Somebody explain to me what's so special about Liszt.

Started by Josquin des Prez, September 11, 2007, 05:42:39 PM

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karlhenning


Haffner

Quote from: karlhenning on September 13, 2007, 10:32:34 AM
Yeah, but not like the stuff Jimmy Page and Bob Dylan did . . . .





or Elvis-has-left-the-building type 'o stuff.

JoshLilly

Are you referring to the rumour about the time that Bob Dylan supposedly sampled marijuana?

karlhenning

Well, the book I've been reading takes it as a matter of public record that Dylan's drug of choice was speed.

EmpNapoleon

These are the worst topics!  I love Liszt.  Now I question him because someone I don't know doesn't like him.  You can do the same with any composer.  How is someone going to explain what's so special about Liszt.  I can't give you my ears.  If you're ever going to like Liszt, you'll like the composer while listening to him, not because of a recommendation.  And if I'm going to discontinue listening to Liszt, then let it happen for me.

There's alot of this on this forum:  "I don't like this conductor because he's not subtle enough, or this orchestra because they're not robust."  Stop with the criticism!!  You're making me look to dislike recordings I like. Critics, critics, critics...

If I bought 1 cd at the recommendation of every GMG member, I'd have a bunch of cd's criticised by the same members.

Kullervo

Deux Légendes, Sonata... wow! The two concerti are growing on me as well. I love the way he uses the thematic material in the first.

abidoful

I get so frustrated with Liszt- no opusnumbers (  >:( yeah, I'm very organised person) and soooooo many versions of the same work :o

I just don't know where to start exploring  ???


karlhenning

Sacrée vache, this thread has been dead almost three years?

La lugubre gondola, in various versions.


Josquin des Prez

#50
I've come a long way in understanding Liszt since i originally made this thread, but his music still strikes me as artificial and uninspired. Such is life i guess.

karlhenning

Perhaps someday you will perceive the inspiration in his work.  Everything happens in life!

Franco

Quote from: Josquin des Prez on August 05, 2010, 07:58:02 AM
I've come a long way in understanding Liszt since i originally made this thread, but his still strikes me as artificial and uninspired. Such is life i guess.

I've never been taken with Liszt's music but I have always attributed this to be my limitation and not faulted Liszt.

Ten thumbs

All music is artificial; such is the nature of human endeavor!

A day may be a destiny; for life
Lives in but little—but that little teems
With some one chance, the balance of all time:
A look—a word—and we are wholly changed.

Mirror Image

I enjoy a few of Liszt's orchestral works like his Faust Symphony, Prometheus, Orpheus, Les Preludes, and his piano concerti.

The Faust Symphony is the work that made me admire his music. The work is very deep and contains some gorgeous music. I especially like the dissonance he stirs up in the music.

Que

I have to admit that I have never been terribly impressed by Liszt, though there is some worthwhile stuff by him. And I wouldn't start a thread about it to prove my point....

Q

karlhenning

Somebody explain to me the point of a thread headed Somebody explain to me what's so special about Liszt?

abidoful

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on August 05, 2010, 07:17:56 AM

La lugubre gondola, in various versions.
Cheers, I didn't realise that link :)
So there exists FIVE versions of that piece (?)--that isn't his only work in multiple versions; 2 versions of Paganini etudes, 3 versions of Transcendental etudes, 3 versions of Ab Irato (former etude perfectiomente), 2 versions of Ballade nr 2 and so on...! How to deal with them if performing? Just explore and decide I guess :)

quintett op.57

Quote from: EmpNapoleon on September 14, 2007, 07:27:03 AM
These are the worst topics!  I love Liszt.  Now I question him because someone I don't know doesn't like him.  You can do the same with any composer.  How is someone going to explain what's so special about Liszt.  I can't give you my ears.  If you're ever going to like Liszt, you'll like the composer while listening to him, not because of a recommendation.  And if I'm going to discontinue listening to Liszt, then let it happen for me.

There's alot of this on this forum:  "I don't like this conductor because he's not subtle enough, or this orchestra because they're not robust."  Stop with the criticism!!  You're making me look to dislike recordings I like. Critics, critics, critics...

If I bought 1 cd at the recommendation of every GMG member, I'd have a bunch of cd's criticised by the same members.

No criticism, no forum (almost).

Anyway, Liszt is a great self-made orchestrator.
A piece like Hungaria is prodigiously interesting to hear.

His music is not random. It's just that he wanted it free from the most possible rules.
It's quite risky : It's quite hard to keep a coherence in a work without keeping the traditional rules of it.
For the listener, this coherence is sometimes very difficult to grasp. This is what's subtle in many of his works. This coherence is very light. I think he really wanted his music to seem completely free. He wanted us to be given this impression. He's like an acrobat trying to remain on the line that separate coherence from complete freedom.
He wanted to write without tonality if possible, but without inventing a new carcan. His quest has nothing to do with Schönberg's.



knight66

Quote from: Que on August 06, 2010, 02:16:44 AM
I have to admit that I have never been terribly impressed by Liszt, though there is some worthwhile stuff by him. And I wouldn't start a thread about it to prove my point....

Q

Ditto with about six exceptions, I just cannot get much out of his music.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.