Beethoven Symphony 7, Mvt. 2 (Liszt Transcription)

[basti27]

Hi Pianostreet,

a few weeks ago I stumbled upon the wonderful piano-transcriptions of Beethoven's Symphonies by Liszt. I've always loved the 2. movement of Symphony 7 (who doesn't?) and instantly wanted to learn it. Now, I'm totally aware of the fact that this enormous piece is quite over my head and as I currently have no teacher, I had to face this big challenge completely alone. That is why I'd love to hear your opinion and tips on the lousy recording I did with my phone... 
It still sounds quite static and I struggle with all the triplets playing along with the quavers, any tip on this is very much appreciated! 

Thank you very much in advance! 

[ronde_des_sylphes]

It's a promising starting point.

However - you could improve it considerably by doing two things:

1. More dynamic variation (in fairness, your phone may be compressing the dynamics)
2. Less metronomic. You don't need a lot of rubato, but a little would help. Shaping phrases, stretching them out just a very little bit at points of harmonic and structural significance (thus drawing attention to their significance).

Remember that you are trying to use the piano to mimic an orchestra. The expressive power of an orchestra is greater than that of a piano, so imo you are better to overplay the above issues than to underplay them. You've done ok with note accuracy, so I would work more on the things I've cited than on the pure technique aspects. This would help the static aspect.

[thirtytwo2020]

Well done!
My first tip would be to be careful not to play the second beat to loud. Quite often in your recording the eighth notes in the second half of the bar are heavier than the quarter note on the first beat, which I think adds to the static feeling.
On the next level, try to shape phrases dynamically.
In my opinion, go easy on rubato, as I think one of the glories of this piece is precisely the way it unfolds completely unbendingly and inevitably - a firm beat gives this an hypnotic effect which is easy to destroy if you start going back and forth in tempo.