Am I the only person on this board that DOESN'T play La Campanella?

[dinosaurtales]

It's the kind of piece I messed with in high school, mostly out of curiosity, but I never mastered it, and never picked it up again.  Seems everybody is playing this but me.  Is it "required" repertoire somehow?

[Steve T]

I'm with you...I'm not playing it either.....yet  What a beautiful piece though 

[squinchy]

I'm certainly not playing it. Funny thing is, I tried to learn it by ear when I was 9 when I had just started piano, and thought I could easily do it. Haha. ha. Ha. Ha. I thought the same of the Grieg Piano Concerto too. Must be all the deceptive octave openings..

[steinwaymodeld]

i played it.

[musicsdarkangel]

It's the kind of piece I messed with in high school, mostly out of curiosity, but I never mastered it, and never picked it up again.  Seems everybody is playing this but me.  Is it "required" repertoire somehow?

Not required, but wow, it is sure beneficial.

It teaches you effiecency of motion, speed, relaxation, trills, octaves (scalular and jumps), leaps, etc.

A hell of a lot to learn IMO

[pianobabe56]

I looked at it for a grand total of two weeks, decided I wasn't interested in it, and never looked at it again, frankly. Maybe I haven't learned to really appreciate liszt yet, but I did the same thing with Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2...

[Skeptopotamus]

yeah i had to play it a while ago.  i dont particularly like it but i think everyone eventually has to play it.

[apion]

I play a fair amount of Liszt, but I'm not interested in this piece.  I don't intend to spend any time with it. 

As far as "required learning," the only composition that falls within that category, IMO, is portions of Bach's WTC.

[whynot]

Never have, never will... life is short, and there's all that BACH I still want to learn.

[steinwaymodeld]

Never have, never will... life is short, and there's all that BACH I still want to learn.

Yea, the Liszt Fantasy and Fugue on the Name BACH.

That's what I really want to learn.

[klavierkonzerte]

i don't find la campanella that intresting.

[steinwaymodeld]

i don't find la campanella that intresting.

i used to find it very interseting, until i have learnt it.

[marialice]

Never played it, and it's not on my pieces-I-want-to-learn list either (but that can change of course).

[tocca]

Am i the only person on this board that doesn't have the tecnique for it?!! 

I like the piece, i like many of Liszt's pieces. I have "fooled around" with it, but never really tried to learn it.
Of course i can't really know if i can handle it unless i try, but from the looks of it it's a bit beyond me.

[wintervind]

In my opinion, Campanella is for teenagers. Sure its fun, but why bother with it when there is so much better music out there (again- in my opinion)

[SDL]

doesn't rock my boat.  In fact I prefer Alkan and Chopin to Liszt.

[SteinwayTony]

i think everyone eventually has to play it.

Speak for yourself.

[BoliverAllmon]

I haven't learned and probably won't learn it unless someone offers me a couple grand to learn it and perform it. Then I would probably change my attitude.

boliver

[Jake]

This is nowhere near my favorite piece by Liszt, but I think it's beautiful when played really well.

Why?

9/10 of the performances I hear of this piece are unsatisfactory. It's pretty technically difficult, and even for those that can master the technical challenges, I still find that many of them have rough sound (hurt my ears!), or are simply annoying.

Too many people play La Campanella, and most who do aren't good enough.

That's why I'm in no rush at all to learn it. 

[lfischer]

i can't play it. i dont want to either as i think its somewhat overplayed by people who aren't really that good at it. when i was little i had a similar attitude towards the 1st movement of the moonlight sonata. very nice, just played far too often far to badly.

[Etude]

I don't really like Campanella that much, I prefer the earlier transcriptions by Liszt of the piece.

[steinwayguy]

I haven't played it and have no interest in it.

And yeah, I think it is one of those show-stopper/show-off pieces that teenagers tend to like more than say, a Mozart sonata.

[pseudopianist]

I would if I could but I can't so I won't

[tds]

dont feel bad about not playing la campanella. feel good that you have played works by bach, mozart, brahms and beethoven, instead. apart from a few works by liszt, i only play his music because i am a pianist.....

i never thought that la campanella is too much more than as a piece of lolly in my pocket. i don't usually carry lollies unless i know i'll come across some kids to give em away. best, tds

[Motrax]

In my humble opinion, it's certainly worth learning if you have the time and inclination for it, but it's not at all "required" repertoire. It makes for a nice encore, and it does help technique quite a bit. [snip]

As for the frequency of people who've played it - I'd never heard of the piece until I joined the forum, and I'd never heard the piece until I got Yundi Li's CD of it. I've only met one person who's ever played it... doesn't seem like such an overplayed piece to me.

[thierry13]

It's played often, but not OVERplayed ...

[Dazzer]

My opinion of liszt: some showoff pianist who wrote showy flashy pieces to showoff his flash showoffy fingers cuz he could.

Conclusion: I hate liszt. But then, only cuz i can't play any of his music properly =P

EDIT: nup, haven't played la campanella either...

I have memorised a couple of trancendental etudes though... 2 and 10(i think...fmin?). Not saying that i can play them well though...