liszt bach transcriptions

[pianonut]

just bought them and was sight reading through them.  somehow they seem better suited for impression playing with the organ.  it's near impossible to make the piano sound like an organ BUT, has anyone played these?  am curious what they actually sound like when performance ready on piano.  mostly preludes and fugues and then an organ fantasy in g minor.

[ujos3]

I've played the Fugue BWV 543 Lizst-Bach. It is wonderful. But it took me about 8 months to get it to performance level. It is a really nice piece.

[pianonut]

wish i could hear it.  am trying to figure out which one to start.  maybe i'll take a look at that one first. 

[Motrax]

I also played the A minor (BWV 543). It's an amazing piece, and I really think it sounds wonderful on piano. I have both the organ and piano versions of the transcriptions, and although I prefer Liszt's transcriptions, I don't think the organist I have is particularly good.

These pieces taught me the importance of the middle pedal, which I now use not only in the transcriptions, but in just about everything I play. In any case, the transcriptions require very delicate pedalling (that gave me the most trouble) to get a nice big, but not noisy, sound out of the piano.

I only have the music to the A minor, but the others are great too, and I plan on learning them all at some point or another.

[ramseytheii]

These pieces taught me the importance of the middle pedal, which I now use not only in the transcriptions, but in just about everything I play. In any case, the transcriptions require very delicate pedalling (that gave me the most trouble) to get a nice big, but not noisy, sound out of the piano.

Hear Hear.  The most unrecognized and poorly treated appendage of the piano.
It's not just for the bass, people - it's for everything.
It's not just for holding notes that you can't reach with "normal" means.
Wake up and smell the coffee!  Stop ignoring the middle pedal, being lazy; experiment experiment experiment. You'll discover a whole new sound world.

Walter Ramsey

[pianonut]

thank you for your responses.  i will definately use the middle pedal just as i learned to double the bass in some bach preludes in the original form.  love that sound.  appreciate what you said about 'light pedalling.'  trying to imitate the organ is near impossible because you have a wind instrument that sustains better, but IS quite blurry at times.  it slows down the tempos.  So, i guess, with liszt transcriptions, the speed can be taken up a notch?

[iumonito]

So, how did it go?

[pianistimo]

i didn't like them as much as i liked the kempff transcriptions of bach that i got from thal.  but, i still play them once in a while.  the C major prelude and fugue is my favorite.

[ramseytheii]

i didn't like them as much as i liked the kempff transcriptions of bach that i got from thal.  but, i still play them once in a while.  the C major prelude and fugue is my favorite.

For some reason, both Kempff and Andre Watts have made transcriptions of the Bach Organ chorale, "Ich ruf zu dir, Herr."  I've read both of them at the piano, and they are far, far surpassed by the Busoni version.  The Kempff is a literal transcription, nothing wrong with it, but nothing special or interesting.  The Watts is a complete mess, with zero sense of voice-leading.

Busoni added at the end of this haunting chorale a little coda; until I saw the organ score, I never thought that Bach had not written it himself.  It is an amazing touch, and perfect for the proportions of the piece; and as far as the organ relation, one can imagine, with Busoni's poetic direction to play "oscuro," or "obscured," the distant sound of the vox celeste floating through the cathedral.

Walter Ramsey