Franz Liszt (1811-86)

Started by Lethevich, September 28, 2008, 07:11:41 AM

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MN Dave

Go for it. Start a poll. I would...

Gurn Blanston

BTW, it's hard to beat Ivan Fischer for the Hungarian Rhapsodies. Just tryin' to stay on topic, if I may... :)

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karlhenning

Quote from: Gurn Blanston on April 08, 2010, 09:26:46 AM
BTW, it's hard to beat Ivan Fischer for the Hungarian Rhapsodies. Just tryin' to stay on topic, if I may... :)

8)

Oh, so you're switching to the orchestral transcriptions, is that it? ; )

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on April 08, 2010, 09:30:59 AM
Oh, so you're switching to the orchestral transcriptions, is that it? ; )

That's what I like... "Pianos? We don' need no steenkin' pianos!". :)

8)
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karlhenning

Quote from: MN Dave on April 08, 2010, 09:23:24 AM
Go for it. Start a poll. I would...

Oh, yes, he would . . . .

I like both Chopin & Liszt, and won't choose between them.  (Chopin dedicate his Opus 10 Etudes to Liszt.)

mc ukrneal

Quote from: Gurn Blanston on April 08, 2010, 09:26:46 AM
BTW, it's hard to beat Ivan Fischer for the Hungarian Rhapsodies. Just tryin' to stay on topic, if I may... :)

8)

Well, I have Dorati conducting an orchestral version and he is fantastic, so I have never explored further.
Be kind to your fellow posters!!

karlhenning

Which, BTW, means that Liszt was more important to the history of piano playing and literature than Wagner.  (To state the obvious.)

jowcol

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on April 08, 2010, 09:55:09 AM

Oh, yes, he would . . . .

I like both Chopin & Liszt, and won't choose between them.  (Chopin dedicate his Opus 10 Etudes to Liszt.)

I remember reading some anecdote where the lighting was bad in one place, and Chopin essentially played in the dark.  The audience loved it, and so it was repeated, but the second time,  unknown to anyone but Chopin, Liszt sat in, and played in the style of Chopin, and fooled the audience.  Afterwards, Liszt said that although he could play in the style of Chopin, Chopin could probably not play in the style of Liszt. 

I may have mangled this beyond all recognition, as the book I am recalling from in in the Library, but I'd have a hard time picking one or another in a poll.
"If it sounds good, it is good."
Duke Ellington

karlhenning

Quote from: ukrneal on April 08, 2010, 09:56:55 AM

Quote from: Gurn BlanstonBTW, it's hard to beat Ivan Fischer for the Hungarian Rhapsodies. Just tryin' to stay on topic, if I may... :)

8)

Well, I have Dorati conducting an orchestral version and he is fantastic, so I have never explored further.

At the risk of agreeing with you both, everything that I have heard conducted either by DorĂ¡ti or Fischer has been excellent.

karlhenning

Quote from: jowcol on April 08, 2010, 10:08:35 AM
I remember reading some anecdote where the lighting was bad in one place, and Chopin essentially played in the dark.  The audience loved it, and so it was repeated, but the second time,  unknown to anyone but Chopin, Liszt sat in, and played in the style of Chopin, and fooled the audience.  Afterwards, Liszt said that although he could play in the style of Chopin, Chopin could probably not play in the style of Liszt. 

I may have mangled this beyond all recognition, as the book I am recalling from in in the Library, but I'd have a hard time picking one or another in a poll.

Dang, I really need to read a biography or two . . . .

Josquin des Prez

Quote from: jowcol on April 08, 2010, 10:08:35 AM
I remember reading some anecdote where the lighting was bad in one place, and Chopin essentially played in the dark.  The audience loved it, and so it was repeated, but the second time,  unknown to anyone but Chopin, Liszt sat in, and played in the style of Chopin, and fooled the audience.  Afterwards, Liszt said that although he could play in the style of Chopin, Chopin could probably not play in the style of Liszt. 

I may have mangled this beyond all recognition, as the book I am recalling from in in the Library, but I'd have a hard time picking one or another in a poll.

I've read all three volumes of Alan Walker's Liszt biography and i never encountered this anecdote. This is the version i read:

QuoteOne evening, when they were all assembled in the salon, Liszt played one of Chopin's nocturnes, to which he took the liberty of adding some embellishments. Chopin's delicate intellectual face, which still bore the traces of recent illness, looked disturbed; at last he could not control himself any longer, and in that tone of sang froid which he sometimes assumed he said, "I beg you, my dear friend, when you do me the honor of playing my compositions, to play them as they are written or else not at all." "Play it yourself then," said Liszt, rising from the piano, rather piqued. "With pleasure," answered Chopin. . . . Then he began to improvise and played for nearly an hour. And what an improvisation it was! Description would be impossible, for the feelings awakened by Chopin's magic fingers are not transferable into words.

When he left the piano his audience were in tears; Liszt was deeply affected, and said to Chopin, as he embraced him, "Yes, my friend, you were right; works like yours ought not to be meddled with; other people's alterations only spoil them. You are a true poet." "Oh, it is nothing," returned Chopin, gaily, "We each have our own style."

Bulldog

Quote from: kishnevi on April 08, 2010, 09:05:44 AM
Dark horse suggestion: Jando on Naxos.  It's in two volumes that make up part of their complete piano works series.  When I first got it, I had a mixed reaction to it, but it's grown on me over time.

I second the Jando set; he's a good match for Liszt.

MN Dave

Excellent anecdote! Thanks.

karlhenning

Well, how 'bout that Liszt guy?

Josquin des Prez

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on April 08, 2010, 08:54:22 AM

No, you're just apt to see what you want to see.

No, i really believe there is a dearth of good Liszt recordings and that a lot of people are not entirely satisfied with what they have.

Josquin des Prez

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on April 08, 2010, 10:06:03 AM
Which, BTW, means that Liszt was more important to the history of piano playing and literature than Wagner.  (To state the obvious.)

Wagner's own piano works are dreadful to a degree i didn't thought possible, even though some of his characteristic creative signatures still manage to show through every once i a while. He must have really despised writing for the instrument.

jowcol

Quote from: Josquin des Prez on April 08, 2010, 10:25:07 AM
I've read all three volumes of Alan Walker's Liszt biography and i never encountered this anecdote. This is the version i read:

Interesting, and thanks for providing this.  Next time I get by my library, I'll pull that book of composer anecdotes and see if I mangled it beyond recognition, if it was a different event, and if so, see about the source...
"If it sounds good, it is good."
Duke Ellington

Josquin des Prez

Personally, i have no doubt in my mind that Liszt was a better pianist then Chopin, and i'm not speaking from a purely virtuosic point of view. However, it simply isn't plausible that he would be as capable at being Chopin as Chopin himself.

jowcol

For a totally biased comparison of Chopin and Liszt, filled with direct personal assaults, threats, sweeping generalizations, some occasional earthy language and also some revelations (such as how Liszt invented jazz), check this out!  I'm still giggling...

http://xahlee.org/piano/chopin_liszt.html









"If it sounds good, it is good."
Duke Ellington

Josquin des Prez

Quote from: jowcol on April 08, 2010, 11:15:14 AM
For a totally biased comparison of Chopin and Liszt, filled with direct personal assaults, threats, sweeping generalizations, some occasional earthy language and also some revelations (such as how Liszt invented jazz), check this out!  I'm still giggling...

http://xahlee.org/piano/chopin_liszt.html

"Xah Lee"

Of course, had to be Chinese.