Emil von Sauer (1862-1942): Liszt - Consolation no.3 in Db

[gerardbedecarter]

A bit lacking in tranquillity so far as the accompaniment goes. This is just my personal perspective. It may well be that this interpretation goes back to Weimar.

[maxreger100]

I am amazed, and pleased, by the insights posted by viewers here. How refreshing not to read drivel! Perhaps anyone interested in an artist such as Sauer--not a rock star interpreter--has a certain level of intellect and care. Bravo listeners and great thanks to d60944 and, especially, Herr Sauer.

[9samten]

Simplicity, purity, unpretentiousness. Beautiful, pure interpretation of Liszt seldom heard.

[PhillipLWilcher]

Oh my.....

[dgaranin]

Exquisitely beautiful sound and a feeling of ease.

[oneginee]

I can't help but think that Chopin must have stayed in Liszt's mind even though he survived him by 40 years. I have shivers thinking Emil Sauer was a close of Liszt's circle in Weimar and therefore that this playing was heard by Liszt who also heard Chopin. I can't help but remembering Liszt commenting about Chopin's playing when asked in his later year : "In these days pianist were great souls, poets..". Sauer's playing shows these vestiges.

[BRENDANGCARROLL]

Thank you for posting this great rarity!

[silverbud]

He was 76 when he played this!

[Jamesgs007]

Grandiose

[billyguns2]

This is sheer heaven! What tone, what poetry, what atmosphere! It all comes shining through the poor recorded sound.

[alternatehistories]

@billyguns2 "...poor recorded sound"??? You may be surprised to learn that there are many people out there who intentionally seek out these older, mono, analog recordings made on vacuum-tube technology. Some connosseiurs of piano music feel that mono provides the best sound for "single source" instruments like piano...and I concur. Try listening to one of these discs on a high-end turntable and tube amplified system...you may see the light and hear things in a way you never have before.

[billyguns2]

@alternatehistories I am of course referring to the sound of this recording as it is heard on YouTube through my laptop; I have long maintained that the most natural and musical piano sound can be heard on the older recordings, but one needs the older playback equipment to properly hear the recordings. It has been a long, slow descent in the quality of recorded sound, and today's compressed recordings sound completely unnatural to my ear.

[alternatehistories]

@billyguns2 Yeah, I thought of that exact same thing only after I posted my comments. No, we can't judge the true sound as represented here on Youtube...we don't know how d60944 processed the sound to upload. Still, I am glad people upload such material here...it's resulted in renewed interest in the musicians and recordings of ages past. Thanks 4 the reply.

[porippon]

This is my favourite rendition of this piece of music !

[rikkidelreeko]

you are able to feel the ghost of Liszt over his shoulder saying "yes, this is how I want this piece played" great how Sauer bridges the 19th & 20th centuries and even greater having been taught by the master himslef !!

[lawbigduck]

this is really a valuable video,

we finally can have a way to link with liszt

[PierreFWalter]

Better than Horowitz, but much better than Rubinstein. It proves that expression is the most important, poetic intention, not phrasing and other technical things. Poetic intention is something coming from intuition not from practicing finger acrobatics!!!

[billyguns2]

I couldn't have said it better and agree 100%.

[ElizabethTalbot]

Rigorous, revelatory, the spring thaw after a long winter.

[Rhythmics4you]

Makes me find harmony....at last!!!

[akattara]

Beautiful, poetic playing.

I prefer this more simple , remembering feeling

[nairigrigorian]

Es uno de los más grandes Maestros...

[hellomate639]

We should use this as an example of understanding Liszt...

I like this interpretation the best......

[lavrans4ever]

I agree.

[gerardbedecarter]

Emil von Sauer recorded Liszt's "DON JUAN FANTASY" on Welte piano roll no. 876 on 25 November 1905. It was played back on a 1922 Steinway-Welte upright piano and put onto a 3CD set enclosed with the book "Rediscovering the Liszt Tradition" by Gerard Carter. That book is published & sold by Wensleydale Press 165/137 Victoria Street, Ashfield NSW 2131 Sydney Australia.

Also "MAZEPPA" pb on Yamaha grand presently on mp3 - stunning!!!!

PS: I like this Sauer "Cons no. 3". 2nd last chord !!!!!!!!!!

[Noshirm]

The Horowitz performance of this piece reflects his passionate nature and the latent eroticism that underlay his playing of so many pieces by Liszt. Sauer's performance is simpler, and equally beautiful in its emotional reticence. All the same, his ending of the piece is not as convincing, I feel, as Horowitz's.

[d60944]

I tend to agree that Sauer's version of the ending isn't terribly convincing. In the final published version Liszt quite deliberately leaves the piece open-ended (a fragment a la Schumann-Hegel really). I prefer it left that way and not closed off like Sauer does. Though I'm sure perhaps on occasion Liszt might have varied the ending to give more (or even less) closure in some performances - it's the kind of variation we'd expect from what we read of his teaching and performing style.

[Noshirm]

Good heavens! A reply to a comment I made a year ago! I'm honored, too, that you see some merit is what I wrote. Could you direct me to where I can read more on Liszt's teaching and performing style?

[Noshirm]

It's a marvelous, subtle interpretation by any means, and more understated and chaste than the Horowitz performance, too...I wonder if this has to do with the influence of Von Sauer's major mentor - who, by his own admission - was Nikolai Rubinstein - and not really Liszt. Nikolai Rubinstein was more a student of Kullak than of Villoing, his more emotionally volatile brother Anton's sole teacher. Nikolai's playing was never 'volcanic' as was Anton's - and Sauer's was more reticent than Liszt's.

[alexilmagnifico]

@Noshirm

Dear child, shake your head a bit!

How could you ever dare to compare them? They are both great though Sauer is much closer to what Liszt wanted...

By horowitz its more horowitz than Liszt

[Noshirm]

@alexilmagnifico Fair enough! (:-D)

[acortot]

this makes sense.. finally

[timm0222]

Better than Horowitz.