Liszt's music

[frederic]

Hello

Through reading all these posts it seems to me that alot of people here like Liszt's music.
I adore it too and i am now 14 and starting to play my first Liszt piece: La Chasse.

I have never played any pieces by him because
a) its difficult
b) there is not much emotional features in his music

So i don't know too much about his music.
His music is very exciting and attractive but lacks emotional quality that you get in Chopin and Schumann (if you've read my post on Schumann's music, I like Schumann's music now.)
And i also think Chopin's music is far more complex than Liszt's and is more deeper and has more in it...if you know what i mean.

Chopin even said Liszt's music were musically EMPTY...just showpieces.
The public would rather listen to Liszt's music where the fingers just fly around the keyboard and impress them than serious music which they find hard to catch on.

So what do you think? What is it you can get from Liszt but not from Chopin??

[rachfan]

Frederic, if you don't find emotional content or passion in Liszt, you must be looking at the wrong pieces.  For example, check out works like Sonetto 104 del Petraca and Sonetto 123 del Petraca from Annees de Pelerinage (Italie).  What about  the First Nocturne?  And how about Ricordanza in the Transcendental Etudes?  Then there's Les jeux d'eau a la Villa d'este from Annees de Pelerinage, troisieme annee.  A final example would be the Sonata in b minor--a piece hardly devoid of emotive expression!

[frederic]

yes your right

I did have in mind Sonetto 104 del Petraca and Sonetto 123 del Petraca.

But i never thought about the sonata, come to think of it ...yes it does have it!

[chico]

listen to Vallee d'oberman  

i think its deep ...like schubert...

[rachfan]

Yes, chico is right.  I've played Vallee d'Obermann myself.  It features a whole mosaic of changing moods.  Vallee d'Obermann is a big piece with some technical challenges--a truly extraordinary composition.  It ends in a paean of joy. It's one of my favorites.

[amp]

There is the very common, but beautiful Liebestraum No. 3. I've heard that that piece is a really good example of a piece that you can play at many different levels. It's one thing to play it, different case to play it well.

Chopin in my opinion, as being a pianst with less experience, is much more accesable and do-able. Frederic, maybe your taste for Liszt will develop as you work on his peice.

[rachfan]

The Liebestraumes Nos. 1 and 2 are less known and are not  "war horse" pieces like No. 3, but are also very beautiful.  I've always considered No. 1 to be the most difficult of the  Nocturnes because of the many arpeggiated figures in the right hand.  If one can learn the entire set of three, so much the better!

[amp]

RachFan--I'm curious about what you mean by "war horse"

Thanks...

[rachfan]

Hi Amp,

By a "war horse" I mean a piece that's way overplayed to the point where it become hackneyed.  At this stage of playing, I try to avoid those pieces like the plague, preferring to find and learn gems that are not commonly heard, in this case and as alternatives the Liebestraumes Nos. 1 and 2 rather than than No. 3, which has appeared on every student recital program since the day it was published.