Franz Liszt

Solfeggietto in C minor (H 220, Wq. 117: 2) (yeah they used to name music like we name software) composed in 1770 by C.P.E. Bach, son of J.S.

Live video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ8fyDSYaOI

Skinny Pete plays it in the music store scene in Breaking Bad season 5 episode 3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQlAmtWHPII) and he makes more mistakes than me.

The instrument is Clavia Nord Stage 2 using a sampled Yamaha C7 grand piano and a few touches of synth.

Updated with a better take with less reverb on Feb 23, 2014.

Video

C.P.E. Bach - Solfeggietto [piano + synth]

This piece originates from Robert Schumann's 'Album für die Jugend' - a collection of 43 short works that were composed for his three daughters. The opus 68 'Album für die Jugend' is, unlike 'Kinderszenen', meant to be played by children, although the collection is divided in two parts - and the second is marked 'Für Erwachsenere', from no. 19, 'Kleine Romanze', onwards. 

'Wilder Reiter', or - as it is more commonly referred to, 'The Wild Horseman', is the eight piece of the collection. It is a short and easy, albeit wonderful piece due to its evocative, enthralling composition. It is essentially a lesson in staccato phrasing (one can really imagine the horseman trotting about), and teaches the pianist how to lead the cantabile with both hands, while accompanying with the other. The first section, where the melody is led by the right hand, is repeated. What follows is an intermezzo, if you will, where the left hand leads the melody - an inverse variation on the first section. The piece concludes with a third repetition of the first section. 

I am fascinated by the images that the piece conjures. Is the horseman clad in medieval armour, riding past you in a jousting roundabout? In measures 5 through 8 I deliberately retained some intensity in favour of conveying how the horseman has galloped past the listener (who is of course, stationary), and is making another pass. The second section, measures 9 through 16, seem to indicate the 'wild' in the horseman. Is he perhaps struggling to contain the horse, who has run amok? But then the first section is repeated, and the controlled, frivolous atmosphere reassures and consoles the listener. 

illustration: Géricault - 'Head of White Horse', ca. 1810, Musée du Louvre, Paris

R. Schumann - Wilder Reiter (The Wild Horseman) op. 68 no. 8 in A minor

Franz Liszt Piano Concerto No 2 Soloist: Cyprien Katsaris, Conductor: Nader Abbassi, Cairo Opera Orchestra,  Concert 8-1-2006

Nader Abbassi, Franz Liszt  Piano Concerto no 2 Cyprien Katsaris

Musique originale composée par Ludwig Van Beethoven.
Enregistrée pour ma part il y a bien 15 ans déjà... 

La sonate au clair de lune - Beethoven (jouée par moi)

Und Sumpf -Version II

Redoutable défi, pour un pianiste, que l’enregistrement des Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, chef-d’œuvre suprême de Franz Liszt, si grand est le nombre de légendaires interprétations habitant toutes les mémoires. 

Pourtant ici, à l’écoute des onze tableaux formant l’illustre fresque sonore du maître hongrois, l’auditeur est saisi par la rigueur idiomatique et l’exigence stylistique manifestées par Pascal Amoyel. De ce brillant musicien, la plus belle qualité demeure probablement l’aisance souveraine à marier les contraires : clarté du discours et subtilité des nuances, variété des couleurs et rigueur rythmique. Doublant la prouesse digitale d’une impeccable et sensible restitution des inflexions spirituelles qui animent cette partition étonnamment lyrique, Pascal, prouve en l’occasion que la perfection technique reste avant tout un merveilleux gage de liberté.

Buy on Itunes

Pascal Amoyel, Liszt // Rêves d'amour

Guest conductor David Lockington leads the NEC Philharmonia and student soloist Huijuan Pan in Franz LIszt's Concerto for PIano No. 1 in E Flat Major. The performance was recorded live on April 12, 2011 at NEC's Jordan Hall.
For more information about New England Conservatory: http://necmusic.edu

Liszt - Concerto for Piano No. 1 in E flat major  - Allegro marziale animato

F.Liszt: Études d'exécution transcendante No.4 ‘Mazeppa’ d-moll S.139-4 in Grosser Saal WuerzburgHfm

The Borromeo String Quartet with pianist Emely Phelps perform Dvorak: Quintet for Piano and Strings no 2 in A major. Recorded live February 26, 2012 at Jordan Hall.
For more information: http://necmusic.edu

Dvorak: Quintet for Piano and Strings no 2 in A major-  Dumka  Andante con moto

 Xixi Zhou (M.M. '12,) student of Hung-Kuan Chen performs excerpts from Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 7 during the 2012 Commencement concert. Recorded live May 19, 2012 in NEC's Jordan Hall, Boston.
For more information: http://necmusic.edu

Sergei Prokofiev - Piano Sonata No 7 in B flat major - Precipitato

Chopin Nocturne No. 10 In A - Flat Major Op 32/2.

Robert Schumann - Romance Op. 28 No. 2

Cet enregistrement doit son titre énigmatique et sa réalisation à une poussée de fièvre. De fièvre amoureuse, pour le répertoire lisztien le plus personnel (les deux Légendes de saint François) et pour l'instrument le plus fidèle à reproduire ses moirures, le plus souple à moduler ses accents : un piano Erard, de la famille de facteurs parisiens du XIXe siècle, rivaux de Pleyel. 

Collectionneuse avisée de claviers historiques, Claire Chevallier, brillante soliste française installée en Belgique, détient un de ces précieux spécimens, dont Liszt louait la légèreté et la fiabilité autant que la puissance. La chaude clarté des registres, dans le médium et les graves, la rondeur des aigus colorent d'une volupté idéale la courbe des élégies lisztiennes. 

« On aura beau dire et beau faire, assurait le compositeur à son ami Pierre Erard, il faut désormais des claviers de femme. » Et des femmes au clavier.

Claire Chevallier, Liszt // Funérailles

Live recording
Zaragoza Auditorium
November 2012

Liszt - Les preludes - OCSMA - Juan Luis Martinez

giorgos konstantinou plays live Liszt's "Après une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata" from the second volume of Années de pèlerinage.  Moscow, Gnesin Academy. June 2013. Please forgive the first 10 seconds of silence.

Liszt: Après une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata (giorgos konstantinou, piano)

Creativity is not something that can be turned on and off like a tap . . . 
Art is a labour of love, a question of patience and concentration. To place demands on it, criteria, quotas, damages it, slowly kills it. Art, like nature, must be allowed to develop and to grow, in order to attain plenitude. Following this principle, La Dolce Volta prefers to privilege quality over quantity. Releases are limited to ten albums a year, but each of them is the fruit of in-depth work, and above all a special relationship between the soloist and the composer. The artists’ virtuosity is coupled with their ineffable and highly personal approach, a feeling that can only be expressed through music. 
And since jewels worthy of the name can only be offered in special cases, the albums La Dolce Volta releases are themselves works of art: each record cover is an original work of art; the digipack’s inner sleeve includes a booklet in four languages and an interview with the musician. A bandeau is wrapped around each album, on which is printed the name of the soloist, the name of the composer, and the work performed. 
For La Dolce Volta, music is not just a shrink-wrapped object for sale. Like all beautiful things in life, it must come to fruition naturally, the result of careful craftsmanship, and offered like an exquisite flower. 
For La Dolce Volta music is a question of elegance and beauty without concessions.

Claire Chevallier, Liszt // Funérailles

ladolcevolta

Recent comments

The Hollygrove Cafe, New Orleans

Related tracks