Constructive criticism on Liszt Un Sospiro please!

[maxpassare]

[perfect_pitch]

Okay - where to begin...

One - your performances is practically FLAKED with wrong notes... now part of that is because these haven't been ironed out in your practicing, the others is because you have LEARNT the wrong notes.

Take the first two arpeggiated patterns when the melody comes in over the top. You play the first chord as Db Major (as you should), and instead of the next one being Gb Major, you play Bb minor arpeggiation instead. Changes the harmony completely - and you do it EVERY TIME that melody is over the top of it.

Then there's the large arpeggiated chord before the first cadenza. Off the top of my head (without the sheet music in front of me) you play F#, C Eb & Ab? I'm pretty sure it's a natural.

Your pedalling seems INCREDIBLY unclean, and the reason for this is your crescendos and your accelerandos in this piece are so quick and big, they destroy any sense of finesse in this piece. You get loud and fast so quick, it destroys the music. It's almost like musical convulsions.

And the part where you get the broken up chord fragments in F major in the middle and the melody in the Left hand - that was disgusting. You need to work on it BIG TIME.

Hope that gets you started. I say this not to insult, but to help.

[lostinidlewonder]

You need to keep the sheet music up in front of you, it seems that you are not quite past leaving the sheets and making this all memory at the moment. You have something to work with at least, there are a few technical glitches that need to be improved and as perfect_pitch mentioned wrong notes, I don't know if they where one off but some seemed to repeat themselves which highlights probably wrongly learned notes. Technically you have most of this piece controlled only a few bits here and there, but certainly you will need to rework some of your technique especially how to control all of these arpeggio acrobatics with more relaxation and accuracy. Musically some parts are a little odd for example as we draw to the end it seems like your energy level is too high, it should be restrained somewhat from 4:50. Good effort though for a piece that is played to death, naturally you will have a lot of expectations from observers.

[maxpassare]

Thank you for replying, although maybe a bit harsh . This is learned without a teacher and maybe words like "disgusting" and "destroy the music" aren't exactly justifying?

Anyway I hear you, there are of course things that can improve greatly. For example the fact that I've learnt a wrong note is quite bad

I'll just keep working then!

[pianisten1989]

Well...

1. You didn't say anything about learning it without a teacher.
2. Even if you would, learning the wrong notes is no excuse. There is internet, and it would take you less than 5 minutes to find a professional recording to hear how it "should" sound.
3. What did you want them to say then? Either they could speak their mind, or they could say something "Omg you play this so well!!!!". Some of us here on pianostreet use maybe sometimes too harsh words, but so does people everywhere. Try not to take words like that personal...

[maxpassare]

You're absolutely right, I just don't find it constructive to hear that my playing is disgusting, rather it almost makes me not want to play anymore.

I have a friend who's a talented artist and when I told him about the comments I got here he assured me that's just something one has to deal with in esteemed forums like this. As an amateur I'm not used to be criticized by people who truly are very good players themselves or just very qualified critics.

However I feel I did get some constructive criticism as well and I'm thankful for that!

I'll just keep working

[pianowolfi]

You're absolutely right, I just don't find it constructive to hear that my playing is disgusting, rather it almost makes me not want to play anymore.

I am a professional piano teacher and I can assure you that a professional piano teacher could never survive in any way if he got used to criticize people that way. I agree fully with the objective part in perfect_pitch's criticism, but if he wants to become a teacher, he will need to learn to criticize more balancend and less emotional.
Of course there are situations where a critique like "disgusting" or "you destroy the music" are appropriate, but it's rather an exception, and I don't think it's appropriate here.
I remember one situation where I had to tell one of my students "Don't act like you were retarded" because he really acted like he were retarded (it was an 11 y.old boy btw) and in fact he just didn't feel like really practicing seriously at all, and his message to me was actually like "I don't give a sh** about it", so I needed to get down to business with him, and he decided to quit, after all.
But of course this here is a totally different situation.
I think that you could become a very good and passionate pianist and I recommend you to look for a good teacher!