12 Grandes Etudes No.7 - Franz Liszt

[aNelixir]

THANK GOD FOR THIS HE'S AMAZING

[alienhunter96]

0 dislikes for a reason

[Cancrizans]

Really appreciate the upload, if asked to pick which version I like best I think I'd say "they are both so wonderful I can't decide!"

[stilldirrtylover]

I've always wondered why virtuosos like Hamelin never recorded or performed any of these Grand etudes. Some of them are even better than the Transcendental etudes in my opinion. Any thoughts?

[liszt141]

@stilldirrtylover In his all Liszt recital he said they were unplayable.

[classicalhero7]

@liszt141 It is impressive the Howard even attempted them.  Just absolutely amazing..

[liszt141]

@classicalhero7 Have to agree.

[chutdigadut]

@stilldirrtylover I agree completely!

[klaviermusikfreund]

thank you for this very rare masterpiece!

[Forteklapek]

Who did it play?

[rvn10rvn17]

@Forteklapek leslie howard i believe

[BOGDAN1989KLASS]

@Forteklapek maybe Richter???

[BOGDAN1989KLASS]

@Forteklapek maybe Richter??? or cziffra,....

[avb20540]

This is unbelievably ridiculous.

[wagerfilmART]

really instructive. thanks for your work.

[chutdigadut]

gosh this hurts my hands just watching

[richclayderman]

LOL 5:23 liszts places Ossias, like it's going to make it easier

[ThorSpirit]

sorry but I find this music egotistical and boring

[stevey226]

Well don't listen to it then...

[hailkayy]

he had to do it once, in order to discover it, but now he knows he doesn't like it he won"t come back on it anymore, so ur comment is just silly

[stevey226]

@hailkayy Obviously it's not silly. What's the point in his comment if he's just going to complain about it?

[addeex1]

Why do you even bother listening and commenting on it then?

But a question; In what way is it boring??

[hailkayy]

How could he know he would enjoy it or no if he hadn't listened to it ?

Every one can say his opinion.

[CocoaRadix]

I understand why ThorSpirit finds this to be boring, honestly. It's phenomenal writing as a display of technical brilliance, but, let's be fair, musically, it doesn't go anywhere for five and a half long minutes. Part of it is probably the pianist, too. Wonderful accuracy, but in a concert this performance would put me to sleep. The only thing that kept me awake for the duration of the video was being able to watch the notes.

[addeex1]

Well, then you must think the Transcendental version are boring too, right? Because they've got the exact same harmonizes, the only differ is the structure.

[CocoaRadix]

Correct. They're definitely not at the top of my list of favorite Liszt works. But I'd bet that they weren't at the top of Liszt's, either. The term "etude" seemed to become a lot looser as time went on, eventually seeming just to be tagged on to a work that was especially technically difficult. Back in the Liszt/Chopin days, they were more about the technical study. So I'm certainly not FAULTING Liszt here, by any means.

[addeex1]

Yeah, I still think that an etude is an etude. Have you heard of Mereauxs' etudes? They are plain technical studies!! :D

[SlyStallone208]

@CocoaRadix I definitely think that this is the pianist's fault. Listen to Berezovsky's interpretation of the Transcendental Etude no.7 and compare it to the identical passages in this earlier version and it is easy to see that this interpretation is what is sleep-worthy. The first few bars of the introduction itself would be an example of this. I wish someone (such as Berezovsky or... Hamelin! :D) would play their versions of these and I am 100% certain we would have some very exciting peices.

[OverFjell]

@SlyStallone208 Yeah, Howard is the most boring pianist on the face of the planet. 

[nazhiitoxx]

@OverFjell I agree the first recordings of the set are interesting, but later recordings are quite boring and emotionless, if you listen to the recording of the first versions of Dante Sonata and the Grand Concert solo are complete awful, it's like listening a student playing them

[nmvdw]

@nazhiitoxx How do you define the playing of a student compared to the playing of a professional? Furthermore, how do you judge the boredom and the amount of emotion in an interpretation? And how can the Grande Etudes be compared with the Transcendental Etudes? Of some Grande Etudes (like this one) the structure is much different. Could the difference of structure cause the difference in experience?

Personally, I love Howard's recordings, but that is just my opinion.

[DanMarcy1]

This version -is- better than the final one. No one seriously doubts this. Unfortunately this rendition isn't very good. Someone which the technique really needs to record these. Hamelin could do it, but he won't. Ah well...

[SlyStallone208]

@DanMarcy1, x2 about Hamelin

[Angel94angel94]

the stairs sound beautiful

[AmericanCars101]

You want to know whats even more amazing, we have no idea how liszt improvised on these etudes. You can only put so many notes on paper. They probably sounded even more intense when he performed them.

[OwlyEagles]

@AmericanCars101 improvised as in couldn't play it himself so he had to improvise ;D

[AcePro]

I hope everyone can understand and appreciate how RARE this version is. Liszt actually made these a little easier to play later so at least one other person in the world could be able to play them haha. The differences between the two are just outstanding.

[dmcII]

@AcePro An excellent point that isn't mentioned often. The original editions of these etudes were devilishly more difficult than what we know today. Nice of him to cut us a "break"...lol.

[PJmusicBoy]

looks definitely harder than chopin's works!

[addeex1]

Who cares? :)

Chopin have a diffrent style. Hungarian and polish isn´t really the same ;)

[nashnetties]

wow enricol is kind of a douche bag eh?

[mkeysou812]

i'd love to see a video of someone playing this - there's some pretty crazy passages in there!

[OverFjell]

I prefer the Transcendental Version better...

[AminelikesStephanie]

same thing

[addeex1]

Well i perfer the build up to the octaves in TE better, but i like the GE more, just feels like that:P

[beryllium2]

I think I like this version better, just because of the way it leads up to the octave marathon. All though I like the octave marathon to be all octaves instead of arpeggios thrown in. :)

[chopinandliszt]

yeah, Howard says this is superior than its Transcendental counterpart. But they both are hard.

[enricoI]

Hmm..that wasn't what you said in the other posts on the Grandes Etudes: "The History of Pianoforte states that "Liszt revised Etudes over a considerable period of time and came to distinguish between proper pianoforte effects and mere dare-devil bravura." If you're disappointed by what Liszt considered "proper", write your own TE."

Should Howard or the poster beryllium have recomposed TE7 if they preferred the earlier version? Or are you just being obnoxious?

[chopinandliszt]

Yeah, I must say I'm beginning to understand what you're saying. TE4 is the only TE that is harder and more "GE-like" than its GE version. Other than that, I don't think TEs are not as good as GEs. You know, I kind of apologize about telling you to write your own TE. I read some books and quickly came to a conclusion that you're disrespecting the composer. By the way, I'm not really fond of Liszt's pieces, I like Chopin and Mozart's.

[playadom]

those arpeggios are DOPE