Liszt v Thalberg

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Their informal piano 'duel' of 1837 is of course a part of musical legend. It was however a bit of a surprise to find this sheet music video, featuring one of the pieces they played.

The Liszt Niobe is, I'm pretty sure, a recording by Steven Mayer, which I have somewhere on CD. The Thalberg Moses Fantasy I also have on CD - because it's MY recording! 

https://bilibili.com/video/BV1ab411z7Yd

[anacrusis]

I mean what can one say except that it's an impressive recording, you got mad skills for sure 

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Thank you!  the theme and variations section probably isn't as difficult as it looks on the page, but I think it's extremely effective writing.

[anacrusis]

I don't know many, looks pretty hard to me Have you always had a talent for playing this sort of stuff, or have you sort of had to work extra hard to be able to pul these types of compositions off? I know you play a lot of these kind of apex virtuoso pieces haha, I don't know what else to call them 

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Good question. I went through a phase of deliberately trying to play extremely difficult pieces: I wouldn't class it as an 100% success, but it certainly improved my technique. Nowadays I'm inclined to be more selective and focus on the more manageable ones. I think, in retrospect, that my habit of doing A LOT of improvisation around technical patterns also advanced my natural technique in an analogous manner to how many people use Czerny etc. In a realistic sense I was to some extent an 'adult returner' in that I stopped playing piano in any serious sense between about the ages of 17 to 25 but by the time I sought professional advice in my thirties I'd acquired a lot of background dexterity through improvisation and primarily my teacher taught me not technique but organisation.