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#1809564 - 12/20/11 08:54 PM
Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
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Full Member
Registered: 09/04/10
Posts: 372
Loc: Earth
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#1809572 - 12/20/11 09:09 PM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: Gould]
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Full Member
Registered: 04/11/11
Posts: 448
Loc: Perth, Australia
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It might be hard, but it's not very good music, IMO.
_________________________
 Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C Major, WTC 1 Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No 6 in Db Major www.youtube.com/jolteon206
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#1809573 - 12/20/11 09:10 PM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: Gould]
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3000 Post Club Member
Registered: 08/26/08
Posts: 3159
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Awesome! I loved it.
_________________________
Current:
Beethoven: Sonata Op.31, No.2 ("Tempest")
Debussy: Danseuses de Delphes (Prelude 1, Book 1)
Next in line:
Chopin: Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op.23
Debussy: Le vent dans la plaine (Prelude 3, Book 1)
Debussy: Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir (Prelude 4, Book 1)
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#1809576 - 12/20/11 09:13 PM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: Jolteon]
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Full Member
Registered: 09/04/10
Posts: 372
Loc: Earth
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It might be hard, but it's not very good music, IMO. Well according to the video description this composition was composed in Liszt's early days where he payed no regard to making any legatos and used the piano as a percussive instrument.
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#1809579 - 12/20/11 09:16 PM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: Jolteon]
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1000 Post Club Member
Registered: 01/31/10
Posts: 1756
Loc: San Jose, CA
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It might be hard, but it's not very good music, IMO. Not bad for early Liszt. It doesn't compare to his later works though.. I was just listening to Freire's Harmonies du Soir album and there's more music in any one of the Consolations than in that whole fantasia.
_________________________
Current projects:
Bach: English Suite No. 3 in G minor
Chopin: Barcarolle, Op. 60
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#1809597 - 12/20/11 09:48 PM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: Gould]
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Full Member
Registered: 10/16/11
Posts: 278
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Hardest composition to listen to.
_________________________
'Practice is the great Magician, who not only makes apparent impossibilities performable, but ever easy.' ~ Carl Czerny
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#1809604 - 12/20/11 09:56 PM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: Gould]
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7000 Post Club Member
Registered: 11/15/06
Posts: 7472
Loc: Pacific Northwest, US.
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Thanks, I rather enjoyed that. Gotta love early Liszt! And the score is on IMSLP. Yes, I would say it is rather difficult. 
_________________________
Jason
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#1809607 - 12/20/11 10:02 PM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: Gould]
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4000 Post Club Member
Registered: 09/22/06
Posts: 4479
Loc: St. Louis area
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She makes this sound easier than Leslie Howard does. I would love to have heard Pletnev play this. Thanks for the link. Very enjoyable!
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#1809612 - 12/20/11 10:08 PM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: Gould]
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3000 Post Club Member
Registered: 06/08/08
Posts: 3920
Loc: Seattle area, WA
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I loved it! Thanks for posting.
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Best regards,
Deborah
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#1809615 - 12/20/11 10:14 PM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: Gould]
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2000 Post Club Member
Registered: 06/12/09
Posts: 2789
Loc: Bay Area, CA
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Interesting... I sometimes dislike Liszt, especially when there are lots of chromatic octaves or diminished chords. But I loved this too! And Lisitsa does a wonderful job-- one of the best recordings I've heard from her.
Her youtube notes (which she wrote herself) are worth reading.
-J
_________________________
Learning: Polonaise-Fantasie, Scherzo 1, op.59 mazurkas
Refining: Chopin 27/2, 25/1, 10/9, 10/5, 10/6
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#1809618 - 12/20/11 10:22 PM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: argerichfan]
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4000 Post Club Member
Registered: 09/22/06
Posts: 4479
Loc: St. Louis area
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Thanks, I rather enjoyed that. Gotta love early Liszt! And the score is on IMSLP. Yes, I would say it is rather difficult. Yes..and I'm afraid to look
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#1809620 - 12/20/11 10:23 PM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: beet31425]
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3000 Post Club Member
Registered: 08/26/08
Posts: 3159
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I agree. This is one of the best recordings from Lisitsa. She makes it look/sound easy and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I love her notes too. There was one video of a dark Chopin nocturne.. I LOVED her notes on that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtZokkiSxBM
_________________________
Current:
Beethoven: Sonata Op.31, No.2 ("Tempest")
Debussy: Danseuses de Delphes (Prelude 1, Book 1)
Next in line:
Chopin: Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op.23
Debussy: Le vent dans la plaine (Prelude 3, Book 1)
Debussy: Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir (Prelude 4, Book 1)
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#1809646 - 12/20/11 10:46 PM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: Gould]
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4000 Post Club Member
Registered: 11/25/09
Posts: 4622
Loc: Louisville, Kentucky, United S...
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However difficult it is, she nails it. This is a good recording from her, I think.
Also, I don't think it's THAT bad of a piece. I think it's fine. It sounds a bit like Alkan's harmonic language.
Edited by Orange Soda King (12/20/11 10:54 PM)
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Discontinuing the streaming practice for now, unless a few members PM me and still want me to do it.
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#1809666 - 12/20/11 11:13 PM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: Damon]
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7000 Post Club Member
Registered: 11/15/06
Posts: 7472
Loc: Pacific Northwest, US.
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She makes this sound easier than Leslie Howard does. I would love to have heard Pletnev play this.
I haven't heard Howard's recording. (Agree, Pletnev would be good.) One has to admire Howard for the sheer scope of his accomplishment, but many of the recordings I heard (and I only purchased a few of them) I found to be rather disappointing. His Grand solo de concert was, I think, very convincingly done, but alas, the piece would make no converts to Liszt. If you're a Lisztian, you like it, OTH if you're not a Lisztian, then the piece conveniently contains all the rhetoric and bombast which gives non-Lisztians plenty of ammunition.
_________________________
Jason
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#1809675 - 12/20/11 11:25 PM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: Gould]
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Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Registered: 11/11/09
Posts: 14778
Loc: New York
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Thanks for posting it! Never heard it, never heard of it. IMO almost as impressive as the playing: It was just posted today, and already it has ~2000 views, ~400 "likes," ~350 comments. For classical music that's pretty good.  P.S. If I weren't told the composer, I might have guessed Alkan.
_________________________
"Everything I say is my opinion, including the facts." :-)
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#1809694 - 12/20/11 11:49 PM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: argerichfan]
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4000 Post Club Member
Registered: 09/22/06
Posts: 4479
Loc: St. Louis area
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She makes this sound easier than Leslie Howard does. I would love to have heard Pletnev play this.
I haven't heard Howard's recording. (Agree, Pletnev would be good.) One has to admire Howard for the sheer scope of his accomplishment, but many of the recordings I heard (and I only purchased a few of them) I found to be rather disappointing. Being an avid fan of Liszt's music, I decided that Howard's project was the only way I could reasonably familiarize myself with all of his piano music. (he wrote numerous other pieces that I'm also trying to collect. Vocal, organ, etc.) I agree that it is often not optimal but until someone like a Pletnev, well, let's just say Howard has a lot of 'default' best recordings of Liszt! 
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#1809703 - 12/21/11 12:05 AM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: Damon]
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2000 Post Club Member
Registered: 01/09/10
Posts: 2145
Loc: Rockford, IL
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I was fortunate enough to hear Valentina play this live about ten feet away from me. She said it was a Lizst "show off" piece early in his career, before he got "soul" and started bringing the outstanding work of others to the fore. Hardest composition, or not (I think they're ALL hard!!!) she sure makes it speak! Thanks for posting this, Avarita!
_________________________
1940 Lester Spinet 1933 Schiller Console 1903 Haddorff Upright Pianos follow me home in reverse chronological order. OT, old news, still relevant: http://youtu.be/I4KIkOzw4XM
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#1809708 - 12/21/11 12:10 AM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: Cinnamonbear]
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Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Registered: 11/11/09
Posts: 14778
Loc: New York
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I was fortunate enough to hear Valentina play this live about ten feet away from me..... I guess you mean she came over to your place? But seriously folks....  ...where was that?
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"Everything I say is my opinion, including the facts." :-)
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#1809712 - 12/21/11 12:13 AM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: Damon]
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7000 Post Club Member
Registered: 11/15/06
Posts: 7472
Loc: Pacific Northwest, US.
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... he wrote numerous other pieces that I'm also trying to collect. Vocal, organ, etc.)
Yes indeed, and it's rather sobering to read (as I did once) that Liszt wrote more CHORAL music than Chopin wrote piano music. The mind goes into overdrive, not recommended at this crazy -but lovely- time of year! Liszt's setting (in German) of the Psalm XIII is awesome, but other choral works of his which I have heard, such as the Missa Solemnis, have some gloriously inspired moments, but a lot that isn't terribly -from our vantage point at least- interesting. Victorian Catholicism is rather a hard sell. His ambitious oratorio Elizabeth is worth a listen, but I would have to agree with Charles Rosen that it is slightly dull overall. I borrowed a friend's recording and am glad I didn't purchase it. (I think it runs to three CDs.)
_________________________
Jason
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#1809714 - 12/21/11 12:14 AM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: Mark_C]
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2000 Post Club Member
Registered: 01/09/10
Posts: 2145
Loc: Rockford, IL
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I was fortunate enough to hear Valentina play this live about ten feet away from me..... I guess you mean she came over to your place? But seriously folks.... ...where was that? I wish! No, Court Stree United Methodist Church, in a concert sponsored by the Mendelssohn Club. I was 10' away behind her in a pew on the diagonal, so I could see her hands go to town!
_________________________
1940 Lester Spinet 1933 Schiller Console 1903 Haddorff Upright Pianos follow me home in reverse chronological order. OT, old news, still relevant: http://youtu.be/I4KIkOzw4XM
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#1809715 - 12/21/11 12:17 AM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: Cinnamonbear]
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4000 Post Club Member
Registered: 08/29/09
Posts: 4707
Loc: Land of the never-ending music
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I was fortunate enough to hear Valentina play this live about ten feet away from me..... I guess you mean she came over to your place? But seriously folks.... ...where was that? I wish! No, Court Stree United Methodist Church, in a concert sponsored by the Mendelssohn Club. I was 10' away behind her in a pew on the diagonal, so I could see her hands go to town! I remember that thread you started a couple of months ago... A pity you didn't take any photos together!!! I cannot remember "El Contrabandista" being mentioned though. Anyway, you were very lucky!
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#1809721 - 12/21/11 12:30 AM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: ChopinAddict]
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2000 Post Club Member
Registered: 01/09/10
Posts: 2145
Loc: Rockford, IL
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I remember that thread you started a couple of months ago... A pity you didn't take any photos together!!! Did you mention this particular piece in that thread? I cannot remember "El Contrabandista" being mentioned. Anyway, you were very lucky!
I became a member of the Mendelssohn Club just so I could shake her hand at the meet-and-greet after the performance... http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1783556/1.html "Saw Valentina in concert tonight..." ...here in podunk Rockford, Illinois, in solo piano mode, in a small church. I was five pews away, angled to see the keyboard. Wow, can she play! Lots of Liszt tonight, including " La danza sacra e duetto finale de Aida," "Rondeau Fantsatique 'Il Contrabandista,'" and "Totentanze." She calmed everybody down with the Lizst "Ave Maria" as an encore. I got to converse with her after the show, too. What a pleasant, down-to-earth person! She has a heart for Liszt, that's for sure... gooddog, she wore a very modest sling-top, full length black dress. It was neat to see her shoulder muscles at work! Man, can she play! (Did I already say that?) --Andy
_________________________
1940 Lester Spinet 1933 Schiller Console 1903 Haddorff Upright Pianos follow me home in reverse chronological order. OT, old news, still relevant: http://youtu.be/I4KIkOzw4XM
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#1809769 - 12/21/11 02:46 AM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: argerichfan]
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Full Member
Registered: 11/11/08
Posts: 340
Loc: Geelong, Vic, Australia
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... he wrote numerous other pieces that I'm also trying to collect. Vocal, organ, etc.)
Yes indeed, and it's rather sobering to read (as I did once) that Liszt wrote more CHORAL music than Chopin wrote piano music. The mind goes into overdrive, not recommended at this crazy -but lovely- time of year! Liszt's setting (in German) of the Psalm XIII is awesome, but other choral works of his which I have heard, such as the Missa Solemnis, have some gloriously inspired moments, but a lot that isn't terribly -from our vantage point at least- interesting. Victorian Catholicism is rather a hard sell. His ambitious oratorio Elizabeth is worth a listen, but I would have to agree with Charles Rosen that it is slightly dull overall. I borrowed a friend's recording and am glad I didn't purchase it. (I think it runs to three CDs.) Have you heard his Oratorio 'Christus?' Leslie Howard thinks it is Liszt's greatest work and 'far and away the greatest Romantic Oratorio.' I've heard it a couple times, but didn't find it easy (not because of the work itself, but rather because i'm just not used to listening to Oratorios, especially one that goes for 3 and a half hours!). However I must say, part III (Passion und Auferstehung) has to be one of the greatest hours of music I have ever heard.
Edited by pianojosh23 (12/21/11 02:49 AM)
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#1809787 - 12/21/11 04:02 AM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: Gould]
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5000 Post Club Member
Registered: 12/28/09
Posts: 5782
Loc: Here, as opposed to there
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I hate to say it, but I find the work incredibly boring. Nice polish job on the lid, however.
_________________________
"And if we look at the works of J.S. Bach — a benevolent god to which all musicians should offer a prayer to defend themselves against mediocrity... -Debussy
"It's ok if you disagree with me. I can't force you to be right."
♪ ≠ $
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#1809878 - 12/21/11 10:32 AM
Re: Could this be Liszt's Hardest composition?
[Re: pianojosh23]
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7000 Post Club Member
Registered: 11/15/06
Posts: 7472
Loc: Pacific Northwest, US.
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Have you heard his Oratorio 'Christus?' Leslie Howard thinks it is Liszt's greatest work and 'far and away the greatest Romantic Oratorio.' I've heard it a couple times, but didn't find it easy (not because of the work itself, but rather because i'm just not used to listening to Oratorios, especially one that goes for 3 and a half hours!). However I must say, part III (Passion und Auferstehung) has to be one of the greatest hours of music I have ever heard.
This is a piece I've read about -with some high praise- but have never actually heard. Perhaps its length -and the cost of purchasing a three CD set at full price - have always caused me to procrastinate. But with your recommendation (and Howard, who should presumably know his Liszt), I'll look into it.
_________________________
Jason
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