Enrico Pace plays Liszt - Totentanz (part 1 of 2)

[1Thompsonmusic]

This music is rubbish. Chopin is the best.

[radacsigenoveva]

@1Thompsonmusic

hát te meg elég nagy marha vagy, ha szerinted ez a zene szemét. oké Chopin is nagyon jó volt, na de Liszt??? I think you don't understand what I wrote because I speak english but you don't speak Hungarian!! :D

[bishopquack]

Liszt didn't write the music for the Sinbad films ???

[Martinus988]

@bishopquack No, he did not. DUDE.

[bishopquack]

@Martinus988 it was just a joke Martin

[Martinus988]

@bishopquack Huhh... :)

[aldysonjoyo]

what instrument is that? 2:04

[Haamidpianoman]

@aldysonjoyo look like a bassoon

[Haamidpianoman]

@aldysonjoyo looks like a bassoon

[dmitribron]

Pace's first CD is scheduled for release on 9 January 2012.

Liszt: Annees de Pelerinage Books I & II

Piano Classics: PCLD0026

[Doron3891]

To jon6440 and Tu16. He win. This was the winning interpretation of that competition.



[Tu16]

@Doron3891 Sorry, you are right. No idea where I got my second place idea from. Thanks!

[markmarshall39]

hair by Kissin:)

[jon6440]

did he win?

[Tu16]

@jon6440 I think he got second place - can anyone confirm?

[ludwigvb1216]

6:53!!!! Fuck yeah!

[nossoymayor]

better than justin bieber

[SporkingToast]

@nossoymayor

I find it insulting that you would even mention that name on a piece by Liszt.

[mortalfrog0815]

i find it surprising that i still find lisitsas solo interpretation better than the orchestra version

lisitsa playing it with orchestra would be unbeatable...

[PLkurwa]

i got a boner.... NOT

[teresavivarium]

You can hear the old Gregorian melody of Dies Irae interwoven into the notes. It is a variation of Dies Irae, actually, am I right? Don't know too much about the technical side of music, just enjoy it very much.

[PianoMan6302]

I love the macabre elements of this piece. I am amazed at the enormous variety of Liszt's music.

[chrisbull300]

They even have a corpse playing the piano!

This is like horror halloween edition of totentanz.

(How can such a petite skinny person play THAT...amazing :)

[Panzonfeo]

the piano is an extension of him

[Norgelt]

The pianist is a machine!!!

[0angeplume0]

@Norgelt

No machine can play like him

[FreakGuitar92]

THUMPS UP if you think VALENTINA LISITSA can play it best!

[luddoro]

@FreakGuitar92 cosa c'entra!??!?! Una suona senza orchestra e lui con!!! Hai scritto solo sta cosa per far vedere il tuo nome in alto della musica non ti interessa niente . . .

[FreakGuitar92]

@luddoro sry i cant understand. plz write englisch!

[dpkaiser]

@FreakGuitar92 Translation: Where's the connection!??!?! She plays without any orchestra while he does!!! You just wrote it in order to show your name below the video, you don't care . . .

[ethaninwhite]

@FreakGuitar92 There are things about Lisitsa's version that I like better, but then there are things about Pace's version that I like better. For instance, having an orchestra. But Lisitsa's is quicker, stronger, and a better interpretation of what Liszt was writing about. While there are some parts I felt like she should have slowed down on, I feel like her version is superior is most ways.

[nostromissimo]

@ethaninwhite Guys, you're listening to music not choosing Ice Cream flavours. Your average know it all youtube critic just can't resist comparing one performance against another. Learn to listen and you will not be thinking about Lisitsa when you're listening to this.

[StrangerPage]

@FreakGuitar92

there are 3 different versions of this(piano and orchestra, piano duo, and solo piano, and thats the order how they were made)

so you cant say wich one is better

[Cannibalizer13]

mostly you guys can hear dies irae. see the gregorian chant dies irae and you can hear a clear melody.

[BillyBobmay22]

Is it weird or do you guys hear a Super Smash Bros. melody too?

[blindmanonacid]

could anyone tell me where I can buy a decent quality recording of this performance?

[PowerMetalWorld]

looking at those glissandos makes my hands hurt :S I play piano since I was 5 (I'm 14) and I know that hurt A LOT, lol

[Adri58]

Liszt wanted to get a new piano, so he destroyed it. HOW? Composing Totentanz

This piece probably breaks every single key in the piano, it is almost fortissimo all the piece

This is Satans love song. When he is happy, que plays this. I dont want to know what he plays when he is angry ;-)

Liszt is THE composer

[yellowboi77]

Amazing! best performance to date

[Laudan08]

@DrownedAtLakeBodom You made Liszt laugh...

[fierydog]

3:40-4:12 is my favorite part.

[Bodolinho]

versucht die noten mitzulesen :)

[TheMozo5]

i like glissandos.. :D :D

[Royelmesias]

BELLAMENTE TÉTRICO!

[ErKa132]

Pace plays the meaning.



[ErKa132]

Pace plays the meaning. 

[Nastor1996]

3:45 Best part of the whole Totentanz.

[quirkessence]

This is a freaking SICK piece

[udistritalextrema]

01:30

[laurensDG]

@smileman66 haha no thumbs for you

[chopin6630k]

Un capolavoro unico! Dinanzi alla genialità non esistono parole.

[ohquffy]

3:58 Sweat droplet indicates awesome.

[sweetnessglyc]

His clenched left fist while he's playing the glissandi, makes me think of someone who is in pain and tries not to scream. I don't want to imagine what is depicted there by Liszt!!

[BeniyMrsCool]

@SpecialPianoBoy yes! You're right: the effect is different but she has also got a very magnifique performance of this song :)

[BeniyMrsCool]

@SpecialPianoBoy well, I think the best is that by Valentina Lisitsa. Never seen before?

[max25252525252525]

It is more like a soldier's than as Totentanz!

[MicrocebusRufus1]

This piece has been used by Paul Romero while composing music to the game Heroes of Might and Magic III...

[ZephImmortal]

Holy hair. O.O

Aside from that, wonderful~

[masterofpiano1]

6:55 starts the real fire

[dds8989]

Great performance! And the bassoonist looks just like the actor William Fichtner!

[ForeverPianoLover]

just watch his left hand at the glissandi part when its not playin... its just amazing how tensed he was... absolutely brilliant...

[kevinpark140]

oh my god, that bassoon at 2:03...pure magic. they sound so goooood

[jositaJea]

80's porno at 1:12

[AugustinusSextus]

@jositaJea what the

[mortalfrog0815]

@jositaJea that's ben van dijk, one of the finest bass trombone players of our time, but i have to agree his mustachio is kinda porny!

[mayou59500]

Impresionnant!

[vourier]

the music is so deadly....

[fontapiano]

this execution always gives me gooseflesh........ especially at 1:02.

[cedricrlongreen]

This is probably Liszt's best composition. Period.

[PIAN0PLAYER5]

that first bassoonist looks like james bond.

[2B2Mgt]

22 years old ? He seems..........older than 22.

He is Italian, dear funk55558

[funk55558]

where is he from?

[BeniyMrsCool]

@funk55558 he's Italian :)

[MilkBoyofAH]

Chuck Norris takes piano lessons with him each week.

[usamaki10]

The Dies Irae is amazing.

[GiancarloDalle]

This is an absolutely brilliant rendition of the piece. I honestly have been listening to it non-stop over the past week.

I've probably contributed at least 1000 views. :P

[TheChopinesque]

The piano strings must have been very sturdy, because none of them broke.

[PIAN0PLAYER5]

I like his hair better than kissin's. XD

[M3Ab]

Amazing. Love the hair, somehow perfectly suits the piece.

[jan1196]

wow.

[CaseyRocky]

Is there a CD recording of this performance that I can buy for superior sound quality. This is by far the best performance of this that I have ever heard.

[alin7934]

great.......

this piece is great brilliantttttttt.

[Mortdefides]

His hands go MAD, then still again... Then MAD and still again... It's like a calculated frenzy, a perfect chaos. Amazing work, amazing performance.

[mondie320]

this is <3.

[SymphonyOfTheGods]

Im obsessed with this performance. So powerful.

Its kinda like the metal of classical music.

[CroSpirit]

@SymphonyOfTheGods

the death magnetic of liszt :D

[MrRaphaelBM]

@SymphonyOfTheGods

Hahaha .

[Seikilou]

@SymphonyOfTheGods i thought the same! XD

[NuovoCurioso]

Grande Liszt.............

[mikabo11]

Very Nice !

[musicbrain5]

The Dies Irae stands out in every piece it is featured in!

[dadoctah]

@musicbrain5 Not every piece. It's pretty well hidden in the Danse Macabre by Saint-Saëns, so much so that I had to have it pointed out to me (and now of course it *does* stand out).

[Nganguen]

LISZT...Enrico Pace...I'm scared, this piece is very pathetic and "apocalyptic"...The Death's dance.

[kingkhameleon]

he looks like a white snoop dogg...lol for shizzle my wizzle, lmao!

[NecRol1]

4:00 is so epic.

[SordidGuy]

The conductor looks like he needs something for diarrhea!

[dtscott13]

@SordidGuy haha, you would, after conducting something like this! I'm sure he had his pepto bismol on standby.

[SummerSnow543]

@SordidGuy hahahaha epically hilarious comment

[vittu22]

some information about Franz Liszt (List). ..you can find in the book...Miroslav Demko: Franz Liszt, compositeur slovaque (google.books).. just search!

[ppattuska]

@vittu22

He had probably german, hungarian and/or slavonic ancestry.

You really find this so important?

Because you comment the same on every Liszt related video. :)

[vittu22]

@ppattuska ..yeah...I read something about that...(little)...very interesting arguments in the text, what I read...

[ppattuska]

@vittu22 I don't want to argue :)

[jaideuxamours]

Like I said before, John Keats got it wrong when he wrote "Heard melodies are sweet, but unheard melodies are sweeter". Superb, brilliant, goosebump-tastic, words alone do not do this piece justice. Kudos to the the entire band.

[JessicaL555]

This guy is INSANE!!! I wonder how long he practises for...good on him! And good on Liszt for writing a super sweet piece like this!

[afertyus1000]

its amazing watching these group of serious middle-aged balding gentlemen playing some of the most sublime exciting music conceived

[wsp67326]

what about Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini; possibly the most famous work based upon the Dies Irae theme, no?

[OrangeSodaKing]

Paganini's capricce that Rachmaninoff used was based on Dies Irae?

[daviddipan]

7:08 very nice !!! =)

[vladimirhorowitz]

It's so difficult (for me anyway) to play that part smoothly. I routinely play those bars and the buildup to that after the oboe (or is it clarinet?) solo and I still can't get it to sound as nice and even as the pros.

[Medsas]

probably Liszt's best concertante work

[08vista]

LoL his hands were moving so fast at the start that the video censored it at the start

[npelletier89]

lmao.

[ThunderbirdEnema]

Fuck, those glissandi gotta hurt.

[MassacreDog]

@ThunderbirdEnema

I'm learning piano. In what part are those glissandi? I don't know what they are on piano. Thanks

[ImaginaryButtons]

@MassacreDog

Starting at about 3:12, he plays glissandi up and down.

[braintist]

@ThunderbirdEnema It shouldnt hurt if you are using your fingernails :D

[LtTemeraire]

reminds me of the Necropolis Theme Music from heroes of might and magic III ;)

[dajohnthomas69]

able orchestra also, gives the right accompaniment

[npelletier89]

Best opening ever. Such a powerful piece!

[dajohnthomas69]

Night on bald mountain by Mussorgsky is inspired by this.

[SordidGuy]

I concur. BUT, the themes to both Night on Bald (Bare) Mountain and Totentanz are "borrowed" from a 13th century Gregorian Chant, Latin Catholic hymn, "Dies Irae". Not demeaning anyone by any means, but felt compelled to "reveal the truth" (so to speak). Comments and criticism welcome......Anyway STUPENDOUS PERFORMANCE BY PACE!!!!!!

[dajohnthomas69]

But did Liszt know this...or was he inspired by Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, last movement???

[SordidGuy]

Either way, all were "inspired" and/or "borrowed" from the 13th century Gregorian Chant - There's no doubt in that. Just listen to it. For some reason, I cannot post the link, but it's not difficult to locate......

[keepitacrime]

of course liszt new this, every classical musician should know the dies irae from gregorian chant, if not stop meticulously practicing to a borrowing metronome all day and do some research

[braintist]

@keepitacrime Btw... the full title of the score is "Totentanz : Paraphrase on dies irae" people who play the piece obviously knows it a paraphrase of Dies Irae DOHH...

[OrangeSodaKing]

No no, you're correct and I don't think people should respond negatively to this... Liszt, Mussorgsky, and Alkan are the three composers that I can think of off the top of my head that borrowed "Dies Irae" for a composition.

[SordidGuy]

Thank you for the kind comment! If it weren't for the earliest of composers/musicians, this kind of genious wouldn't be around today......

[MJLatora]

Berlioz as well

[FranzLisztian]

@OrangeSodaKing

I know Alkan had a piece based on that theme, but which of his pieces is it? I have heard it somewhere but I can't remember its name!

[OrangeSodaKing]

Still amazing.

[keepitacrime]

oh the bassoons!!!! and all the skeletons come out to dance the totentanz...clink clank clink

[npelletier89]

heehee well said!

[vladimirhorowitz]

7:09-7:15...just wow. Liszt channeled something beyond this world when he wrote that.

[LoneWolfOnTheHeights]

I agree i had valentina lisitsas version playing, just absently listening. Then I heard that. Holy fuck it blew my mind

[Patrickphx11]

LOVE 4:05..the Maddness...

[Revoluciona41]

The main title of the game: Heroes V has the same melody imo =O =)

[progbassftw]

Although I've never played Heroes V its soundtrack may have used the theme. It's a theme commonly used, taken from a gregorian chant called "Dies Irae"

[luziederschrecken]

And so has the entry sequence of the Kubrick movie "The Shinging".

[freeqwerqwer]

He's got great hands and potential for sure and while he has some exciting spots, overall it is inconsistent, unpolished, and unimaginative playing. Listen to Michangeli's take on Totentanz, someone who displays understanding of form, architecture, and literally knowledge of Dante's Purgatory.

[Naltino]

Freeqwerqwer, I agree with you 100%. However, I do feel that it is unfair to compare Pace to Michelangeli. It's like comparing a high school basketball player to Michael Jordan. Pace may never reach the likes of Michelangeli, one of the greatest from the last century.

[bemasher]

You also have to remember this was really really early on in his career, he was only 22 when he performed this in 1989. It was the second major competition he played in. Like you said he's still got lots of room to grow but i'm convinced this was a great performance of the work.

[avalanche183]

Freeqwerqwer, Naltino, Bemasher, great insight in all of your posts. Thank you for having a civil discussion, it was quite refreshing to read compared to the usual degrading slanders! Like you said Bemasher, great performance, especially for his age.

[luievd89]

ohhh didnt knew that.......... he's amazing ............. just incredible

thanks for the data (no sarcasm there)

[M3Ab]

@freeqwerqwer You are out to lunch. This performance destroys anything Michangeli did.

[UguysUsedAllmyNames]

wrath of the titans!

[retroverse]

fucking pro

[Laudan08]

plz say instrument at 2:05

[Yaf0]

its called a Bassoon

[ccen1]

it's called a bassoon :))

[hiomioman]

fagotti or bassoon (spelling?)

[Rach3Piano]

bassoon

[FlavourCactus]

Massive! Immense!

[bemasher]

He plays like he's possessed by some demon trying to sonically embew the listeners with a message.

[Magnank]

yes this is about death

[mrchopin89]

heavy sound like a giant's anger...

[marwal91]

epic

[Tatsu999999]

You should all listen to Zimerman recording!!! It's on youtube as well...

[a7xsv]

6:55 to 7:08 is so intense!! hell the whole song is.. its perfect, liszt was pure genius and Pace and the rest of the orchestra do an amazing job showing it  5 /5

[driemaaldrommels]

fantastic performance!! my favourite recording is the recording by Raymond Lewenthal, but this one is a very good no.2!! bravo!

[berniepie]

This composition is fantastic. Absolutely love it...

[Diggerjr3000]

HORNY TUNES, GIGANTIC ANYWAY!

[pookiehohn]

Sort of reminds me of a theme from lord of the rings. Anybody else?

[mariusfelix]

Yeah, Liszt might have stolen it!

[pookiehohn]

Yes, Liszt stole it from John williams. That's the obvious deduction.

[mariusfelix]

John Williams? He stole it from Howard Shore!

[pookiehohn]

Pshh! Every one knows John Williams writes all movie scores secretly from a hidden basement.

[Martinus988]

Just read after it a little bit. Liszt has died in 1886, John Williams was born in 1932.

[pookiehohn]

Yeah, I was being sarcastic.

[Martinus988]

Never mind :) I was too tired.:)

[PLwebber25]

this is a great piece. I don't think I've heard so many glissandos in one passage before! Love it. Evokes such emotions.

[Alexjr1543]

I don't know why, but I love music that uses the "Dies Irae" melody.

[bemasher]

6:50 is so moving, one of my favorite passages.