Liszt - Mephisto Waltz no.1 in A Major - ENZO

[emill]

Kindly allow this dad to post a recent recording of Liszts' Mephisto Waltz No.1 in A Major which Enzo practiced and performed during this year's "Spring break".  How time flies . . . I hardly realized that it has been 11 years since we started posting his videos in PianoStreet, when he was still 10-11 years old.

I can sense that he has added some of his "personal" touch to the playing of the piece and I also feel that the overall flow is definitely "old school".  He plays it somewhat more deliberate and slower since many of the young players nowadays perform this between 10:30-11:30 to his 12:30; some even faster than 10 minutes.  

Hope you like his rendition AND YOUR COMMENTS ARE HIGHLY VALUED.

[kawai_cs]

Beautiful! I really thoroughly enjoyed his version of Mephisto.
I appreciate that it is a tad slower which, in my opinion, makes the piece more understandable and enhances its beauty. I am sometimes not able to listen till the end of many faster recordings because they sound to me like clatter. Perfect playing, thank you!

[emill]

Hi!

Thank you for your kind and generous comment ....
although one of my favorite renditions was that by Van Cliburn which was played
with a much faster tempo, I fully agree that a slower tempo can be as effective
especially the middle portion which was supposed to be the "seduction" part. 

Many thanks...

emill

[piulento]

Wow, this is simply incredible!
He is one talented pianist.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Well, this is terrific.

I can offer a few very small suggestions of a very nit-picking nature -

At 0.47, what Enzo does is very dramatic and it is effective, but I would suggest that he leaves a marginally larger gap after his reiteration, the octave higher, of the E G# E C# motif, in order to make the point clearer to the ear that the octave higher version is an echo of the previous, louder iteration of the motif.

It seemed that some power was lost at the top of the double glissando. In passing, iirc, von Sauer suggests glissandoing the rh and playing the lh as a fingered scale, claiming this can produce a brilliant effect.

I didn't really feel the tempo was on this slow side, despite the timing, as there was a lot of rhythmic vitality in the performance. My only reason for increasing the tempo - in the outer sections - would be to increase the contrast between them and the more languid seduction scene. I don't like people who bang and rush the whole way through it; Enzo is certainly not guilty of this by any standard. All other things being equal, the more contrast between the outer and middle the better, imo.

I'm not sure whether I am impressed, or concerned, that he seemed to have so much in reserve towards the end! I've always viewed it as if the climax arrives at the passage from 9.48 in this performance, whereas here it seems to arrive at the very end. I would have quite liked to experience the feeling that he was really letting go, whereas it seemed, to me at least, that a hint of introversion remained.

Anyway, regarding these points, it may of course be that he's already thought about such things and decided otherwise - it's quite obvious he's a good enough and intelligent enough pianist to appreciate such issues. By any standards this is magnificent playing and he is a very gifted musician.

[emill]

Hi Andrew,

Thank you so much for your comments and suggestions ....  I am sure that Enzo, as he always does, gives a lot of thought to any suggestions even if he may eventually disagree with it.  I have to ask your patience though for my "spokesperson" role over the years.  If only he would just open up a bit and not confine himself to himself and to <5 people, his mom included ...  most likely the reason why he chose Rochester, NY where the winters are severe and it is cold 8 months of the year, instead of what we suggested, Boston for his music conservatory studies.  Our great consolation as parents is that he expresses himself through his music quite well and that his technique is evolving and maturing, thanks to a large degree to the nurturing guidance of his "Russian" teacher. Once again, THANK YOU!   

[emill]

Wow, this is simply incredible!
He is one talented pianist. 

Hello,
Thank you for your very encouraging comment.
I am sure it will recharge him as always!!  THANKS!

emill

[theholygideons]

Cut back on the over-exaggerated rubati!! Either limit the rubato, unless for sections where you deem it totally necessary, or make sure to balance the rubato by paying back the time when you slow down.

[chopinlover01]

Cut back on the over-exaggerated rubati!! Either limit the rubato, unless for sections where you deem it totally necessary, or make sure to balance the rubato by paying back the time when you slow down.

For what musical purpose do you recommend this?

[theholygideons]

For what musical purpose do you recommend this?

For the purposes of maintaining structural balance.

[kawai_cs]

(...) or make sure to balance the rubato by paying back the time when you slow down.

This is what my teacher always says: you slow down - you have to give back:-)
She will write on my score "accelerate" after a section played rubato. Just saying, because the comment sounded like if my teacher wrote it. You are not my teacher, are you?

[chopinlover01]

For the purposes of maintaining structural balance.

Which he already does.
Rubato is not a strict equation, and too often, the guiding principle of "try to give and take time equally" is taken to an extreme where it becomes measured in milliseconds of time taken.

[emill]

For the purposes of maintaining structural balance.

Which he already does.
Rubato is not a strict equation, and too often, the guiding principle of "try to give and take time equally" is taken to an extreme where it becomes measured in milliseconds of time taken.

Ahh ... musical structural balance ... governed by music "rules", yet subjective to a large extent on the ears of the beholder.  Like chopinlover01, his teachers (one in conservatory and the other during summer and spring breaks) feel that overall, his playing of this piece is satisfactory (rubato included). Of course, that is supposed to "change and mature" with time.   This is not to suggest anything about the opinion of theholygideons which we appreciate, it just shows the variety of opinions regarding rubato, its under, over and exagerated use. 

[adodd81802]

.

[pianiststrongbad]

Emill, this is a very good performance. I enjoyed it a lot. For what it is worth, I've worked on this Waltz for years and know the score intimately.  I've never performed it as there have always been some passages which I've struggled with. Your son makes it sound easy, and he tells a story with the piece - the most important part of performing I think.

Thank you for sharing this.

As a side note, with regards to critical comments in this forum, I am often finding the most critical and somewhat negative points, are commonly made by those that do not appear to have posted anything themselves in the audition forum. Strange that. We can all play like a virtuoso in our minds alone

I've also found this true.

[emill]

There are 2 types of people.

The first are pleased by the score
The second are pleased by the ear

Take away the score and hear it for what it is and you can't time the rubato by milliseconds, but you can only hear whether or not it sounds beautiful to the ear.

Compare directly to the score and it may be rife with inaccuracies, but if we wanted 100% accuracy we would feed the score into a machine and get it to play back to us, and well, we all know how programs like Sibelius sound with no emotion whatsoever.

One could argue it does the composer justice to be strict to the score.

However what is the score, if nothing more than vocal lyrics for a piano?

When we hear a cover of a song, we do, no doubt compare to the original, however if it's good in it's own right we can  happily accept both.

Strange how we have so little rules on current music, however with classical and/or any piece dating 200+ years where we couldn't POSSIBLY 100% factually know just how exactly the composer performed or wanted a piece performed we feel we have the right to dictate what's right and wrong.

Emill your son has worked hard, their interpretation is genuine and it's very pleasing to the ears. Bravo.

As a side note, with regards to critical comments in this forum, I am often finding the most critical and somewhat negative points, are commonly made by those that do not appear to have posted anything themselves in the audition forum. Strange that. We can all play like a virtuoso in our minds alone  

Hi,

For me personally, the gist of what you just posted - "The first are pleased by the score . . . The second are pleased by the ear - is very well said!  THANKS  for your thoughts and for your kind and generous comment on Enzo's performance.

emill  

[swagmaster420x]

There are 2 types of people.

The first are pleased by the score
The second are pleased by the ear

Take away the score and hear it for what it is and you can't time the rubato by milliseconds, but you can only hear whether or not it sounds beautiful to the ear.

Compare directly to the score and it may be rife with inaccuracies, but if we wanted 100% accuracy we would feed the score into a machine and get it to play back to us, and well, we all know how programs like Sibelius sound with no emotion whatsoever.

One could argue it does the composer justice to be strict to the score.

However what is the score, if nothing more than vocal lyrics for a piano?

When we hear a cover of a song, we do, no doubt compare to the original, however if it's good in it's own right we can  happily accept both.

Strange how we have so little rules on current music, however with classical and/or any piece dating 200+ years where we couldn't POSSIBLY 100% factually know just how exactly the composer performed or wanted a piece performed we feel we have the right to dictate what's right and wrong.

Emill your son has worked hard, their interpretation is genuine and it's very pleasing to the ears. Bravo.


As a side note, with regards to critical comments in this forum, I am often finding the most critical and somewhat negative points, are commonly made by those that do not appear to have posted anything themselves in the audition forum. Strange that. We can all play like a virtuoso in our minds alone

I agree with your analogy to song covers, an artist has the freedom to modulate whatever parameters to best convey their interpretation, and I think posted recording is very emotionally engaging.

However I can definitely see where theholygideons is coming from, sometimes the rubato creates a swingy+disjointed feel contributed to in part by marked brief "standstills" where Enzo doesn't immediately continue to the next note, I presume this is to emphasize the accented notes more.

In any case while holygideons may lean toward respecting the score, this isn't excluding respecting ones own ears. The score is there for a reason (often a musical reason xD). I don't think holygideons would offer criticism unless his ears preferred it another way (I doubt he was scouring the Meohisto Waltz score to track discrepancies while listening)

Also, to your passive aggressive comment I assume is referring to holygideos since he's the only one who didn't praise the recording , holygideons has posted recordings and they're actually good

[adodd81802]

.

[swagmaster420x]

While I can totally accept where you're coming from, thanks to the internet, we can, with ease, hear the top level performing pianists such as Horrowitz, Lisitsa (some may question), Rubinstein, Gould, Zimmerman, Kissin, etc and all these are without a doubt are leading examples that we may aspire to be.

However equally, they are hugely criticized, complaints at tempo, complaints at rubato, clarity in notes, bum notes, phrasing, the list is endless, and yet their concerts are always sold out. What is the difference between their performances vs a non-famous pianist, to their critics vs ours?

fair point

Rubato, in general, is massively open to interpretation and while I understand the technical aspect of balancing out the time, I honestly don't think that it needs to be a 50/50 deceleration / acceleration balance and that liberties can be taken if the interpretation makes sense.

I agree

[mjames]

you know youre a fine classical pianist when your renditions spark debate.

[emill]

you know you're a fine classical pianist when your renditions spark debate.

    Thanks for your generous comment .... 
and Thanks too for all those who took the time to listen ... those who gave their opinions. I am sure that Enzo, who has a vow with silence, loves Rochester (Crapchester), NY where the winters are bone-cold and where it is cold 8 months of the year and for all intents and purposes lives with the simplicity of a monk ....  has gone over all the postings the nth as he always does..... I just wish that he will "open-up" someday.  But as one prominent senior member here points out  .... he is just "different" and speaks through his music.    

[abielikesu]

... thanks to a large degree to the nurturing guidance of his "Russian" teacher...

Ahh, the joy of having a "Russian" teacher ...

Congrats to Enzo for such a nice performance.