A Singer’s Notes by Keith Kibler 40: The Liszt Sonata

Franz Liszt in 1858 by Franz Hanfstaengl

The piano music of Franz Liszt makes performing the central issue, a fundamental structural presence. Twentieth-century Werktreue just isn't enough for these pieces. Many of Liszt's pieces are keyboard performances of other composers' music heard with Liszt's ears. We call them arrangements or transcriptions, but what they are is a way of hearing.  What always surprises me about a number of these transcriptions is their reticence. Liszt's arrangement of the Schubert "Ave Maria" is almost demure, as befits the subject. His famous Isolde's Verklärung is surprisingly faithful, and to my ears only sounds pianistic in the rattling chords underneath the climax of the piece. Pianists always say that these transcriptions are like actual piano pieces, not copies of anything. They make us hear what piano playing is to Liszt.

Read the full article
 on the Berkshire Review, an International Journal for the Arts!








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