A passage from Liszt's Transcendental Etudes (No. 4
"Mazeppa"), 1837 version showing simplified performance
suggestions by Ferruccio Busoni.
Like many of the passages in his piano pieces, my relationship with the
music of Franz Liszt had a rather turbulent beginning. Coming from what
was then a Baroque and Classical era background I considered the Liszt
works that I first came upon to be formless and rather bombastic — what
we would call today "too over the top." Really just beginning to learn
about music at that point I nevertheless stuck with it and tried to make
it through Liszt's essential works. If there's one thing about me it is that
I have rarely in life tackled things halfway. And after reading Charles
Rosen's seminal book The Classical Style I came to look at things a little
differently. I began to see how the formal and harmonic language of the
Classical period had been extended and expanded by the Romantic Era —
but not overturned. And eventually not only did I come to appreciate and
even love Liszt, but I soon found it difficult, as my knowledge grew, to
imagine the works of Mahler, Strauss, and Schoenberg without there first
having been Franz Liszt. Could there have been a Verklarte Nacht without
there first having been a "Harmonies de Soir"? I will leave that an open
question.
My favorite Liszt work in those early days was his Douze Études d'Exécution
Transcendante, normally just called the Transcendental Etudes or the TE's
(which I will use below). My first recording of the TE's was a recording
by Jorge Bolet. I had bought the Bolet recording pretty much by association
— Bolet had some sort of vague association with Indiana University where
I went to school. But I didn't much like the recording. And so a few months
later I bought another disk of the TE's by Lazar Berman. This one was better,
very strong from the technical side. Not too long after that I was in a record
store flipping through albums when I found a recording of the TE's with Russell
Sherman, then a faculty member at the New England Conservatory and not very
well known. I decided to take a chance and bought it. The Sherman version
finally satisfied me. He certainly had the technique enough. But more, he seemed
to have a way of giving chordal harmonies an almost contrapuntal sound through
bringing out inner voices. And so I now had three recordings of the TE's. Which
I have to say was very unusual for me — I didn't have the money back then to
indulge in multiple recordings of the same work. I left that tendency to my
wealthier friends.
Decades passed. My vinyl record collection gave way to cassettes and
eventually CDs. Things went up and down and back and forth as things
tend to do. And then, a few months ago, I came upon Liszt's transcription
of Schubert's Schwanengesang performed by Valentina Lisitsa. And suddenly,
like a torrential stream running through the forests of Weimar, my interest
in Liszt was reawakened.
Of course the first work I thought of was the TE's. And after a bit of
exploring I discovered a copy of Sherman's recording, a reissue of the
same one that I had loved in the 70s. But before I was able to order the
disk I did a bit of research. And with the full power of the internet
available to me as it was not in decades past, I learned a few new
things about the TE's.
Liszt in fact wrote three versions of the TE's. The first was an early
one from 1826 (S. 136). Then, a second and much more difficult version
was written in 1837 (S. 137), a version which gives pianists waking
nightmares. Finally a more simplified set was issued in 1852 (S. 139).
This version was dedicated to Liszt's teacher Carl Czerny (a pupil of
Beethoven). This version leaves out some major difficulties such as hand
stretches greater than a major 10th. It does however boast an expanded
and ironically more difficult version of No. 4 "Mazeppa."
It is the S. 139 that is commonly played by pianists today — either out
of personal preference or simply because they can't play the difficult
S. 137 version. One pianist who has recorded the 1837 version is Leslie
Howard, who has been going through Liszt's entire catalog over the
years. Curious, I decided to pass over the Sherman version (which is the
1852 version) and go for Howard on the earlier version.
Unfortunately I didn't do my research well enough. Seeing the title on
the album cover, and knowing that Howard had recorded the S. 137, I
simply ordered the CD without much thought and without reading the
entire description. But as it turns out Howard has recorded both the S.
137 and the S. 139. And I had bought the wrong one, of course. Having
other works to go through on my limited funds I will put off getting
the
S. 137 for a few months.
Next year marks the bi-centennial of the birth of Franz Liszt. As such
there will undoubtedly be many concerts and recitals scheduled
featuring his works — especially in Europe. Here in Spokane there is
nothing currently on the schedule, but I emailed the director of the
Spokane Symphony suggesting that they could do a "Franz Liszt Night"
next Fall. Nothing will probably come of it — but who knows. I imagine
that other artists will jump on board for the anniversary. Khatia
Buniatishvili, a promising young pianist, will issue an all-Liszt
recording on Sony next Spring.
The big question, of course, is Valentina Lisitsa. Given her skills it
is impossible for me to think of Liszt without thinking of Lisitsa.
She has recorded Liszt on her early CDs, which are now unfortunately
out of print. As far as what is currently available, she has included
three nice Liszt pieces on her DVD Black and Pink. But it is my hope
that to mark the Anniversary Year that Lisitsa will put out a new,
all-Liszt video. I would love to hear her do a new version of the B minor
Sonata S. 178. And I think it would be great to hear her play Liszt's
piano version of his symphonic poem Les Preludes — a beautiful and
at times brain-cell rearranging transcription (S. 511a, in case you are
curious). But I am sure that Lisitsa knows the Liszt catalog better than
I ever will. I am sure she could find many great pieces to play.
I would hope for that — but am not expecting it. I really do need to
get that magic lamp of mine to working.
There may not be much passion residing in my soul these days. But what
there is Liszt certainly seems to be awakening. So I will flow with that
for a while. And I will let the harmonies of his works carry me — somewhere
— anywhere — who knows, it really is all wonderful.
Franz Liszt (1811-1886).
I've been a long time Liszt fan ever since I heard the Années de pèlerinage performed by Jenő Jandó on Naxos (cheap CDs but very good). These pieces revealed that Liszt was a lot more than Mr. Mephisto Waltz and a musician who can be seen as a clear influence on a multitude of composers, including the French Impressionists. Then I discovered the mighty Sonata in B minor, a piece as fine as the very greatest of Beethoven. That did it for me – I count Liszt as easily as important as Brahms or Wagner or any of the other late Romantics. So glad you are enjoying his music, albeit in not quite the way you intended. 🙂
Not much I can say here Edward. Too bad you got the wrong recording, but hopefully, Lisitsa will do your Liszt for you. I know very little about classical music, and don't listen to it that often, but the classical music I enjoy most is pieces done for piano. What I've heard played by Liszt, I've liked.
Thanks for sharing your learning experience also, Richard.Those "travel" sets such as the Annees confuse the hell out of me — one in Italy, one in Switzerland, etc. Oh well, I will sort it out eventually. And those are definitely on my list — my Liszt list. :pI guess that Schoenberg wrote a monograph on Liszt. I've been able to find references to it on the internet, but not the article itself. 😦 I would love to read it.
Well Linda, I invite you to party with us during the Anniversary Year anyway. The more the merrier. Me personally, I am planning one hell of a time. If I'm not in the hospital. :p
Originally posted by edwardpiercy:
That he was. Such a shame recording technology was not around in his day.
And oh — he was a pretty good pianist too. :p
True!You know I think one of the problems with listening to Liszt today is that so many of his pianistic elements, such as tremolos (which Beethoven used but which Liszt latched onto) have through the years gone into the piano literature to such a great extent that they almost seem cliche. In fact it is impossible to imagine a silent movie without the rinky-dink piano playing lots of tremolos. You almost have to move your brain backward in time. Which I don't think is entirely possible, but we can try.
Originally posted by edwardpiercy:
Just when I was finally getting the hang of looking forward, they pull me back again.:lol:(Just a little paraphrasing of Michael Corleone.)Nice post, Edward.:up:
Michael Corleone? Oh those guys are criminals. I wouldn't pay any attention to what they say as long as they don't have a gun in your face. :pThanks, Star.:heart:
As you might have suspected by now, I have this thing for contemporary movie music, and having some knowledge of the classics enables me to sort of pick most modern cinematic music apart and recognize where this or that composer got his inspiration. Liszt on many levels introduced the dramatic/frentic piano that most modern people know from horror- and thriller movies, powerfull pitch and open sustain. It is great fun to just listen to movie scores and find those parts that are clearly inspired.I like the way you work when researching. You have your own ways.
:up: good one, Ed … I've learned a lot!!!
I like history, in general, and this post is historical in a way that gives me information about music I have never heard before. Thanks :happy:
SORRY, GOOD PEOPLE. MY BLOG HAS BEEN FUBARED SINCE YESTERDAY SO I'VE FALLEN BEHIND IN THE COMMENTS. @ Martin.Originally posted by Aqualion:
Ha! That's what my teachers used to say. I'm not exactly sure if it was meant to be entirely flattering. :p :pBack about the time I mentioned here when I first started listening to Liszt I had to very good cinema soundtrack albums — one from composer Korngold and the other by Steiner. You speak of influence — there was Wagner all over the place in those, I have to say. What gets me these days is the number of film or TV tracks I hear that sound like Phillip Glass. I like some Glass, but an entire building full of Windowpanes gets very dull. @ Dirk.Thanks! So are they doing anything in your area for the Bicentennial? Just curious.@ Darko.I think it was part of the history which drew me to the classical realm. Studying music you get into people's lives, art, literature, philosophy, political and social history, etc. For a while at least it was a great area for me and I learned a lot.You do very good history posts.
Edward, I have another friend only update. I'd rather you read it than tell you here. OK?
Sure, PM me.
Well, it would be helpful if you just went to my post and read it.
Oh! Okay…LMAO.Back to the computer just now. Will stop by your place next. :coffee:
I enjoyed reading all of this. Very informative :coffee:
Thanks Edward, yes I certainly did, but then I always did like your creative expression and I can see you have not changed. Well done and Bravo!. :cheers:
Welcome back, Loku. :DGlad you liked it.
n.h writes:Dear EdwardThe reading of your entry was very nice, i won t say very informative , because i did know almost everything , but anyway very well done ( i don t know if i would have been able to sum up as well as you did ) . Anyway , just a little info about the Grandes Etudes , i have played some of them in recital ( n° 5 , 8 , 11 ) and also the Tr. version , and the Grandes are … a hell in themselves ! Extrem in all the way , technically ( that was not hard to guess ) and also emotionally , and for the stamina …. once you play them , you are really off for 10 min ! ( the 3rd time i got the effect that a truck crushed my brain . Anyway , i know that blablating on the internet is very easy , so to prove that i am not one of the "internet warrior" that talks more than they do , i had on my youtube a video of one of them ( the 2 other were not good enough in my point of view to post them ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-q32ruHSbUhope you will enjoy it ! BestNicolas
@ Nicolas.No no, blahblahing on this blog is perfectly permissible. :lol:Thanks for your comments. Yes, I'm sure even the 139 is *cough cough* a tad on the challenging side. :DI did stop by youTube and checked out your video. I haven't really compared scores, but it seems that your Wilde Jagd S137 is more difficult towards the middle section, no? In any case I thought it a good performance. PS I couldn't leave a comment on your vid on youTube for some reason, the comment box didn't seem to be there. Sorry.
I was rereading this and was reminded of how Ferrucio Busoni 'simplified' the third of Schoenberg's Three Pieces for Piano, Opus 11 – a cornerstone of atonality. Busoni changed the ending so that it had a recognizable resolution. Schoenberg was not pleased. 😀
He did? Oh lord.You know I've always known him as a man with very progressive musical views. That is quite shocking. 😦
Schoenberg's work was a step too far even for the progressive Busoni!By the way, watch your mailbox. Something will be arriving a few days.:cool:
Hmmm. Surprises!:D