The Ultimate Duel: Liszt vs Saint - Saens

[arpeggiosnake]

What a duel ˇˇˇ I really like to know your verdict about this two genius. Who was THE pianist?

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Liszt

* Possibly the greatest piano virtuoso of all time

* He made many exuberant piano transcriptions of operas and famous symphonies.

* Liszt displayed incredible talent at a young age, easily sight-reading multiple staves at once.

* In Vienna he was educated in piano technique by Carl Czerny. His father had wanted him to be taught by Johann Nepomuk Hummel, but Hummel's fees were too high. Antonio Salieri taught him the technique of composition and fostered the young Liszt´s musical taste.

* On April 13, 1823, Franz Liszt gave a concert and it is often said that the 53-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven gave him a kiss for his marvellous playing, although this is unlikely to be true as Beethoven was profoundly deaf by this time. The pieces Liszt played were: Fugue in C minor from Well Tempered Clavier (Book 1). Beethoven asked Liszt to tranpose the figue and Liszt did it with many keys. The second piece was the fist movement of Beethoven´s Piano Concerto num 1.

* In Paris, he attended a concert by the virtuoso violinist Paganini and became motivated to become the greatest pianist of his day. He often took to seclusion in his room, and was heard practising for over 10 hours a day.

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Saint - Saens

Ive been a devote "fan" of his music and i think he is underrated (as a performer not as a composer).

* He is one of the greatest (If not the greatest) child prodigies of all time, he had perfect pitch and began piano lessons with his great-aunt at two years old, then almost immediately began composing.

* His first piano recital was given at age five, when he accompanied a Beethoven violin sonata.

* At ten years of age he gave his debut public recital at the Salle Pleyel, playing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 15 in B-flat major (K. 450), and various pieces by Handel, Kalkbrenner, Hummel, and Bach; as an encore he offered to play any of the thirty-two Beethoven piano sonatas from memory. Word of this incredible concert spread across Europe and even to America, appearing in a Boston newspaper.  (I CANT BELIEVE IT).

* As a organist he was the best in the world (Said by Liszt).

* According to Berlioz, Rossini, Franck and many others Saint Saens was the greatest pianist in the world.

* He was the first pianist to publicly perform a cycle of all the Mozart piano concertos.

[Kassaa]

Liszt played 25/2 in octz, at high speed.

[MattL]

 yeah but if I remember correctly Saint Saens was one of Liszt's students at one time or another which in a way  makes them equal because Saint Saens probable assimilated some of Liszt's technique as a pupil

[Siberian Husky]

IMHHHHHHHHHHHHHHO (yes this is extreme humbleness to the fourteenth power)....i believe Lang Lang exceeds these two....

please..please...i only ask that my execution and slaughtering be done in an elegant..and honoring fashion..make my mother proud

[Sergey R]

Liszt wins this easily.

[apion]

Liszt without a doubt.

[Bouter Boogie]

Liszt 

[nanabush]

So you're saying Saint Seans at age ten could play any of the the Beethoven sonatas off by heart, which probly few ppl now can do?  Are you talking about the op.100+ sonatas too?  If so then that's one psycho kid!!

[ravel]

hey where  did you get all this info about saint saens from, 
before this post, i didnt even know saint saens was a virtuoso? was he really?
i thought he , like so many other composers was a good or maybe brilliant pianist but not a virtuoso,  some of those thigns you said about saint saens are really unbelievable, specially that encore thing, you talked about.

[MattL]

same happened to me when I heard that Bizet was said by Liszt to be one of the top three pianists in Europe, I had never heard that before.

[arpeggiosnake]

So you're saying Saint Seans at age ten could play any of the the Beethoven sonatas off by heart, which probly few ppl now can do?  Are you talking about the op.100+ sonatas too?  If so then that's one psycho kid!!

Any sonata (Hammerklavier included). Yes...He was a psycho kid.

[arpeggiosnake]

hey where  did you get all this info about saint saens

I did a Google search.