Liszt: Dante sonata

[pianoman53]

Hi everyone!

I dug a little in my archives, and found this. It's from my third year in bachelor. Some 6 months later, I got diagnosed with focal dystonia, so it's an emotional recording for me.
The sound is not very good, but I hope you can enjoy it anyway!

[lowk-_-y]

Sorry to hear about your injury. What a brilliant performance though.

Liszt isn’t my favourite, or should I say performances of Liszt aren’t my favourite. Too often it’s simply a barrage of notes especially from pianists who simply see it as a technical showcase. This wasn’t the case here, so much drama and character, so much music. A bit of a shame about the recording venue, I could tell there were many beautiful details that were somewhat masked.

One thing I loved was the fact that you didn’t shy away from the many fermatas. For me, the drama is all in the silence. (Maybe not all)

0.52 - For me these 2 chords in the lower register are a sharp retort to the open-ended statement from the higher register octaves before. I desired a much shorter, bitier (if you can accept that word) response. But this is totally taste. Out of interest do you envisage this piece orchestrally? If so, if you agree that the statement and the response here are two different orchestral colours, what instruments do you imagine playing each?

4.18 - Don’t you think with the accents here Liszt wanted somewhat of an indulgence of this melody, it seemed a little glossed over. Similarly at 4.28, especially as it’s right before a tempo and mood change.

4.44 Possibly could have built more drama towards this G major chord, seemed like you were already thinking about the next thought without properly finishing the first. Although in hindsight 5.04 was prepared beautifully so you must have had an idea behind 4.44. I’m curious as to what it was.

5.08 section - My god was this beautiful. Delicatissimo. Fully captured this improvisatory feel, spontaneous and delightfully wistful. For sure one of the best moments of the piece for me. The pedalling…the phrasing…the singing melody. Sorry for the exaggerated romanticisation but I loved this bit.

7.20 - You do a bit of a rit during these semiquavers which I think isn’t helpful for this aspect of recitative. If you allow these semiquavers to propel you to the A natural, it will give the impression of a spontaneous thought that slowly transforms through this long A into the more contemplative Adagio without any need for a rit. Otherwise, for me, it just seems like a lovely improvisatory melody without the character that this piece needs.

7.35 Again, stunningly delicate. I love these softer colours that you bring, I’m sure your stronger, dramatic moments are great too, its just hard to judge with the acoustics. The build up here was also very nice.

8.03 - My god…

12.02 - Bit wet?

Very passionate and characterised performance. Thank you for sharing