Liszt: Sonata in b minor

[lisztisforkids]

One of the most fascinating works for piano. Liszt at his best. Whats the story behind this piece? What do you think of it?

[stevie]

one of the greatest pieces of music ever composed, true.

[lisztisforkids]

What I think is interestiong is how he builds much of the piece on the first motif.

[brewtality]

Parts of it remind me of the Alkan quasi faust. It's an amazing piece.

[I Love Xenakis]

Randomly I have to disagree with the "liszt at his best" comment.  The openning is really powerful but for me it just doesn't keep me enthralled throughout the whole piece.  It has great moments but I find large portions of it lacking.  The opening, along with most of the first movement, and the fugue are great but meh... I just feel there are too many better Liszt compositions to really get into this as much as a lot of people.

[jas]

I don't know much about the story behind it, but I can tell you that it's in double-function form, ie. it's simultaneously a single movement in sonata form and a whole four-movement sonata complete with 1st movement in sonata form. It's extremely clever the way it's worked out. It wasn't tried again until something Schoenberg wrote (can't remember what).
It's based on 5 (I think it's 5...) themes, or "thematic cells," which recur constantly and are meshed together and messed around with. It's really interesting to pick them all out.
Scholars thought for ages there was some kind of programme in it, because it was unlike Liszt to write such a long work without one. That and the fact that the title "Sonata" confused people.
Oh, and it's absolutely great!

Jas

[superstition2]

Randomly I have to disagree with the "liszt at his best" comment.  The openning is really powerful but for me it just doesn't keep me enthralled throughout the whole piece.  It has great moments but I find large portions of it lacking.  The opening, along with most of the first movement, and the fugue are great but meh... I just feel there are too many better Liszt compositions to really get into this as much as a lot of people.

Have you heard Horowitz'?

[zheer]

Have you heard Horowitz'?

    Anything playd by Horowitz is amazing, the Liszt sonata depends largly on haw you play it.

[phil13]

Randomly I have to disagree with the "liszt at his best" comment.  The openning is really powerful but for me it just doesn't keep me enthralled throughout the whole piece.  It has great moments but I find large portions of it lacking.  The opening, along with most of the first movement, and the fugue are great but meh... I just feel there are too many better Liszt compositions to really get into this as much as a lot of people.

Randomly I have to agree with you. I find Liszt's Sonnettos del Petrarca, Hungarian Rhapsodies, and the Spanish Rhapsody more interesting than the B minor Sonata. However, it earns points for being an immortal piece of music and an amazing innovative work.

And I have heard Horowitz and also Pollini. That doesn't affect how I feel.

Phil

[crazy for ivan moravec]

this is one of my very few dream pieces!!! try listening to Zimerman's recording of this, awesome!!! this is definitely the best among his works, IMO.