Liszt Transcendental Etude No10

[danhuyle]

It's up to speed (finally). I was worried that I couldn't play fast enough.

Here's my previous video (below).

[pianoplayjl]

You've dne a great job in improving the spped and the emotion in the piece. As I listened to the piece I felt an emotion of panic, which was IN my opinion well donesince you managed to bring some feeling into that piece. I reckon you can do a little more with dyamics. Other than that, another great effort and a great recording.

Btw, first the keys, now the pedal. What's wrong?!

[kellyc]

Dan : I tried so hard to listen to this, but it just hurt my head trying to make out the music from all the squeaks going on. I can tell the music is nice, but its just impossible like this. RE record as soon as you can. Looking forward to that.

Kelly

[nyiregyhazi]

Please don't take this personally, but there's scarcely a single pianist I can listen to in this Etude. For me, the whole study is about tension-release, which you missed from the outset. There's no piece that evokes the musical "sigh" more than this, but I have to say that it was absent from your opening.The first B natural to C is EVERYTHING in this Etude. The B natural is tension and the C is release- which needs to be both lighter and slightly delayed, in order to evoke the "difficulty" (musical, not technical) of resolving the tension. I'd listen to Cziffra in the one filmed performance. Nobody has captured the true musical tension of the Etude better. The speeds are often staggering in individual moments- but it's not about that. It's the musical tension in chromatic notes that distinguishes Cziffra from the crowd. He truly "sighs" in the two notes slurs and sings the melodies like nobody. Without that, the Etude is just notes. I've long been a Cziffra fan, but from an emotional point of view, few of his performances have struck me like this one:

When I first heard it, I was totally blown away. While technical issues are staggering, it has the kind of pathos that I'd associate with Maria Callas. The technique is unbelievable- but it's not what specifically impresses.

[octavius_trillson]

I'm learning the same piece, aside from a few wrong notes here and there (weren't too many but you know, maybe just a tiny bit more accurate?) I thought you played it very well, it made me smile. I also watched your La Campanella video and I must admit I thought it was rather slow (I'm learning that too) but here you choose a good speed and you played convincingly. I hope I can play this like you one day, Great job!

[starstruck5]

It's a shame that the squeaks are distracting from your playing. Get some oil! A new bench!

[danhuyle]

I've recorded it again. This time the squeaks are GONE FOR GOOD.

That release between the first B natural to C (and other similar passages) at 0:20
is a challenging one.

All feedback appreciated

[nyiregyhazi]

[youtube]
That release between the first B natural to C (and other similar passages) at 0:20
is a challenging one.

Yeah, I think you're worrying far too much about strict metre. There's no reason why you should feel any urgency about playing a resolution whatsoever. I'd listen to just how much freedom there is in Cziffra's tempo. Sometimes you're so caught up in maintaining a strict tempo that you actually play the release even louder- which kills the sense of melody and makes it sound more like a jazzy syncopation. You should never feel forced into playing those notes if you don't feel ready to control them.

Also, even the octaves at the end are still constructed around that basic idea of a sigh. Even there, the sense of that basic tension is vastly more important than blasting through uniformly. The second note of each triplet needs to register more and the third less.

[mike_lang]

Very nice!  Just a quick comment for the coda: try practicing it a bit more slowly, listening to your left hand.  I lose a bit the effect of the displacement due to the balance and the fact that the RH octaves sound a little like eighths.  In fact, even in performance, it does not have to be terribly fast; the agitation comes from the syncopation and speed of the harmonic motion (and everything that precedes the coda!).

Overall, a good performance.

Cheers,
Mike

[octavius_trillson]

Wow, bravo! much better

[kellyc]

Much better Dan. Thank you for reposting. I think you are making fine progress with this work. Enjoyed very much listening.


Kelly

[rachfan]

Hi danhuyle,

This rendition is definitely an improvement over your original posting.  I believe it's progressing very well. You play with musicality but are still battling some technical matters there and there.  I believe you need to bring in more artistic intent.  A way to do that is not to feel so imprisoned by the meter which sometimes forces you to scramble for notes.  Forget the tyranny of the bar lines. Allow yourself some liberties now and then. In the LH broken chords, continue to strive for evenness there.  The big thing though is to focus now more on the emotional impacts of the music--the passing moments of nostalgia, the restlessness, the big romantic surges, poetic nuances, etc.  Doing so will bring a more finished style to your interpretation and execution.  This piece has no title; however, that's a good thing, as it allows you to conjure your own imagery in performing it.  Let that imagery guide your playing.  Right now it sounds to me like more the notes than inner concept. Think of playing the long line of the piece rather than metric, connected, sequential figurations.

Again, overall you're doing very well.  You might listen to Jorge Bolet play the piece.  He was one of the foremost Liszt interpreters ever.  Listen to how he defines the character and drama of the piece and casts a spell with it.   Often listening to one of the greats playing a piece can be very inspirational.     

David

[pianoplayjl]

I think you made a lot of progress. Why don't you post another one a few weeks later?

[starstruck5]

I agree with Kelly - you are definitely making progress.  I think this etude is one of the hardest. On the one hand you have all that sparkling brilliance and driving complexity. For me though, as a concert goer, rather than someone who could attempt this right now - I am always struck by how simple and beautiful the melodic motif is.  The dramatic elegance of the melodic line has to sing always ,even when there is that ominous motif in the bass- the brilliant virtuosos flourishes are exciting, but must always for me be secondary.   I think you could slow it down, and by doing that allow the music to breathe more. 

Having said that, your interpretation does have a fierce burning drive and intenisty.  If that is what you wanted to achive, you have done so!

[pianoman53]

Now you've got all the notes, more or less, and basically the speed.
A question: Do you ever listening to anything else than piano pieces? Or even anything else than fast pieces? If you don't, I would strongly advice you to do so. I don't want to say anything like "You should do more like this over here, and more pedal over there" or whatever, cause I don't think it would make anything better. Listen to this, and ask yourself what you want. Make marks in your score where you feel you could take more time, and where it's a clear rhythmic tension, and where you should phrase more special. And you should probably go back and play it slowly, and as beautiful as you can.

For me, the most impressiv virtuoso pianists (I assume you want to see yourself as a virtuoso, according to your repertoire..?) are the ones that makes it look and sound like the technique comes as second. Like the cziffra recording. You can clearly hear that he thinks that the technique is part of the music, and not only technique as something difficult.
For me, what your recording lacks is the meaning of the technical difficulties. For me, it sounds like you see them as something very difficult, that should sound like that. Some people might agree, but I'm quite sure that most of us would want to hear it as music, rather than technique.
Think about why he wrote it, more than just being difficult.