Liszt - Un sospiro

[lik21]

Dear all,

This is a recording of a girl, I have met recently.
She studies piano at university, but she has no self-confidence at all, which is strongly setting back her career.
I almost know nothing about classical music, and I have just started to listen to it due to her influence. So, I cannot judge her performance. Therefore, I would like to ask for your help, to make some feedbacks on her music. And if there are any positive feedbacks, I will tell her, because she really needs others' acknowledgement. She says her performance is rubbish. I hope it is not...

Sorry for the bad quality of the recording, but i have only this one.

Thanks for your feedbacks.

[pianistimo]

i think she's almost there!  my advice would be to listen to several other recordings.  i like the speeding and slowing of some parts - but others seem to rush the endings.  the calmness of the piece seems to come in the complete relaxation you can bring to your audience.  that means - you have to be relaxed too - inamongst all the notes.

william wolfram is supposed to have a good rendition.  am listening for it on minnesota public radio.  you can listen here, too, at 5:14 pm:  https://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/services/cms/pieces_played/?month=07&day=11&year=2007

[ganymed]

I like her recording very much . she can be certainly be very proud of! Im not going to criticize it coz I could not play it better in any case !

btw: im just listening to your recording pianistimo too of "un sospiro".
it says "susan - un sospiro". thats you right XD?

[thalberg]

She's quite good.  She should not be insecure. 

[pianistimo]

i can't find my recording - but sometime i'll try to post another one.  funny thing - that particular book broke in half at the center and i have one half and i don't know where the other is right now.  i played it way back when and now i have to revive it again.  it's not that difficult once you've played it.  to me, what makes it the most beautiful is to not show any sort of tension.

[matterintospirit]

Gorgeous.

[matterintospirit]

On second thought, this must be some kind of joke.

[theswede]

And this is ONE way of playing it...well played. My interpretation is different but I am not as good as she. 

[jlh]

Many nice things to comment on here:

Beautiful tone, lightness of fingers, no dull moments, etc.

The one major thing I would advise for her is related to interpretation and this is my opinion --> It's too fast in general.  That's not to say that all places are too fast, as several spots should be played fast, like in the cadenzas.  She has a tendancy to get carried away with the loud sections and rush through them.  As a result, this is about the shortest performance of this etude I've ever heard.  I would advise her to enjoy the music more and let it breathe since there's so many wonderful sonorities in this piece that just beg for special attention.  She has the capability to play this etude amazingly and with a little adjustment it could outshine most recordings of this I've heard.  Tell her good job!

Josh

[emill]

From a "layman's" viewpoint she played it beautifully.

She may want to watch/listen to Hamelin's version which
gives more substance to the comment of jlh.
Nevertheless, I really liked her playing.

[malchus]

This interpretation is very different from most of what I've heard. She's great, has a promisinig future, she doesn't have any reason to be unconfident. I would suggest, though, that she doesn't change the tempo so often. She has great technique, with which she can "go places" good luck.

[goldentone]

That was beautiful.