Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Franz Liszt appreciation thread.

Probably the greatest piano work Liszt ever wrote. It speaks more profoundly to me than anything else, I dearly love this, it says everything to me.

Are you referring to Il Lamento? If so, my first reaction would be if that's the case why is this piece so infrequently(almost never) performed?

A gorgeous piece which I once considered almost as highly as you do, but has lost some of it's charm for me. I still love it and still prefer Edith Farnadi's rendering.

@Damon: you have mentioned Farnadi before. Will try to check out some recordings on YT.

@pianoloverus: I've never heard Il lamento in recital, nor have I known anyone who has worked on it. I can only surmise that it's extreme difficulty -especially maintaining momentum over such a long span of time- may be discouraging, and that the piece doesn't have the obvious technical payoff of the other etudes.

Good luck. She wasn't a powerhouse but figured large for me because much of my Liszt was first heard through her. It may explain my preference for La leggierezza without the ossia in thirds.


Although not unusual with Liszt, the theme isn't too varied in this piece as in others. For a 10 minute piece, this could get monotonous for some, despite the brilliant ornamentation.

My question or observation was really something different.

Doesn't it seem strange to you that you consider this piece to be "probably the greatest piece Liszt wrote" but virtually no one plays it? In other words, it seems that most people have the opposite opinion of this piece.

So your point is?

anyone ever tried the valse-imprompu? so very very charming and disarming! also Liszt, to be played by all of you!

I'm working on it, but it will take me awhile. I love it!


Rubinstein owns this.

You love a piece that most don't seem to rate very highly. That's a little unusual, but more importantly you express your opinion as if it was a fact. You just say "probably the greatest piece he ever wrote." To me that's kind of like saying "Probably the earth is flat".

There you go again, so bloody tiresome with your constant whining about 'opinion as fact'. It's just an internet board, haven't you figured that out? Your 'earth is flat' analogy would be laughable if it were not so insulting.

If I happen to love that work of Liszt, I don't require anyone's approval, certainly not yours, and that is only my opinion. I think that should have been obvious, but if not, let me add an 'IMO' for your gratification.

I will no longer interact with you here, and would highly appreciate it if you did not read or respond to any of my posts in the future. You are now on IGNORE.

This, to me, is perhaps Liszt's most profound piano writing. (such that I've discovered, anyway.)

[video:youtube]peqVZ3urPdc[/video]
I think I might, possibly, have already posted this one here before, but I will do it again because I just love it so much!

Absolutely. I love that piece, and it made for some wonderful early morning listening!

I read where Microsoft is adding a new feature to Word. Now it will have pianoloverus-check in addition to spell-check and grammar check.

This is one of several videos where examples of Liszt by various artists are accompanied with some commentary by David Dubal.




Haha, Dubal doesn't share our love of Il Lamento, argerichfan. But coincidentally, he has an equally scratchy recording of Edith Farnadi performing it in this video.

Yes and my fee was one million which they happily paid. It's just called P-check due to my fame.

I don't think it's unreasonable to think it's desirable that opinions should be phrased as opinions whether on the internet or in person. To have a strong opinion about something, especially if it's not what most others think, and then phrase it as if it was purely factual seems somewhat arrogant.

It's unreasonable to constantly call people out for it when the fact that it's an opinion is obvious. Obviously you won't "get over it" but it's my opinion that you should.

I think when it's obvious it's an opinion, it's even more important/desirable to express it as one to avoid the appearance of arrogance. That's my whole point.(Just my opinion.)

Thanks for the Dubal programs. Quite fascinating to hear how he sounded 35 years ago which turns out to be almost exactly the way he sounds today. I used to listen to Dubal's radio program a lot but then got somewhat tired of his super enthusiasm and penchant for reading quotes from various books.

I've never heard him before, so I've been enjoying his excerpts for now. I think I counted 48 Liszt related programs on this channel. Each one is roughly 50 minutes long, which is a good amount of material for a Liszt-fan.

If you google his website, I think they've archived most of his more recent programs. I think he had two programs in the last decade and the less recent one was called Reflections from the Keyboard: The Piano in Comparative Performance.