as department chairman, he always
maintained a full course load and says he relished being able to spend so much time
with young musicians in the classroom.

As for Liszt, Walker submits that his high-profile reputation “suffered so badly” in past
accounts of his life.

“There was a superficial view that he was an 'Elvis Presley' of the nineteenth century,”
said Walker, who denounces notions of a Liszt as shallow and selfish. He admits,
however, that shining new light on the subject was like “moving a mountain.”

During the mid-1990s, Walker also created the Great Romantics Festival in Hamilton,
and was instrumental in having a portion of MacNab Street South dubbed Franz Liszt
Avenue.

“There was great support from the Hungarian diaspora in Hamilton,” said Walker, who
worked with then-Mayor Bob Morrow and Reverend Csaba Baksa to have the street signs
installed – a lasting tribute to Liszt, right next to the Hamilton Place Great Hall.

As for a favourite piece of music, Walker says he loves the “popular pieces,” but also
enjoys the more esoteric compositions such as “Funerailles” and the “Faust Symphony.”

Walker will receive the Knight's Cross from Hungarian Ambassador Laszlo Pordany.