Liszt Consolation No. 3

[candlelightpiano]

I just learned this piece recently when I put my Fantasie Impromptu on vacation for a month.
Your comments are all welcome and appreciated.

[m1469]

Choo, you really have a beautiful (and open) singing tone, it's really quite fantastic.  I guess you have a beautiful and very accepting soul .  Such a gorgeous piece of music - it seems very fitting for you.  That floating melody, that sensitive chord at the end ... congratulations .  Glad you posted!

[candlelightpiano]

Thank you so much, m1469!  I've been so afraid to post here. I'm glad I did now.  Thanks for giving me the confidence I lack.   

[emill]

Hello Choo,

nice piano, beautiful piece and personally it is expressively, soothingly played!!

emill

[candlelightpiano]

Thanks so much, Emill!  I appreciate your kind words...and I love my piano!

[zoecalgary]

Choo, your playing of this piece is wonderful! I can hear and see all the emotion you put into playing it. Your ending is particularly amazing and peaceful and really brings this piece to a nice end! You should be proud! I am personally glad you took a break from FI to learn this. It introduced me to a new and wonderful piece and also let me see you grow as a player as well. Thanks so much for the performance!

[costicina]

Choo, you have passed the 'Audition room' test in the best way!!!
Your performance is SUPERB: so mesmerizing, intense, moving. You really have the gift to translate in music all the beautiful traits of your personality.
It seems that Liszt composed this piece for you .....

In short: brava, brava, brava brava brava BRAVISSIMA!!!!!!!

[birba]

This is the first time I've heard you play a piece from the beginning to the end and on a real piano!!
You have an intensity of expression that you carry throughout the whole piece up to that pregnant suspension after the last note.  Excellent use of pedal and beautiful tone, as well.  Brava.

[starstruck5]

I think your are not just playing the notes of this piece now, you are expressing broader shapes and it is quite a moving experience to listen to you play!

(One tiny little technical thing though -I noticed you played a low Db in bar 6 -where in my edition it is held?  ?)

Anyhow very beautiful Choo -as I said in the thread -take a bow!

[candlelightpiano]

Thanks, Starstruck, Birba, Marg and Zoe!

Your comments mean a lot to me, especially as this is my debut appearance in the Audition room.  You've made my day!  It's still a very new piece.  I'll keep working on it and hope to post an updated video with improvements to it in the future. 

Starstruck,  I played that low D flat to continue the sustained sound to the next measure as it was fading away with the lifting of the pedal.  You deserve a BIG thank you for coaching me on this piece and especially, on the ending.

Thanks once again for your constant support, encouragement and friendship!

[pbryld]

I thought it was well played, but way too slow. The melody gets rather boring.

[zoecalgary]

As a comment on above post on speed of this piece, I've heard slow and fast versions of this piece and personally like the slow as it conveys a different feeling. The faster versions sound like a different piece altogether but there is a fine line between pleasantly slow and boring slow. I think Choo managed to convey a consistent mood and feeling through the piece and it worked well.

[candlelightpiano]

Pbryld:  This piece is played in many different ways by many different pianists.  Some play it slow, even slower than I do and others, faster.   The tempo is Lento Placido (slow, placid, tranquil, calm), which is how I interpreted it to be, with the mood of consoling permeating through the piece.  Maybe I am playing it a tad too slow but with more time at it, I'll probably pick up the tempo a bit.

[pbryld]

Perhaps I am too used to hearing (and playing) it much faster.
I don't think it was painfully slow though.

[candlelightpiano]

I'm curious to see how you play it.  If you have it recorded, perhaps you could post it here?

[sueyin]

I remember you from your FI project.  You did really good on this lovely piece!  It has such a beautiful singing, mournful tone throughout.  And I think the speed was just right.  And the ending was fantastic.  Such a suspenseful moment!  And you learned this in one month?!?  Incredible! I remember in your FI project you said you had only learned piano for 2 - 3 years.  It's quite an achievement, learning this piece in such a short time.  This is also an advanced level piece.  Maybe Grade 8.  Good job!

[candlelightpiano]

Thank you, Sueyin.  I memorized this piece in about 3 weeks though my memory wasn't accurate most of the time.  Even today, I get lapses of memory.  Then, I spent another 2-3 weeks polishing it.  I had a lot of problems learning this piece with all its polyrhythms.  I almost felt like giving up on it a few weeks ago when they came unstuck and I didn't know how to get over them but fortunately, something clicked and they came together again, like Humpty Dumpty!   

[flyinfingers]

Wow, you learned this beautifully in such a short amount of time! 
You should be so proud of yourself.   

[austinarg]

Well done, Choo! But what will be your next goal? 

[candlelightpiano]

Thank you, flyinfingers and Austin!  My next goal ..?  Too many to list.

[pianowolfi]

It's so beautiful! You captured the moment I think! It's very romantic, it breathes and it's touching and makes me dream!

[candlelightpiano]

Oh, Pianowolfi, thank you!  What a lovely thing to say!  Now I'll have my head up in the clouds - dreaming, too!

[danhuyle]

Nice playing. Keep it up

[candlelightpiano]

Thank you, Dan!  Good to "see" you here, too!

[johnmar78]

sorry, just saw this today, i am really blind...Wel played and plenty of melodies. You have a lots potential. 10/10.

Ps please tell me the brand of the piano?? Bosendofer? Schuman, Steiway..

[candlelightpiano]

Thank you, John, my new friend.  What a wonderful thing to say!  It's a Yamaha and it's only about 3 weeks old.  How about yours?  What brand?

[johnmar78]

Thanks Choo, mine is  Yamaha too  , 12 years old with approx 10% added key weights modified by myself. Put this way, if you go down the piano shop, and play the grands,you  will find it is easier to play than mine by a fraction.

[candlelightpiano]

Why did you modify it with the added key weights?  To make it harder to play on? 

[dmp14011]

It's a nice performance. I don't think mine's as good but posted here for your thoughts anyway

[/youtube]

[caioramos]

Choo!!! Amazing! I love your playing, congrats!! Soulful, gets right to the core of the piece, a consolation. You improved so much since I met you, look at this touch! You have talent! keep working. makes me feel bad for been away from the forum so much, but I didn't forget you!! Are you going to go back to the Fantasie-Impromptu now? Miss you!

[candlelightpiano]

DMP:  Thanks for posting your video!!  I enjoyed it very much.  As I'm just a student with few  years of piano experience, I really cannot give much/ if any constructive advice.  You've completed it, which is very good.  I'll allow the other members who have much more experience to give you their thoughts.  I'll let a few others know about your video and ask them to watch it and comment here.  Thanks once again.  

[candlelightpiano]

Kyle!  Kyle!! I can't tell you how happy I am to see you here!! I have missed you so much!!  Thanks for the compliments on my piece.  I really appreciate it.  It's one of my favorite pieces.  My teacher is still making me do loads of improvements to it, though!  By the time she's done and happy with it  - when, I don't know  - I'll post another video, maybe in a few months time to show improvement as this video was done when I had learned it for only about 6 weeks.  I'm working hard on Fantasie Impromptu.  There are lots of problem areas I'm working on. I'm hoping to post a practice video of the complete piece in my FI project thread soon.  It won't be great, though.  Definitely not good enough for the Audition room yet.  Sure wish you'd hang out at the forum more often.  Hey, a very happy Easter to you!  With fun, laughter, love, joy, happiness, good health -- all the best that life can bring you!

[49410enrique]

sorry for not jumping on this sooner, you're doing some very pretty things here, i don't have to much to say as far as constructive critique, etc. i haven't studied this piece and didn't follow with score, but it was a joy to listen to.

[zoecalgary]

DMP - I just listened to your recording of this piece. I am pretty much a beginner here and for a brief while tried to join Candelight Piano in her learning of this piece. It proved to be too much for me at this time.  My comments are just my personal thoughts and preferences (not from a point of expertise!) so take them as constructive thoughts not absolute must do's.

- Overall I thought it was pretty well done. Just needs a bit of polishing.
- I think this piece is all about feeling. And you should try to infuse the piece with feeling by thinking about dynamics, and touch of each note you play. Personally this seemed easier to do when the piece is played a bit slower. For you this would likely also help clean up the minor miscellaneous notes and add character to the piece. (trust me I know this is not easy! I spent many days trying to get feeling just into the first few bars!)
- Have you tried playing it at a slower tempo? I think this is more in line with the feeling of the piece and makes it sound better overall.
- Dynamics are really critical in this piece. (again something I personally struggle with!). I think looking for some sections where you can go really pp and then up a bit louder in others helps the melody really sing.

This is a piece I was unfamiliar with a few months ago and have come to really like it. Good job on your take of it. It was nice to listen to once again. Hopefully someday I will be better prepared to tackle this and learn from all the different performances of it.

[zoecalgary]

Kyle! Hello for Canada! Would you believe me if I told you we had snow here yesterday! Well we did! The roads are dry now but there is still some on the grass!  I know unbelievable!

I agree with you in that Choo has done well with this piece. She is such a fast learner and I am envious!

I hope you are doing well and continuing your piano journey! When I get the time I am continuing mine (slowly but surely!!)

[candlelightpiano]

Thank you, Enrique!  I'm glad you enjoyed my performance.  I'm still working to improve it.  Hopefully, it will be a bit better in a few months and then I'll post it again.

The clip was cool.  It made me feel special.  You're always making people feel special which means you're a very special, beautiful person yourself.  Happy Easter!! 

[candlelightpiano]

Thanks, too, Zoe.  You gave dmp very constructive advice.  You see, I didn't know how! 

Kyle, I hope you're well.  Do tell us what you've been up to.  Come back and join us more often.  Much more often.   I'm still waiting to hear your FI!!  When?

[starstruck5]

I watched your video David with great interest.  Liszt marks this piece Lento Placido -slow and placid. You begin slowly but gradually speed up -and your tempo is uneven and wild to say the least! From about bar 28 onwards a quickening of the tempo is acceptable, because we reach a climax at bar 42 -but still we don't want to play allegro!

It often feels like to me that you are not giving the piece the respect it deserves -for example in bar 16, where the bass drops out and a single voice emerges from the darkness you speed it up too much and all meaning is lost -rubato is fine here -I mean you can slow down the first 6 notes and speed up the last 6 -or even vice versa -but you play it hurriedly, with no feeling at all.  

Some of your phrasing is very beautiful and I can hear that you have the technique to play this very well indeed -but this is a piece you need to feel with all your heart -it can't move anyone if you rush through it like a series of finger exercises.  


I hope you post another version -from the heart this time!

[johnmar78]

Dave, here is my 2 cents, I think next time it is better you post your recordings under a new topic, instead of overridng others.
 1) first 2 bars, one pedal, and start too slow.

2)bar 14, and bar34 repeated the same mistake, you did not hold down the RH value long enoght, I think you over sight it.

3)bar 42 needs to slow down-poco rit, you ignored it or differnt version.

4) from bar 49 to 51 meant to be "dlocissimo), you played it too loud and harsh.

Overall a good preparation, you have done all the skectches, now you need put the "colour" into your painting.

Cheers

[49410enrique]

It's a nice performance. I don't think mine's as good but posted here for your thoughts anyway

[/youtube]

[candlelightpiano]

ROFL!!!!!!  How did you come up with that, Enrique?  It's really neat!!  Thanks. 

[candlelightpiano]

Thanks Zoe, Starstruck and JohnMar for returning to watch David's video and posting your reviews for him and to Enrique for your imaginative poster! 

Have a very happy Easter weekend!

[azooza]

Thank you, Sueyin.  I memorized this piece in about 3 weeks though my memory wasn't accurate most of the time.  Even today, I get lapses of memory.  Then, I spent another 2-3 weeks polishing it.  I had a lot of problems learning this piece with all its polyrhythms.  I almost felt like giving up on it a few weeks ago when they came unstuck and I didn't know how to get over them but fortunately, something clicked and they came together again, like Humpty Dumpty!   

Very nice indeed Choo. I am new here, and trying to learn this piece, but I just can't get the polyrhythms fixed in my mind. I muddled through FI many years ago, and it took me a couple of months for those polys to 'snap' into place in my mind while playing, but one day, they just did. I was wondering whether you found the polyrhythms for the FI easier or more difficult than for the Consolation 3?

Incidentally, I found Paul Barton's tutorial extremely good; especially playing the LH quavers as chords, but even that hasn't helped me to sync the LH and RH

Any tips from anyone would be much appreciated!

Best regards

Dale

[candlelightpiano]

Hi Dale and welcome to PS!  Thanks for the kind words.  I began a thread for this piece in Feb.  On that thread, you'll see a lot of suggestions from generous and knowledgeable PS members for the polyrhythms as well as other finer points for performing this piece:

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=45007.0

My 2/3 polys were fine initially when I played the LH real slow with accents for each group of triplet quavers but when I practiced the gliding action for the LH, my polys came unstuck because there were no accents. There aren't supposed to be any accents in the LH which makes the polys tricky.  The most difficult polys for me were the 4/3 in bars 22 etc.  I still wasn't getting them accurately when I posted the video here.

I guess using rhymes like not-di-fi-cult helps for the 2/3 polys though in the end, you need to develop a "feel" for polys.  This is easier said than done, of course.  I still have difficulty with polys.

For the 2/3 polys, the LH has to keep going in time and in the RH, you must be able to count 2-and-3-and when you listen back to it.  I found that using a digital piano helped.  I could record and listen back to see if I got them right.  You can also record the LH alone, then when you play it back, you can play the RH on top of it.  This will help you keep your LH going in time.  Hope this helps.

[azooza]

Hi Choo

Many thanks indeed for taking the time to reply. I'm sorry for posting in the wrong thread - I'll revert back to the original discussion thread now as per your recommendation, and have a careful look through it.

In parting, I'll just say that I'm currently on a long-term stay in China although my home country is the UK, and I found a great digital piano here that allows me to practise while I'm not home. It has the recording facility too, so I'll definitely give your suggestion a go re. RH over recorded LH etc.

Another useful tip from you and Piano Street - thanks so much again!

Dale

[candlelightpiano]

Dale:

No problem posting here.  I just included the link to the project because I didn't think you knew about it as it was buried many pages deep in the student's corner and those of us who participated on that thread learned a lot, not just about Consolation, but also techniques we could apply to other pieces.  Feel free to post on that thread any questions you may have.  

Good luck with the piece and hope to hear from you again.

Choo

EDIT:

PS:  I found the polys in FI easier than the ones in Consolation.  FI is fast and the polys are squashed in, except the 2/3 polys in the middle section.  Consolation is played at a slow tempo so you can hear every note and I think that's what makes the polys harder.  

Hope you're having a good time in China.

[idreamofpiano]

 love it ! nice work, funny how we pick the same songs to work on...my teacher just gave me this piece as well.  (= happy playing ! sounds beautiful,\.

[candlelightpiano]

Thank you!  It still has a lot of rough edges and needs polishing. It was pretty new when I posted it here.  I had only worked on it for just over a month.

I hope you'll post your work in progress on the Consolation project thread.  Dale is also working on it and he is hoping to revive interest in the thread:

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=45007.0

[gitaristica]

This was beautiful... It gave me the goosebumps. I never listened to the Consolations before, and I expected some diabolical, raging piece which presents dark emotions and pure despair. You have showed me a new dimension of Liszt's complex personality and I'm going to do some research... Beautiful. Sretno!

[candlelightpiano]

Thank you very much!  This Consolation doesn't sound like many of Liszt's other pieces.  It showed his complex personality, for sure.  It is definitely a haunting piece.  A good piece to play by candlelight!