Last night I sat just behind Michael Walsh as he played a recital of the works of Franz Liszt (1811-1886), with a brief appearance on the program by Richard Wagner. He is known here in Budapest as Liszt Ferenc — he was Hungarian by nationality.

Walsh is an accomplished author, journalist (many years with Time magazine), and a gifted musician. I’d met Michael before, on one of his forays to Budapest with his wife Kate, and knew of his considerable reputation as a writer. But I didn’t know a thi...