Composer and friend sit near Brahms and Liszt (10)
I believe the answer is:
palestrina
'composer' is the definition.
(Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina)
'friend sit near brahms and liszt' is the wordplay.
'friend' becomes 'pal' (pal can mean a friend).
'brahms and liszt' indicates anagramming the letters (Cockney rhyming slang for 'pissed', i.e. drunk).
'sit'+'near'='sitnear'
'sitnear' with letters rearranged gives 'estrina'.
'pal'+'estrina'='PALESTRINA'
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for palestrina that I've seen before include "He composed music" , "Italian Renaissance composer" , "musician" , "16th century Italian choral composer" .)