Sun 14 August - Liszt Transcriptions

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  • french frank
    Administrator/Moderator
    • Feb 2007
    • 30169

    Sun 14 August - Liszt Transcriptions

    Sunday at 6pm:

    "Stephen Johnson is joined by pianist Leslie Howard at the Birmingham International Piano Academy to uncover the musical nuances in some of Liszt's piano transcriptions.

    Liszt was a celebrated virtuoso pianist and European superstar. His myriad piano transcriptions served a number of purposes. Some showed off his incredible technique, others were more easily playable by amateur musicians and so served to disseminate well-known pieces to a bigger audience. In others, there's a real sense that Liszt thought that the piano, as an instrument, actually had something different to bring to the original composition. He tackled Schubert songs, mammoth Beethoven symphonies, Wagnerian leitmotifs and Verdi grand operas, but none of his transcriptions are in any way a pastiche. All of them seem to carry a sense that Liszt cared deeply about the music and about the piano."
    It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.
  • Roehre

    #2
    Could be very interesting.

    Comparing e.g. earlier (late 1830s) versions of Liszt's transcriptions of Beethoven's symphonies with the later (1860s) ones, or the late 1830s versions of Schubert songs with those from the 1870s or even early 1880s, shows how Liszt's approach changed, how true he remained to the originals, as well as how meticulously he developed/changed his use of the piano to reproduce orchestral colouring.

    But someone still needs to use 12 fingers in order to play it all

    Comment

    • Eine Alpensinfonie
      Host
      • Nov 2010
      • 20568

      #3
      Originally posted by Roehre View Post
      Could be very interesting.

      Comparing e.g. earlier (late 1830s) versions of Liszt's transcriptions of Beethoven's symphonies with the later (1860s) ones, or the late 1830s versions of Schubert songs with those from the 1870s or even early 1880s, shows how Liszt's approach changed, how true he remained to the originals, as well as how meticulously he developed/changed his use of the piano to reproduce orchestral colouring.

      But someone still needs to use 12 fingers in order to play it all
      I remember feeling very proud when I learnt Schubert's Erlking accompaniment as a student, and played it several successive times as the official accompanist at a festival. But then I saw the Liszt transcription, and my pride turned to humility.

      Comment

      • aka Calum Da Jazbo
        Late member
        • Nov 2010
        • 9173

        #4
        Tom Service on Liszt
        According to the best estimates of astronomers there are at least one hundred billion galaxies in the observable universe.

        Comment

        • french frank
          Administrator/Moderator
          • Feb 2007
          • 30169

          #5
          The article may be a bit of a puff for tomorrow's Music Matters, but it does sound as if it will be an interesting programme - more music, less topicality. Like of which we don't get much
          It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.

          Comment

          • Biffo

            #6
            Just listened to the Erlkonig transcription; Leslie Howard must have the requisite twelve fingers.

            Comment

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