Beethoven/Liszt 9th Symphony (a portion)

[furtwaengler]

I hardly visit anymore with the changes of life (though I'm in the same place I always was...just busier with a different focus). In spite of this I sometimes feel the need for an outlet to share a cool event. On Saturday I played a kind of bizarre and hardly prepared program on a truly bad instrument at an assisted living center, and...in spite of the preparation, the unexpected nature of the program, and the performing conditions it felt like one of the most engaging and special occasions in recent memory. The program was the Liszt B minor Sonata, and the last movement of the Beethoven/Liszt 9th Symphony - I never would have envisioned that coupling, aside from the demands of the program itself. Something happened about a month ago, a good friend of mine who is 1,000 times the musician I could ever be (a trumpeter he is) asked my to play for his wedding a couple states away, and one of the certain demands the couple had was to have "Ode To Joy" as the recessional. I pulled out the Liszt transcription to present a small portion of it, and rather unconsciously began toying with the rest of it. Long story short I was called about doing a program at the Blakeford, not knowing anything about what I'd find and who I'd find waiting for me. The day of the concert there had been a memorial service for a resident, and the crowd consisted of about 10-15 elderly people, mostly women, and the director of the program. So, I proceeded to trudge though some difficult material on an old, out of tune, out of shape grand piano (I didn't even recognize the name of the instrument), mixing its sounds with a chorus of hearing aids. The first note of the Sonata didn't even speak, and I spent half the piece figuring out how to work the instrument with other notes not wanting to come out, and others jumping out. This is in some ways a health exercise and reminds me of the conductor who can find ways to communicate the power of music with the scrappiest musicians. And so it is....Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the small town community ensemble! I then am that conductor, ha! By the time that famous theme arrived for the first time, the piano had found it's special unique ringing voice (and in some instances so had the audience...see if you can catch them humming along!). In the end this was a truly enjoying and satisfying event for everybody. What more could I ask?

It is unfortunate that the recorder's battery ran out before the end. That it why it is just "a portion." 

I hope you can enjoy this story! Dave

[birba]

that was a monumental feat.  How did you ever learn all that?!  I can't say I liked all of it - not the way you played it, but the transcription - but the choral part,  the march and the fugato were wonderful.  Never a harsh sound, not even on that instrument you were at.  Never trying to get more out of it then it has. And those octaves!  The recit parts just don't work for me.  There's no way you can make a piano sound like a string instrument (!)
At any rate, good going.  I don't know how you even had that much ambition to learn this.  You could have had the hammerklavier in your pocket at the same price!

[emill]

Hello Dave,

First time to hear the Liszt's of Beethoven's 9th one of my favorite "singing pieces" while taking a shower ... and with gusto at that!!   to the consternation of my wife!!  
I am sure you made many seniors happy .... I am too to have heard this ... I am a senior.
and YES the march portion was really good!!

Thanks for passing by ... hope it will become more frequent .... always remember you for being one of those who welcomed us back to PS with warmth. THANKS.

[rachfan]

Hi Dave,

Given the beast of a piano, I think  you carried this transcription off with artistry and aplomb. The playing was good that I quickly forgot your travails with the instrument.  I would agree with birba on the recitatives--the percussive nature of the piano cannot have the sustaining effect of string bowings.  Liszt was an extraordinary transcriptionist in adapting an orchestral (and choral) score to the piano while doing everything possible to make it pianistic.  But then too he couldn't do the impossible.  
This was a big undertaking and my hat is off to you.  I enjoyed hearing this.  Bravo!

P.S. It's great seeing you back here at PS!

David

[oxy60]

The scores are all here to be downloaded.  Since I have performed the 9th several times either in the orchestra or chorus and have studied it extensively in college I have chosen the 7th in A to study from the transcriptions available here. This is where you will appreciate the sheer genius of the composer.

This recording is fantastic. Thank you for putting it up. Isn't there any way you can find a better piano to record on? One rule, always star with fresh batteries. I think your equipment is getting in the way of your talent.

[pianowolfi]

That's really great, I always liked your spontaneity and your spirit! I prefer something like this at ALL times over some digitally enhanced/rendered/midified recordings. It's a pure spirit of music and joy, so it's totally in the tradition of Beethoven's 9th Symphony and his urgent intention to communicate something like a "message to mankind"

[hakki]

This is great musicianship and a big undertaking. Bravo!!!

I enjoyed it from the first bar till the end. It is unfortunate that the rest is not recorded.
Hope you can record it again on a better piano.

This just made my day. Thanks for sharing.

regards,

[furtwaengler]

I don't know how you even had that much ambition to learn this. You could have had the hammerklavier in your pocket at the same price!

Funny how it all works...I liked the sound of the fugato on the piano, and that's the whole reason I learned the whole thing. Ah...I wanted to thank all of you for the nice comments, and I wanted to quote this portion particularly because I have a much younger friend in town who learned and performed the Hammerklavier in the same amount of time as I threw this together. The school I work with would like to replace its old Yamaha C7 with a new Steinway D down the line, and I've already told them op. 106 is the first thing I'll want to perform on it! But that seems the much more difficult task. For one thing Liszt's transcriptions of the LvB symphonies are much more pianistically consistent with Liszt's technique at the piano, then Beethoven's own writing at the piano, even when there is no way to make LvB's symphonic visions pianist (and trust me there is no way). It is true for me that Liszt's writing at the piano is much more comfortable then Beethoven's. (And I *LOVE* Beethoven...just difficult). That said, Liszt's ideas in LvB's symphonies are not always good, and are not always playable (for me, anyway), yet I took a rare risk (in the realm of performances of the LvB symphonies on the piano) of presenting Liszt's transcription (mostly) free from alterations and cuts (including observance of all the repeats). *IF* I ever attempt to play this again (I've not touched it since) this choice may be amended.

In truth, it was so great for me as an experience that it doesn't even bother me that the batteries went out (really it might have kept recording, but I ran out of space). In truth the end was very successful from my standpoint, but it still doesn't bother me and I don't think it will bother me. I have several other concerts like this on the docket, and I'm trying to balance all the things going on with an insatiable desire to learn music which thrills me (while keeping a running tab of what thrills these specific audiences). It's fun, fun, fun...and I think you all should pursue opportunities like this.

Thanks for the encouragement, my friends!

[oxy60]

For those of us who went to college in the 50's these piano transcriptions were a life saver. Of course nobody could play them, not even our best player in school but having them on paper got us into the score quickly.

The fact that you can play it tells us a lot about your ability. "We are not worthy..."

Please don't throw away all that good work. Lock it down on a good recording if only to play for your grandchildren.