Video - Liszt Transcendental Etude No5

[danhuyle]

It's been a while since I've posted something here. Below is my recording of Liszt Transcendental Etude No5

There's no pedaling in the playing yet and even if there was, you wouldn't hear any blur of sounds.
I can refine the scale arpeggio passages and the trickiest one for me is in bar 46.

Bar 106 - Can't put my finger on how to figure out this bar.

My main concern is from 2:17 - 2:58
The speed is slow without a doubt and I can't play it any faster like Kissin, Lugansky, Ashkenazy or Berezovsky.

[pianoman53]

Why do you write in the post of that Chopin op 25/1 is waaay too difficult for you, and then post a recording of this liszt etude? It's probably the most difficult one of them all, and you don't seem to care that much.

Whatever, you have your way. so, Well done Maestro!!

[costicina]

The same thing that puzzled me...you are very good, Dan!!!!

[pianowolfi]

In this phase I wouldn't worry so much about speed, but strive for more evenness, and breathing. You have time. More time. More time to enjoy the scherzando. Even "feux follets" need to breathe between their phrases, otherwise their fire might abruptly extinguish. I haven't played this etude, so this comes just from a listener's perspective. It sounds definitely fiendishly difficult, similar to Chopin's op. 10,2

[b_nghiem]

I completely agree with pianowolfi's post.
Having played the piece, I feel that often it was on the heavy side, losing the spirit of the piece. Feux Follets is a ghostly light that skitters across a forest, and so your playing must have a certain ease. But that'll come with time. Also, it often felt a little disjointed, but that can be fixed with accurate slow practice and double staccato practice. Indeed, the RH must be more even: often when you have the chordal passages some notes are more accented then others. Finally, with the "simple" scale passages, listen to the space between the notes for clarity. Is bar 106 the first of the closing arpeggios? If so, then for the RH I do 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4, etc. and for the LH I do 2 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 4, etc. About 2:17 - 2:58, those arpeggios just about killed me, but you seem to do them rather well. For the RH, Chopin's op 10 no 2 would greatly help you with the independence of the 3 4 and 5 fingers while simultaneously playing intervals with your thumb and index. Chopin's op 25 no 4 will help with the precision of the leaps in the LH.
Hope this helps you in some way.
Remember to think of the future: striving for only speed now will not help you in the long run.
Good luck,
Brian

[b_nghiem]

And I forgot to mention that you have done a good job with the devilish piece . I could never be as brave to publicly perform the piece!

[danhuyle]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I've played through Chopin 25/4 slowly and I've played 10/2 though I felt it was too slow so I discarded it.

I love playing Feux Follets. It's fun, low maintenance, and I don't have to spend hours practicing this. I memorize no1,10,5. It's the 3rd easiest to memorize because it lets you do it effortlessly and painlessly. Having said that, the interpretation is another matter altogether. 

TE 2,4,6,7,8,11 take long to learn the notes, hold together and maintain, but easier than Feux Follets on the interpretation side.
Chopin 25/1 just doesn't let have it that easily, at least on the technical side of the coin. The interpretation, I have nothing to say on that.

If anyone here who wants to learn this, I'd learn it because it'll let you memorize painlessly, then after that, get good at the other 11TE. Otherwise, I'd Feux Follets as the last etude to work on.

Now I really see the importance of shaping scales and arpeggios. The Liszt Transcendental Etudes just keep giving more and more.

[emill]

hello

From a non-pianist/audience perspective this Liszt piece seems like one very difficult piano exercise piece. Since as you said you have only dealt with this for a short while, the "hesitations" still show, which when resolved I would venture to say will result in a much nicer musical experience ....  but nevertheless it is obvious that you play very well..... thanks.