Liszt Polonaises

[stevie]

i love these works, and i think they are just as great as chopin's works...ironic that liszt was hungarian.

cziffra's studio recording on no1 is blistering and awesome, but the most incredible thing i have is a cziffra video of the 2nd polonaise, its probably the 2nd most watched piano video in my collection.

also, how difficult are they? i have the scores, they actually look harder than i expected...

[arensky]

They're pretty difficult, the c minor particularly has some killer octaves in the 2sd "A" section, the E major is probably the more accsesible, and was a common recital piece 70 to 100 years ago, Rachmaninov made a great recording of the E major(slightly cut), you should check it out, he tosses off the passagework like butter; it sounds effortless.

I studied the c minor in Grad School. Maybe I'll work it up and finally perform it....

[arensky]

Keeping this alive by bringing it to the front....

[stevie]

how popular are they?

i think they pwn. i like both of them more than any chopin polonaise.

[arensky]

Not very, unfortunately, don't know why  . Maybe I'll do the 1st one (my preferred one) on my next recital, everyone plays Mephisto Waltz... Hey, what does pwn mean?

[da jake]

I voted #1.

I think it's the deeper and more beautiful of the two. Don't know why people tend to prefer the second. Cziffra's studio recording is stunning.

[brewtality]

I personally don't think they even come close to the Chopin Polonaises. The 2 was alright the first few times I listened to it but I quickly become bored with it. This simply hasn't happened to me when listening to the Chopin.

[stevie]

i think theyre great anyway, pwn means 'own' and in they 'are great'.

[Waldszenen]

I prefer No. 2 and I've got the Cziffra video of it - fark his technique is infallible.


But I still prefer Richter's recording of it, the live one from Prague (?).

[mikey6]

Would someone who has Cziffra's video be able to post it or know from where I can obtain this.

[stevie]

i think you could get it from emule.

its amazing. technically and musically unbeatable to me.

[stevie]

random bump, but i still love the no2 as much as i did, but i have become inexplicably obsessed with the 1st polonaise...

right now, its my favourite piano work of all, i listen to it so much and never tire of it.

this music speaks to my heart and heats my emotions like no other right now.

i really need to get more recordings, i only have 2!

i also noticed hilariously, that the results of the poll in this topic show that way more people like the 2nd more, and i DID, but awesome as it is, the 1st polonaise is just one of the greatest piano pieces ever composed, so f*ckin awesome.

[arensky]

i also noticed hilariously, that the results of the poll in this topic show that way more people like the 2nd more, and i DID, but awesome as it is, the 1st polonaise is just one of the greatest piano pieces ever composed, so f*ckin awesome.

Ah you have seen the light; the E major is the palace guard in a parade; the C minor is the war in the trenches, the heroic and ultimately triumphant struggle...

[stevie]

indeed, tis true

you said you played the 1st? do you have any advice regarding learning and mastering it?

[arensky]

indeed, tis true

you said you played the 1st? do you have any advice regarding learning and mastering it?

Learned it never quite mastered it. This is a piece that fluctuates betwen being fairly approachable and being EXTREMELY difficult. The difficulties start at "Allegro Energico" and continue for 5 pages; my advice would be take it easy on the "energico" at least until you have the notes down, which I grant you is a hard thing to do, just looking at the pages right now makes me drool. But the temptation to plow though all this stuff is almost irresistable, but resist, otherwise it will just turn out as a mess; I would treat these five pages following "Allegro Energico" as etudes, learning it slowly and carefully, to makes sure that the cake comes out of the oven as a cake, not a drooping smoldering pile of ****. Also I used the Ossia at the bottom of page 4 for that passage, it's very similair to the final cadenza of Lieberstraum #1. I guess my overall advice is start slowly, proceed with care; if you do you will find yourself in possesion of an extraordinary weapon in your pianistic arsenal....

[stevie]

thanks, did you see pavel raikerus' performance video?

its at da SDC right now