Liszt, Sonetto 123 del Petraca

[rachfan]

The Sonetto 123 del Petraca is No. 6 in the Annees de Pelerinage (Italie). 

[rachfan]

The Sonetto 123 is not heard nearly as often as 104, but is still one of Liszt's most lyrical and charming works.  Comments welcome.

[quantum]

There is a section at about 0:45 where RH has melody and LH has chords on off beats.  Can you try to make the LH less heavy sounding? Maybe bring out more the melody.

This is the first time I have heard this piece.  Thanks for posting it.

[rachfan]

Hi quantum,

That's a good observation.  It's funny, because in the score I wrote "Keep off-beats quiet" at that spot.  The off-beats are actually played in both the LH and the RH as well--so double trouble.  The other complication is that the section starts at p, so the accompaniment needs to be pp at the outset, but there is also a crescendo building during those four measures ending with the big rinforzando.  So the trick in balancing is to permit the accompaniment to participate in the increasing dynamic, but ever to remain as background so as not to compete with the tenuto notes on the beats in the foreground.  I know I could improve that.  Thanks!   

[teresa_b]

Hi Rach,

I was unfamiliar with this piece, but I like it very much!  I am not a Liszt expert by any means, but I felt the lovely poetic nature of a "sonnet" as I listened to you.   Maybe you could actually be more sentimental (!) during the dramatic parts--even more crescendo and rubato would seem OK here, just to contrast it with the surrounding sweet melodies.  (I'm aware that recordings don't always pick up the volume so accurately, either.)

All the best,
Teresa

[rachfan]

Hi teresa,

Yeah, the recording process doesn't help many of us here for sure.  I also think that the mp3 compression robs the music of its higher frequencies too.

To answer your question, yes, the Sonet 104 is a sugary piece.  The general direction to the performer is lento placido, a slow and calm effect.  The dynamics mostly range between ppp and p with the exception of a couple of climactic spots marked ff.  And those must be within the context of the piece as a whole.  (As you know, forte is different for different pieces.)  Liszt also wants the una corda down for long stretches.  So I tried to stay within his prescribed limits.  It's also notable how many times Liszt wrote doliccimo, dolce and dolcemente, as if we pianists would somehow suffer amnesia while playing the piece!  I did try to take advantage though of the parts marked expressivo, rinforzado, appassionato, cantando, rallentando, smorzando, stringendo etc. to inject variety that way.  Also in the coda I did take a bit of liberty at the a piacere, as the handcuffs was off there, but not to excess.  I grant you that I probably could have injected more rubato though.  At the least, I did include many nuances.

I'm giving Petrach's Sonet 123 (via Nott's translation) here to give a better sense of how Liszt was trying to set the overall tone. 

"Yes, I beheld on earth angelic grace,
And charms divine which mortals rarely see,
Such as both glad and pain the memory;
Vain, light, unreal is all else I trace:
Tears I saw shower'd from those fine eyes apace,
Of which the sun ofttimes might envious be;
Accents I heard sighed forth so movingly,
As to stay floods, or mountains to displace.
Love and good sense, firmness, with pity join'd
And wailful grief, a sweeter concert made
Than ever yet was poured on human ear:
And heaven unto the music so inclined,
That not a leaf was seen to stir the shade,
Such melody had fraught the winds, the atmosphere."
 
Note in particular "... a sweeter concert made than ever yet was poured on human ear:" and "... not a leaf was seen to stir the shade, such a melody had fraught the winds, the atmosphere."  I think that was the sound Liszt was mostly trying to achieve in creating this work.

I'm glad you like this piece.  It's always neat when we discover a piece of music that appeals to us.  I just wish more people would play it.