I've been listening to different versions of Schubert's "Standchen (Serenade)" all day today on naxos.com (OK, I'm in sort of a melancholy mood!). Has anyone here played the Liszt piano transcription of this song? It is SO BEAUTIFUL!! I would love to learn it, for myself if never for any kind of performance (not like I ever perform anyway!).

I don't know how difficult it is (if it's Liszt, it can't be easy), but I think I'm going to order the sheet music next time I go on a sheet-music-buying binge.

Would love to hear others' experiences of learning/working on this piece.

I've played it....Its such an interesting and beautiful piece to play. You can really feel the loneliness of the piece when you play, almost makes you want to cry.

Its not hard at all (depending on your skill) I can honestly say that its quite easy for someone with intermediate, or even late begginer. Try it out, I recommend it.

The only technical challenge in this transcription is a modest one, and is a question of voicing. In the third "verse" of the transcription there is an "echo" effect in the upper part of the RH which has to be very soft while the main melody continues in the lower part of the RH. Where the two converge, it is sometimes difficult to get the thumb to play the accented double-dotted quarter note, accented and mf , and still play the upper echo pp .

In a couple of spots the two hands also get in the way of each other when they need to overlap, but that's not a major technical hurdle, either.

This is an exquisitely beautiful transcription, and shows Liszt's genius for this genre. There is an unfailing faithfulness to the original song (in the true sense of the word song of course) - both in the character of the melody line and in the replication of the original accompaniment figure, yet the result is a very pianistic rendering of the two blended into one.

Regards,

Thanks for your responses! From what you've said, this sounds like a piece that wouldn't be very difficult at all for me to play at my level (intermediate-advanced). Thanks, guys!

I've learned the regular version, but I can't find the sheet music for Liszt's arrangement.