great compositions/performances: Liszt, Concerto pour piano n°1 – Valentina Lisitsa / Paavo Järvi

Liszt, Concerto pour piano n°1 – Valentina Lisitsa / Paavo Järvi

Orchestre de Paris

Published on Jan 8, 2014

Premier mouvement du Concerto pour piano n°1 de Franz Liszt par Valentina Lisitsa et l’Orchestre de Paris dirigé par Paavo Järvi, en répétition avant les concerts des 8/9 janvier à la Salle Pleyel.

historic musical bits: Sviatoslav Richter – Liszt – Piano Concerto No 2 in A major

Sviatoslav Richter – Liszt – Piano Concerto No 2 in A major

Opus 21

Published on Apr 25, 2014

Franz Liszt
Piano Concerto No 2 in A major, S 125

00:00 Adagio – Allegro agitato assai
07:16 Allegro moderato – Allegro deciso
14:47 Marziale un poco meno allegro
18:48 Allegro animato

Sviatoslav Richter, piano

London Symphony Orchestra
Kyrill Kondrashin, conductor

historic Musical Bits: Liszt: Années de pèlerinage, S.163 – 4. Les jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este – Claudio Arrau

Liszt: Années de pèlerinage, S.163 – 4. Les jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este – Claudio Arrau

dreamhksi

Published on Jan 12, 2013

Les jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este (The Fountains of the Villa d’Este) – Over the music, Liszt placed the inscription, “”Sed aqua quam ego dabo ei, fiet in eo fons aquae salientis in vitam aeternam” (“But the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up into eternal life,” from the Gospel of John).

 

historic musical bits, Liszt – Sonetto 104 del Petrarca – pianista Dinu Lipatti, great compositions/performances

Liszt – Sonetto 104 del Petrarca – pianista Dinu Lipatti

kurwenal63

Historic musical bits: VICTOR MERZHANOV – Liszt. Six Grandes Études de Paganini (1851), S.141, great compositions/performances

VICTOR MERZHANOV – Liszt. Six Grandes Études de Paganini (1851), S.141

robshelrobshel

VICTOR MERZHANOV, piano

Franz Liszt. Six Grandes Études de Paganini (1851), S.141

1. Étude No. 1 (g minor)
2. Étude No. 2 (E-flat Major) 04:59
3. Étude No. 3 (g-sharp minor) (La Campanella) 09:46
4. Étude No. 4 (E Major) 14:37
5. Étude No. 5 (La chasse) (E Major) 16:38
6. Étude No. 6 (Theme and Variations) (a minor) 19:20

Recorded in 1951 (2, 6) and 1955

**************************************************************

Victor Merzhanov at Moscow Conservatory (2010)

Merzhanov was born in Tambov and studied at Tambov Musical College with Solomon Starikov and Alexander Poltoratsky. Between 1936-1941 he studied at the Moscow Conservatory in the classes of Samuil Feinberg (piano) and Alexander Goedicke (organ), graduating with distinction.

He achieved international recognition as a pianist in 1945 when he won the first prize (shared with Sviatoslav Richter) at the Third All-Soviet-Union Piano Competition. In 1949, he was placed tenth at the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. Merzhanov became a Moscow Philharmony soloist in 1946.

Merzhanov was a Professor at the Moscow Conservatory from 1947 until his death. Among his students are prize-winners of international competitions: Vladimir Bunin, Oleg Volkov, Igor Girfanov, Joanna Li, Yuri Didenko, Mikhail Olenev, Hideyo Harada, Nazzareno Carusi, Tatiana Shebanova, Ruslan Sviridov, Irina Khovanskaya, Anna Yarovaya, Anahit Nersesyan, Elena Ulyanova and many others. His name is inscribed on the Moscow Conservatory’s marble wall along with those of Alexander Scriabin and Sergei Rachmaninoff. He was also a professor at the Tambov Rachmaninov Institute.

During his 60-year stage career, Merzhanov gave more than 2,000 recitals and concerts in Russia, Europe, the United States, China, and other countries, with such conductors as Lorin Maazel, Kurt Sanderling, Kirill Kondrashin, Nikolai Anosov, Aleksandr Gauk, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Yuri Temirkanov and Yevgeny Svetlanov.

His recordings (recorded for the Soviet label Melodiya and subsequently also released by various labels in the United States, Italy and Japan) show his repertoire, including works from the Baroque period to contemporary music, from works by Bach and Beethoven to those by Prokofiev and Shostakovich.

From the start of his career he championed contemporary classical music. He was chosen by Prokofiev to give the first performance of his Sixth Sonata. He sat as a jury member in more than 40 international competitions including the Rachmaninov Competition (which he founded), the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, the Bartók-Liszt Competition in Budapest, and international competitions in Montreal, Tokyo, Brussels and others. In addition Merzhanov was the artistic director of the Rachmaninov Piano Courses and contributed to the Rachmaninov Museum at the Ivanovka estate near Tambov.

Victor Merzhanov died on December 20, 2012 in Moscow. He is buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.
*************************************************************************
 The Grandes études de Paganini are a series of six études for the piano by Franz Liszt, revised in 1851 from an earlier version (published as Études d’exécution transcendante d’après Paganini, S.140, in 1838). It is almost exclusively in the final version that these pieces are played today.

The pieces are all based on the compositions of Niccolò Paganini for violin, and are among the most technically demanding pieces in the piano

literature (especially the original versions, before Liszt revised them, thinning the textures and removing some of the more outrageous technical difficulties). The pieces run the gamut of technical hurdles, and frequently require very large stretches by the performer of an eleventh (although all stretches greater than a tenth were removed from the revised versions).

Grandes Études de Paganini

Revised version (1851), S.141 – dedicated to Madame Clara Schumann

• Étude No. 1 in G minor (Preludio, Andante; Etude – Non troppo lento) (“Tremolo”) – after the 6th caprice (with the introduction and coda of the 5th).
• Étude No. 2 in E-flat major (Andante capriccioso) – after the 17th caprice.
• Étude No. 3 in G-sharp minor (Allegretto) (La campanella) – after the final movement of Paganini’s Violin Concerto #2 in B minor.
• Étude No. 4 in E major (Vivo) (“Arpeggio”) – after the 1st caprice. Written on one line only, omitting the usual separate line for the left hand. Furthermore, its lowest tone is the g, the score thus mimicking a score for violin.
• Étude No. 5 in E major (La chasse) (Allegretto) – after the 9th caprice.
• Étude No. 6 in A minor (Theme and Variations) (Quasi presto, a capriccio) – after the 24th caprice.

the amazing pianist Valentina Lisitsa plays Liszt Un Sospiro Concert Étude No. 3 , great compositions/performances

Liszt Un Sospiro Concert Étude No. 3 Valentina Lisitsa

ValentinaLisitsa

Published on Dec 15, 2012

Translated from Italian as “The sigh” ( not Liszt’ original title by the way ) this is an aural painting , the seascape equal to the masterpieces of Turner or Aivazovsky … So clearly you can “see” the gently rolling waves, smell the salty breeze, marvel at first glimpses of majestic sunrise at the very end., all in a perfect solitude…..Why in the world this gorgeous Nocturne is called an ETUDE? Did old man Liszt decided to joke with us? No, he certainly knew what he was doing! This piece is the best proof that technique, yes, that elusive thing so many aspiring pianists are desperately trying to conquer , the “technique” is nothing but physiological function of the body, just as natural a thing as breathing or walking. If you let your soul, your imagination, your ears lead the way, the fingers will come along.

Recorded November 2012 in the medieval church of beautiful village of Blumenstein Switzerland, Bosendorfer imperial from http://www.leclavier.ch/
Download mp3 https://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/val…
Download free sheet music from IMSLP http://tinyurl.com/cjves7k

Études de concert (3), for piano, S. 144 – Claudio Arrau – HD ( 3rd mov. ‘un sospiro’), great compositions/performances

Études de concert (3), for piano, S. 144 – Claudio Arrau – HD

hellsan631

Published on Sep 11, 2012

Includes all 3 movements. Taken from “Liszt: The Piano Concertos; 3 Etudes de Concert (1976)”

1. Il lamento
0:00 to 10:40

2. La leggierezza
10:50 to 16:16

3. Un sospiro
16:24 to 22:28

Quality – AAC, audio bitrate: 320kbps*
Video MP4 – 348kbps

English: chilean pianist Claudio Arrau. Español: Pianista chileno Claudio Arrau. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Perhaps the most Beautiful piece of music is the 3rd movement. There is another version of it on YouTube, but it is in extremely low audio quality. With this recording, you can sometimes hear the performer’s clothes move, or his breathing, only slightly.

If I enjoy the rest of the CD enough, I will upload the other 2 piano concertos.

Credits:
Franz Liszt
Claudio Arrau (Piano)
Recorded in London England, November of 1976
Philips Classics

*Change to 720p Video to get the a 192 kbps Audio Stream (the highest you can get on YouTube)

Liszt: The Piano Concertos; 3 Etudes de Concert
Études de concert (3), for piano, S. 144 (LW A118)

MQ0001081958
MC0002358753
F 2049358
C 11442

 

Liszt Un Sospiro Concert Étude No. 3 , Valentina Lisitsa , great compositions/performances

Liszt Un Sospiro Concert Étude No. 3 Valentina Lisitsa

ValentinaLisitsa

Published on Dec 15, 2012

Translated from Italian as “The sigh” ( not Liszt’ original title by the way ) this is an aural painting , the seascape equal to the masterpieces of Turner or Aivazovsky … So clearly you can “see” the gently rolling waves, smell the salty breeze, marvel at first glimpses of majestic sunrise at the very end., all in a perfect solitude…..Why in the world this gorgeous Nocturne is called an ETUDE? Did old man Liszt decided to joke with us? No, he certainly knew what he was doing! This piece is the best proof that technique, yes, that elusive thing so many aspiring pianists are desperately trying to conquer , the “technique” is nothing but physiological function of the body, just as natural a thing as breathing or walking. If you let your soul, your imagination, your ears lead the way, the fingers will come along.

Recorded November 2012 in the medieval church of beautiful village of Blumenstein Switzerland, Bosendorfer imperial from http://www.leclavier.ch/
Download mp3 https://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/val…
Download free sheet music from IMSLP http://tinyurl.com/cjves7k

Sviatoslav Richter – Liszt – Piano Concerto No 1 in E flat major, great compositions/performances

Sviatoslav Richter – Liszt – Piano Concerto No 1 in E flat major

Opus 21

Published on Apr 21, 2014

Franz Liszt
Piano Concerto No 1 in E flat major, S 124

00:00 Allegro maestoso
05:08 Quasi adagio – Allegretto vivace
13:49 Allegro marziale animato

Sviatoslav Richter, piano

London Symphony Orchestra
Kyrill Kondrashin, conductor

Liszt Chasse-neige Transcedental Etude #12, Valentina Lisitsa:, great compositions/performances

Liszt Chasse-neige Transcedental Etude #12 Valentina Lisitsa

   ValentinaLisitsa

Liszt has chosen a fitting title- “Chasse-neige” – for his brooding “finale” of 12 Transcendental Etudes. While today this word in French means totally different things ( I had quite amusing conversations with native French speakers about it and i am sure there will be heated arguments here too:)) – it is associated with skiing and actually can mean “a snowplower”, Liszt had other things in mind.
Loosely translated as “Snowstorm”, “Blizzard”, “метель” in Russian – this is a truthful depiction of one of the most fearsome expressions of Mother Nature powers. If anyone could paint with notes, Liszt certainly did. We can literally see and hear the ominous lead-black clouds, snow being driven horizontally by fierce howling winds, everything disappearing under a thick shroud of white snow, muffled cries of help from faceless victims… Even today, with all our modern technology, we are helpless in a face of nature’s fury. Our roads close, our planes unable to fly, our phones do not work, our lights and heat go off…
Thus, an average human being, living a pampered life with indoor plumbing in New York City of 21st century turns out to be just as helpless and vulnerable as our ancestors on villages of middle ages. And the whole “civilization” facade melts away under few dozen inches of rising water or couple of feet of snow. A sobering thought.

more from Valentina Lisitsa HERE , HERE

Daniil Trifonov – Glazunov Piano Concerto No 2 in B major: great compositions/performances

Daniil Trifonov – Glazunov Piano Concerto No 2 in B major

  newTheDoremika

Royal Albert Hall, August 13, 2013 at BBC Proms
London Symphony Orchestra
Valery Gergiev conductor

Fantasia on Hungarian Folk Melodies AKA XIV.Hungarian Rhapsody for Piano & Orchestra S123

Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Fantasia on Hungarian Folk Melodies
AKA XIV.Hungarian Rhapsody for Piano & Orchestra S123
Oravecz György (piano)
Budapest Symphony Orchestra
Kocsár Balázs (cond.)
Recording Year: 1995

00:00 Andante mesto
01:55 Adagio
02:41 Allegro molto
02:57 Allegro eroico
04:40 Piu animato
05:22 Molto adagio, quasi fantasia
06:09 Moderato.Fest.
07:00 Allegretto a la Zingarese
09:00 Molto animato
09:50 Adagio
10:33 Vivace assai
12:45 Frisch
12:50 Prestissimo

Other recommended live-video with Oravecz György:
Tom & Jerry – The Cat Concerto from Hungary/Budapest, 2012,June 8.
Liszt II. Rhapsody for piano & orchestra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7rxj0…

Recordings with Oravecz György:
[Oravecz György] Liszt: XIV.Hungarian Rhapsody for Piano Solo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgOCO-…
[Oravecz György] Liszt: Fantasia on Hungarian Folk Melodies for Piano & Orchestra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBuuwA…
[Oravecz György] Liszt: Totentanz for Piano Solo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01zFys…
[Oravecz György] Liszt: Totentanz for Piano & Orchestra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2FPuP…

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• Liszt Concerto #2 file1 Valentina Lisitsa (audio): great compositions/performances

Frédéric Chopin – 24 Études Op. 10 & Op. 25 and 3 Nouvelles Études | Claudio Arrau, piano: make music part of your life series

Frédéric Chopin – 24 Études Op. 10 & Op. 25 and 3 Nouvelles Études | Claudio Arrau, piano

Frédéric Chopin – 12 Études Opp. 10 & 25. 3 Nouvelles Études. (Claudio Arrau, “The Philosopher of the Piano”, 1956) (2007 Digital Remastering)
Recorded: 15-22 & 29.VI. and 5.IX.1956, No.3, Abbey Road Studios, London. First issued in 1957 by Columbia Ltd. Mono/ADD
“Great Recordings of the 20th Century”. EMI Icons, EMI Classics, 2011 & Warner Classics, 2013.

I. Book No.1: 12 Etudes for Piano Op.10, 1830-32.
Before Chopin, there was a tradition of writing studies for the development of keyboard technique, but the pieces were primarily didactic. This set of 12 Études, dedicated to Liszt, represents a new form: concert pieces that serve a secondary function as development of advanced piano skills. Each étude begins with a pattern of pianistic figuration, which creates the specific technical problem for the étude and persists for the duration of the piece. That Chopin was able to create poetry in spite of such controlled and limited means of expression is a testament to his creative genius. The twelve Études published as Chopin’s Opus 10 are an indispensable tool of the modern pianist’s craft: they are a rite of passage that no serious pianist can ignore.
00:00 Nº 1 in C major. Allegro
01:59 Nº 2 in A minor. Allegro
03:23 Nº 3 in E major. Lento ma non troppo (Tritesse – L’intimite) – http://youtu.be/FKDir13g7ow
07:55 Nº 4 in C sharp minor. Presto (Torrent)
10:10 Nº 5 in G flat major. Vivace (Black Keys)
11:55 Nº 6 in E flat minor. Andante
14:49 Nº 7 in C major. Vivace (Toccata)
16:26 Nº 8 in F major. Allegro
18:51 Nº 9 in F minor. Allegro molto agitato
21:00 Nº 10 in A flat major. Vivace assai
23:14 Nº 11 in E flat major. Allegretto
26:17 Nº 12 in C minor. Allegro con fuoco (Revolutionary – Fall of Warsaw)

II. Book No.2: 12 Etudes for Piano Op.25, 1835-37.
This Op.25 collection bears a dedication to Liszt’s mistress, Countess Marie d’Agoult, a writer who used the pseudonym Daniel Stern (the Op.10 Études are dedicated to Franz Liszt). One reason Chopin attempted to capture Liszt’s sympathies with the dedications had to do with the performance design of the pieces in the two sets: each was written to highlight some facet of pianism.
28:57 Nº 1 in A flat major. Allegro sostenuto (Aeolian Harp – Shepherd Boy)
31:21 Nº 2 in F minor. Presto (Balm)
33:05 Nº 3 in F major. Allegro (Carwheel)
35:08 Nº 4 in A minor. Agitato
37:28 Nº 5 in E minor. Vivace
40:52 Nº 6 in G sharp minor. Allegro (Thirds)
43:00 Nº 7 in C sharp minor. Lento (Cello)
48:21 Nº 8 in D flat major. Vivace (Sixths)
49:30 Nº 9 in G flat major. Allegro assai (Butterfly)
50:35 Nº 10 in B minor. Allegro con fuoco
55:04 Nº 11 in A minor. Lento – Allegro con brio (Winter Wind)
58:41 Nº 12 in C minor. Allegro molto con fuoco (Ocean)

III. Trois Nouvelles Études for piano, 1839-40.
Chopin composed this set of etudes for the Méthode des methods, a publication of Ignaz Moscheles, a leading pianist and composer of his day who was not always in agreement with Chopin’s compositional techniques, and François-Joseph Fétis, a now largely forgotten Belgian musicologist.
1:01:26 Nº 1 in F minor
1:03:31 Nº 2 in A flat major
1:05:56 Nº 3 in D flat major

As always with Arrau, the Pianist takes a back seat to Music Making, are a prime example of how myth making regarding Arrau’s Recordings. Arrau approaches Chopin’s Etudes as a genuinely mature musician and sensitive interpreter. In Opus 10, No. 3, for instance, he infuses the music with a deep sadness that recalls its XIX Century title, “La Tristesse.” Incidentally, this record received the Grand Prix du Disque Frédéric Chopin from the Warsaw Chopin Society when it was re-released in 1990.

The 24 Études of Frédéric Chopin (divided into two separate opuses, 10 and 25, but actually composed almost simultaneously) remain the most significant entries in that particular musical genre. Chopin refers, in a letter dating from the fall of 1829, to having written a study “in [his] own manner,” and indeed, a great chasm stands between his achievements and the far drier études of his predecessors (one thinks of Moscheles, Czerny, and Hummel in particular). It was not Chopin’s intent, as it was with many nineteenth-century pianist-composers, to create studies of mere technique and raw dexterity; here, instead, are works with an inexhaustible array of textures, moods, and colors to explore. These are works meant for the concert hall as well as for the practice room

Despite the slightly cramped, airless sonics, Arrau’s characteristically warm and ample sonority makes itself felt in these 1956 recordings. The pianist uncovers layers of depth and disquiet in the slower Études that others merely prettify. The treacherous extensions in the E-Flat Étude, for instance, are distinctly projected and balanced, rather than strummed. Arrau’s spectacularly honest technique enables him to articulate Chopin’s sparkling figurations with a liquid legato unaided by the pedal.

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• Études de concert (3), for piano, S. 144 – Claudio Arrau – HD: great compositions/performances
• Arthur Rubinstein plays Frédéric Chopin Piano Concerto N.º 2 Op. 21 in F minor with London Symphony Orchestra conducted by André Previn
• Great Compositions/Performances: Liszt 3 Concert Etudes No 3 Un Sospiro Arrau Rec 1974
• Claudio Arrau
• Vladimir Horowitz 1950 / Chopin Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35 “Funeral March”: unique musical moments

Études de concert (3), for piano, S. 144 – Claudio Arrau – HD: great compositions/performances

FROM:

    hellsan631

Études de concert (3), for piano, S. 144 – Claudio Arrau – HD

Includes all 3 movements. Taken from “Liszt: The Piano Concertos; 3 Etudes de Concert (1976)”

1. Il lamento  0:00 to 10:40

2. La leggierezza  10:50 to 16:16

3. Un sospiro  16:24 to 22:28

**Quality – AAC, audio bitrate: 320kbps
Video MP4 – 348kbps

***Perhaps the most Beautiful piece of music is the 3rd movement. There is another version of it on YouTube, but it is in extremely low audio quality. With this recording, you can sometimes hear the performer’s clothes move, or his breathing, only slightly.

***If I enjoy the rest of the CD enough, I will upload the other 2 piano concertos.

Credits:
Franz Liszt
Claudio Arrau (Piano)
Recorded in London England, November of 1976
Philips Classics

*Change to 720p Video to get the a 192 kbps Audio Stream (the highest you can get on YouTube)

Liszt: The Piano Concertos; 3 Etudes de Concert
Études de concert (3), for piano, S. 144 (LW A118)

MQ0001081958
MC0002358753
F 2049358
C 11442

---

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Three Concert Études (Trois études de concert), S.144, are a set of three piano études by Franz Liszt, composed between 1845–49 and published in Paris as Trois caprices poétiques with the three individual titles as they are known today.^[1] As the title indicates, they are intended not only for the acquisition of a better technique, but also for concert performance. The Italian subtitles now associated with the studies – Il lamento (“The Lament”), La leggierezza (“Lightness”), Un sospiro (“A sigh”) – were not in early editions.^[2]

Étude No. 1, Il lamento

Il lamento is the first of Liszt’s Three Concert Études. Written in A-flat major, it is among the composer’s longest pieces in this genre. It starts with a four-note lyrical melody which folds itself through the work, followed by a Chopin-like chromatic pattern which reappears again in the coda section. Although this piece opens and ends in A-flat major, it shifts throughout its three parts to many other keys including A, G, B, D-sharp, F-sharp and B.^[1]

Étude No. 2, La leggierezza

La leggierezza (meaning “lightness”) is the second of the Three Concert Études. It is a monothematic piece in F minor with a very simple melodic line in each hand under an unusual Quasi allegretto tempo marking, usually ignored in favour of something a bit more frenetic.^[3] It starts with a fast, but delicate sixteen chromatic-note arpeggio divided in thirds and sixths under an irregular rhythmic subdivision and cadenza so as to underline the light atmosphere of its title.^[3] The technical difficulties involved are fast passages of minor thirds in the right hand and light, but quick leggiero chromatic scales.

Étude No. 3, Un sospiro

The third of the Three Concert Études is in D-flat major, and is usually known as Un sospiro (Italian for “A sigh”). However, it is likely that the title did not originate with Liszt. Although there is no evidence that he actively attempted to remove the subtitle, none of the editions or subsequent printings of the Three Concert Études published by Kistner during Liszt’s lifetime used them; he simply ignored such subtitles in later years, always referring to the piece by key.

The étude is a study in crossing hands, playing a simple melody with alternating hands, and arpeggios. It is also a study in the way hands should affect the melody with its many accentuations, or phrasing with alternating hands. The melody is quite dramatic, almost Impressionistic, radically changing in dynamics at times, and has inspired many listeners.

Un sospiro consists of a flowing background superimposed by a simple melody written in the third staff. This third staff—an additional treble staff—is written with the direction to the performer that notes with the stem up are for the right hand and notes with the stem down are for the left hand. The background alternates between the left and right hands in such a way that for most of the piece, while the left hand is playing the harmony, the right hand is playing the melody, and vice versa, with the left hand crossing over the right as it continues the melody for a short while before regressing again. There are also small cadenza sections requiring delicate fingerwork throughout the middle section of the piece.

Towards the end, after the main climax of the piece, both hands are needed to cross in an even more complex pattern. Since there are so many notes to be played rapidly and they are too far away from other clusters of notes that must be played as well, the hands are required to cross multiple times to reach dramatic notes near the end of the piece on the last page.

This étude, along with the other Three concert études, was written in dedication to Liszt’s uncle, Eduard Liszt (1817–1879), the youngest son of Liszt’s grandfather and the stepbrother of his own father. Eduard handled Liszt’s business affairs for more than thirty years until his death in 1879.

In film

• It was part of the film score in the 1948 Paul Gordon film “Concert Magic“.
• The piece was used as the recurring musical theme in the 1948 Max Ophüls film Letter from an Unknown Woman.
• It was the main theme from the Franz Liszt bio picture of 1960, Song Without End.
• It was also part of the critically acclaimed ensembles of the 1996 Scott Hicks film called “Shine” about a pianist’s struggle.
• It was also an inspiring piano piece in the 2000 Jun Ichikawa film called Zawa-zawa Shimo-Kitazawa for a Japanese girl finding her way in life.
• It was featured in the 2009 TV show Kings twice in the pilot.
• It appeared in the 2011 film The Green Hornet when the character Kato is playing the piano with Lenore on their first date.
  

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• Liszt Concerto #2 file1 Valentina Lisitsa (audio): great compositions/performances
• Make Music Part of Your Life Series: Claudio Arrau plays Debussy Estampes, no.2, “La soirée dans Grenade”

Liszt Concerto #2 file1 Valentina Lisitsa (audio): great compositions/performances

FROM:

  ValentinaLisitsa

Liszt Concerto #2 file1 Valentina Lisitsa (audio)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Franz Liszt wrote drafts for his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in A major, S.125, during his virtuoso period, in 1839 to 1840. He then put away the manuscript for a decade. When he returned to the concerto, he revised and scrutinized it repeatedly. The fourth and final period of revision ended in 1861. Liszt dedicated the work to his student Hans von Bronsart, who gave the first performance, with Liszt conducting, in Weimar on January 7, 1857.

Form

This concerto is one single, long movement, divided into six sections that are connected by transformations of several themes:

• Adagio sostenuto assai

  The key musical idea of this concerto comes at the beginning. Quietly yet confidently, half a dozen woodwinds, no more than five at a time, play a sequence of two chords—an A major chord with a C sharp on top, then a dominant seventh on F natural. The first chord sounds very ordinary. The second opens possibilities unhinted by what preceded it. One note connects the two chords—an A. This sequence sounds colorful and strange yet inevitable and easily grasped.

• Allegro agitato assai

  This is technically the scherzo of the piece. It starts in B-flat minor and ends in C-sharp minor.

• Allegro moderato

  This section contains a great deal of lyricism and proceeds at an unhurried pace. Among its charms is a metamorphosis of the opening theme, played by solo cello while accompanied by the piano, showing the influence of Italian bel canto on Liszt’s work.

• Allegro deciso

• Marziale un poco meno allegro

  Yet another transformation of the gentle opening theme, this movement has also nearly always been attacked as vulgar and a betrayal of both the initial character of this theme and the concerto on the whole. American musicologist Robert Winter disagreed. He called the march “a masterstroke that demonstrates the full emotional range of thematic transformation.”^[1] The march contains the force and weight needed to reestablish the home key of A major, from which the music has been moving quite far since the concerto opened.

• Allegro animato

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Franz Liszt – Tasso, Lamento e Trionfo: make music part of your life series

Franz Liszt – Tasso, Lamento e Trionfo

FROM

  Fledermaus1990
Happy 200th Birthday to Franz Liszt!

Franz Liszt (October 22, 1811 — July 31, 1886) was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.

Liszt became renowned throughout Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age and perhaps the greatest pianist of all time.

Tasso, Lamento e Trionfo.

Franz Liszt composed his Tasso, Lamento e trionfo (Tasso, Lament and Triumph) in 1849, revising it in 1850-51 and again in 1854. It is numbered No. 2 in his cycle of 13 symphonic poems written during his Weimar period.

Liszt’s first sketch for this work is dated August 1, 1849. He had heard the principal theme for Tasso in Venice, Italy several years earlier, however, using it in the 1840 version of his piano piece “Chant do Goldolier” in Venezia e Napoli. Liszt completed the 1849 verion of Tasso as an overture in two sections, giving it to August Conradi to orchestrate. This version was performed in Weimar, Germany on the centennial of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe‘s birth as an overture to his drama Torquato Tasso. Liszt later corrected Conradi’s score and had Joachim Raff produce a new score in 1850–51. Liszt then revised this score extensively, adding a central section. This version was performed on April 19, 1854 in Weimar, conducted by Liszt.

Conductor: Michel Plasson
Orchestra: Dresdner Philharmonie

Great Compositions/Performances: Chopin Fantasy f minor Op 49. Valentina Lisitsa

[youtube.com/watch?v=5s2mtaQZQn0]

Chopin Fantasy f minor Op 49. Valentina Lisitsa

FROM VALENTINA:  “This is Chopin’s response to Liszt’s “Funerailles” ( I know, I know, Liszt wrote it AFTER Chopin died – so let’s say it was Liszt’s response to Chopin’s Fantasy) The same plan – starting with a funeral introduction , same f -minor, same abundance of octaves… But Funerailles is a great piano war-horse, favorite of any “virtuoso” with a decent octave technique – sure and cheap way to impress and thrill the audiences. Fantasy in comparison is a poor cousin , underappreciated and often misunderstood : the worst offenders are often female pianists ( LOL, huuuuuge grin goes here ) playing it in overly sentimental and romanticized way – complete with hands flailing , eyes rolling and hair flying 🙂 Guys just can’t do it  🙂
How did it happen? Liszt was a great self-promotion and marketing guy – he discovered a neat trick of “programming” in music , forcing music “to tell a story”- and listeners suddenly thought ” Gee, now we understand what this music is about , how cool !” This was his trademark -but it was certainly not his invention. In fact , most if not all music has a “program” , something composer thought of when composing and something we think of when we listen .It can be something very concrete and extremely detailed ( Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique for example)- or just a vague hint of an idea that makes us think further ( Beethoven 5th Symphony ).The problem with detailed programs is that music can become “dated” , tied to a certain event that might be of no importance to future listeners. People can relate in perpetuity to ” the fate knocking on the door” of the 5th symphony. But we can never again ( hopefully ) feel what French audience must have felt on Berlioz’ premiere during the third movement with its guillotine strike. I bet their hair was standing up and Goosebumps were covering the listeners who still remembered Terror some years before…I think that even watching Avatar in 3D is nothing in comparison to that experience 🙂
Chopin was much more subtle in his “programs”-he catered to more sophisticated smaller audience of salons rather than big concert halls. These people knew the historical context and could understand him without need to spell it out . In order to fully appreciate his music we must know at least a bit of history too. Then it becomes clear that Chopin was so different from a stereotyped effeminate ,sickly romantic virtuoso image. He was a true titan, not in body but in spirit – singlehandedly ( with few brethren poets ,artists etc.)keeping the whole people from oblivion and cultural destruction. For his people , his country, was at this time a mere geographic term . Formerly a proud and powerful nation ,one of Europe superpowers, Poland has fallen so low because of internal discord that it was picked piece by piece by strong and brutal neighbors until it disappeared. New “owners” were bent on wiping national identity and pride to secure their new acquisitions. They would have succeeded was it not for Chopin. You know that musicologists call him a first” national” composer. For a good reason – he created an epic of his nation in music just as Homer created his in Odyssey or Virgil in Aeneid… And we are not only talking about things like Polonaises or Mazurkas fitting into this “national” category. Fantasy is a prime example of thinly veiled national music. Why? Bear with me while I take you through last foray into history. Chopin and his family ended up in a part of Poland that was grabbed by Russian Empire. He traveled abroad with Russian passport ( Chopin , a Russian composer ? LOL) and he had to lie on his exit visa application ( yes, I am serious ) that he is in transit to New World, Americas. He lived for almost whole his life with a stamp ” in Transit”. The single event in history that changed his life was Polish uprising of 1830-31, a noble but doomed to fail attempt by patriots to overthrow occupying forces ( Revolutionary Etude was written the night he got the news of Russian Cossacks entering Warsaw , he didn’t know if his family even survived all carnage and rape ) . The rebels was brutally destroyed and all the hope of freedom was lost. Chopin realized that he will never see his native land – or even his family. All his life he was carrying in his soul – and in his music – the memory of this event and of its unsung heroes. Fantasy is an ode to all those who lost their lives in the fight for freedom.”

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• Valentina Lisitsa at Wigmore Hall
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Great Compositions/Performances: Liszt Ballade 2 Bonn Beethoven-Haus Lisitsa on 97 keys

Finally a chance to use all 97 keys, live , on video 🙂
In the original score , the decending broken octaves passage ( so-called martellato, around 8:00“) is reduced in left hand to a single line at the bottom , when Liszt-times piano run out of keys to decsend. The effect of using the missing lower octave – particulalry in live setting – is simply stupendous. There is nothing that can match sound of roaring Imperial extra-low notes! It has to be heard live – or at least in analogue recording ( that I am going to make very soon , a “Liszt project ” ) . This is the piano I am going to use 🙂 Bosy rules !!!!

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Great Compositions/Performances: Liszt 3 Concert Etudes No 3 Un Sospiro Arrau Rec 1974

From Beckmesser2:  “For me. the most fascinating aspect of this recorded performance, by Claudio Arrau,is the interpolation of material not found in the original text. I suspect that these additional measures ,found after the second cadenza and three measures before the end, came from Liszt through his pupil Martin Krause, Arrau’s teacher.”

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Great Compositions/Performances: Beethoven Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 “Pathétique” Live – Valentina Lisitsa

Great Compositions/Performances: Beethoven Sonata No. 8 in C minor Op. 13 “Pathétique” Live – Lisitsa

Special for my German fans! List of info for upcoming concerts in Deutschland in the next couple of weeks below . Munchen (Mar24), Stuttgart(Mar27), Heidelberg(Apr 7)
Do come ! For Beethoven and more :-)))
http://www.muenchenmusik.de/veranstal…
http://www.sks-russ.de/veranstaltunge…
http://heidelberger-fruehling.de/cont…

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encore: Great Compositions/Performances: Valentina Lisitsa Plays Paganini-Liszt “La Campanella”

Paganini-Liszt La Campanella

Live from Seoul. Encore #1. Liszt “La Campanella”
Buy La Campanella video http://www.amazon.co.uk/Live-Royal-Al..

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• Valentina Lisitsa
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• Awesome Piano – Lisitsa Valentina- Moonlight Sonata, Movement 3

 

Great Performances: Valentina Lisitsa plays Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2

Valentina Lisitsa plays Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.

Recorded live on May 22th, 2010 in Leiden, Holland
by von Aichberger & Roenneke GmbH
Michael von Aichberger
Dominik Roenneke
Florian Breuer
Michael Hohnstock
Thanks to Alexei Kuznetsoff
and
Cum Laude Concerten, Leiden
Michiel van Westering

 

English: Pianist Valentina Lisitsa during an interview in Leiden, Netherlands Deutsch: Pianistin Valentina Lisitsa während eines Interviews in Leiden, Holland (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

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Fabulous Performers: Liszt, Hungarian Rhapsody No.6, Martha Argerich 1966

A turbulent interpretation of one of Liszt’s many rhapsodies. Interesting to note her getting carried away in the final (and maniacal!) octaves nearing the end. Looks like even Martha can get the better of Martha…

Filmed in Munich, 1966.

 

Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, S124/R455, Piano: Harumi Hanafusa

李斯特 第一號鋼琴協奏曲
Liszt, Franz 
Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, S124/R455
—————————————-­————————–
1. » Allegro maestoso
2. » Quasi adagio
3. » Allegro marziale animato

Piano: Harumi Hanafusa
鋼琴: 花房晴美

Conductor: Heinz Wallberg
指揮: 華爾貝格

NHK Symphony
NHK交響樂團

Ave Maria Schubert Liszt Valentina Lisitsa

The most beautiful and inspired melody ever written, isn’t it? I don’t feel any kind of video or visual is adequate for this music. Too much action , with hands flying all over the keyboard ( Liszt made sure it is one of the most difficult transcriptions – ever ) . To fully enjoy it , download a free MP3 at my Google Music store:
https://market.android.com/details?id…
Outside of US download here : http://tinyurl.com/7zz3ewc
If you feel creative, please go ahead and make better visuals – or just use it as a soundtrack for a self-made Christmas card, or share it with your friends as is… Enjoy – and Merry Christmas !!!!
The video was recorded a week ago , in Hannover – for “Liszt project”, my attempt to recreate old style recording — with final result being an fully analogue vinyl LP…
PS. Turns out Google music is not available for non-US users. I uploaded it on file-sharing and links are available at my twitter account ( ValLisitsa) and Facebook. or directly:
http://tinyurl.com/7zz3ewc

Sheet music is available at IMSLP here ( it is a beautiful first edition in public domain ): 
http://tinyurl.com/7sln8xh

 

Fabulous Performamces: “Liszt Project” Recording Old-Fashioned Way:-) Analog Tape to Vinyl LP. Lisitsa

Recording of Liszt album in all analog ( or analogue if you will :-)) 1/4 inch Studer tape , no edits allowed !!!! 6 tapes , each one 40 minutes long is what it takes to get approximately 53 minutes of final result. I always knew that Liszt was dangerous 🙂 One tape was gone for sound tests , and another wasted on takes that had a squeeky pedal ( or was it a boot )? Anywya, here is more technical stuff…
Digital back-up ( lol) on Sequoia digital platform .
Interviews with the producer Michael Fine, sound engineers Wolf Dieter Karwatky and Wim Makkee. Liszt Ballade #2, Hungarian Rhapsody #12, Verdi – Liszt Aida, Schubert – Liszt songs (Ave Maria, Gute Nacht, Der Erlkonig, Der Muller und der Bach, Das Madchen Klage), Rondo Fantastique “El Contrabandista”.

 

Horowitz, Schubert Impromptu op. 90 n° 4 in A flat major

“Vladimir Horowitz, the last romantic”, 1985 filmed recital in his living room with his wife Wanda Toscanini-Horowitz.

1. Bach-Busoni, Chorale in G minor “Nun Komm der Heiden Heiland“
2. Mozart, Sonata in C major K330
3. Schubert, Impromptu op. 90 n° 4 in A flat major
4. Chopin, Mazurka op. 17 n° 4 in A minor
5. Chopin, Scherzo n° 1 in B minor
6. Liszt, Consolation n° 3 in D flat major
7. Rachmaninoff, Prelude op. 32 n° 12 in G sharp minor
8. Schumann, Novelette op. 21 in F major
9. Scriabin, Etude op. 2 n° 1 in C sharp minor
10. Chopin, Polonaise op. 53 in A flat major
11. Chopin, Etude op. 10 n° 5 “Black keys”
12. Moszkowski, Etude in F major
13. Liszt, “Au bord d’une source“

 

LISZT Un Sospiro Etude de Concert 3 D flat major – Pianist Michel Mananes

For better audio Franz Liszt Etude de Concert no. 3 ” Un Sospiro ” click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVhFQy…

Michel Mañanes plays Franz Liszt Etude de Concert no. 3 ” Un Sospiro ” in D flat Major. With recitals for Europe and south america especially. He won first prize in several young piano competitions. He is Piano Teacher in Madrid and continue to give concerts. 
http://www.myspace.com/michelmananesc…
Michel Mañanes has obtained, recently, the University Title of “Expert in Pianistic Interpretation”, gotten with “Cum Laudae” by unanimous vote (International University of Andalusia)

“Un sospiro” (Italian, for “a sigh”) is the third of Franz Liszt’s Trois études de concert (Three Concert Études). It is also sometimes referred to as Étude No. 39, and is a piano solo in D-flat major. However, it is likely that the title did not originate with Liszt. Although there is no evidence that he actively attempted to remove the subtitle “Un sospiro,” none of the editions or subsequent printings of the Trois études published by Kistner during Liszt’s lifetime used them; he simply ignored such subtitles in later years, always referring with his pupils to the piece by key.

Franz Liszt – Tasso, Lamento e Trionfo

Franz Liszt (October 22, 1811 — July 31, 1886) was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.

Liszt became renowned throughout Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age and perhaps the greatest pianist of all time.

Tasso, Lamento e Trionfo.

Franz Liszt composed his Tasso, Lamento e trionfo (Tasso, Lament and Triumph) in 1849, revising it in 1850-51 and again in 1854. It is numbered No. 2 in his cycle of 13 symphonic poems written during his Weimar period.

Liszt’s first sketch for this work is dated August 1, 1849. He had heard the principal theme for Tasso in Venice, Italy several years earlier, however, using it in the 1840 version of his piano piece “Chant do Goldolier” in Venezia e Napoli. Liszt completed the 1849 verion of Tasso as an overture in two sections, giving it to August Conradi to orchestrate. This version was performed in Weimar, Germany on the centennial of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe‘s birth as an overture to his drama Torquato Tasso. Liszt later corrected Conradi’s score and had Joachim Raff produce a new score in 1850–51. Liszt then revised this score extensively, adding a central section. This version was performed on April 19, 1854 in Weimar, conducted by Liszt.

Conductor: Michel Plasson
Orchestra: Dresdner Philharmonie

 

Georges Cziffra Plays Liszt’s Polonaise No.2 in E Major

RICHTER – LISZT Piano CONCERTO No.1 in E Flat

Excerpts from Robert Cummings’ article:  “The genesis of Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat major dates to 1830, when the composer sketched out the main theme in a notebook. It wasn’t until the 1840s, however, that Liszt actually commenced work on the concerto. As a neophyte in the art of orchestration — his output to that point consisted almost entirely of keyboard music — Liszt enlisted the assistance of his pupil Joachim Raff in providing the work an instrumental skin. Liszt completed the concerto in 1849 but made a number of revisions over the next several years. The final version of the work dates from 1856.”

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/piano-concerto-no-1-in-e-flat-major-s-124-lw-h4#ixzz1wyUzMamM