Comparing Liszt piano works to Chopin piano works - Research Paper Example

Task: Beethoven Sonata in D Major, Opus 10 No 3 First Movement only Liszt and Chopin are practically synonymous to the word piano. Born almost the same time, they grew up in an era wholly open to their brilliance, an era regarded as being romantic if by innovators. They not only emerged as pianist who defied customs of music composition, but also as good listeners to other people’s works. Their similarities on the face of it end there. Franz Liszt was the icon of his time, and his recital work had ladies fainting in the aisles. By distinction to Liszt, Frederic Chopin gained his status as a pianist based on only 30 public performances. The gracefulness of his technique, an obvious conservatory to his frail health, stood in express counterpoint to the jazzy keyboard acrobatics that were the frenzy of Europe then. Franz Liszt Franz Liszt came to the limelight in the 19th century courtesy of his extraordinary skill as a pianist. His age mates regarded him the most skilled and advanced pianist and by 1840s he was regarded the best pianist of all time. Liszt was referred a romantic creator who is respected today in the entire globe. He caused a ripple to run through the European music landscape for two major reasons. First, he was one of the few composers of his level who also was a virtuosic artist, and secondly was because his works were unplayable, prominently said to require four hands to play his basic pieces. Liszt was a composer, a teacher of piano and instructor. He was the most famous representative of new German school while serving as a composer. He left a legacy to his name that shall remain in the annals of history as far as music is concerned. Particularly, he invented symphonic poem and advanced the idea of thematic changes. He also did a fundamental role in popularizing a large variety of music through transcribing it for piano. Liszt piano work Performing style: He was original while playing the piano, doing it to suit feelings with brilliance, preciseness, and with strength. He maintained tempo, which was speculated to have been influenced by his father who insisted that he practice using metrone. In his repertoire, he exploited the style of brilliant Viennese school for instance concertos of Hummel while in his concerts he created an opportunity to show his power in improvisation (Banowetz 45). His style improved after the death of his father in 1820 in his playing of the piano, he portrayed abandonment, a feeling of freedom yet as it became impetuous and strong with fortissimo, and it never became harsh or dry. He would draw from the piano tones that were pure, mellow, and strong, an aspect not done by anybody else with a wonderful charm. He was regarded as an affected foe of pretentious and twisted expressions. Since he was an advocate of truth with regard to musical information, he always would do a study of psychology of his feelings and then portray them as he felt. Normally, a strong expression is subsequent by fatigue and dejection senses, a form of with drawal, which is an emulation of how nature always captured in his piano plays (Saffle 43). His clear and straightforward expression of emotions was not limited to music sound alone, he would also show it in his face and gestures. He usually did this while playing the piano, an aspect of him always mocked in media. He also exercised excess liberty, adding cadenzas, tremolos, and intrigues while playing the first movement of Beethoven’s sonata of moonlight and would dramatize scenes by altering the tempo in between largo and presto (Evans 102). Repertoire His concentration was on his own compositions, transcriptions, and paraphrases even when he was a travelling virtuoso. In the concerts that he performed between 1840 and 1845,he often played Grand gallop chromatigue, reminiscences de Robert le dabble, Schubert’s erlkonig, reminiscences de Lucia de Lammermoor and reminiscences de Don Juan (Carter & Gerard 45). Whenever he shared concerts with fellow artists, apart from accompanying singers, he did chamber music, solo part and was always involved in orchestra where he did hexameron for piano and orchestra. In his chamber music, his repertoires were Hummel’s septet, Kreutzer sonata, Beethoven’s archduke trio. Fredrick Chopin’s Piano work He is regarded as one of the best masters of romantic music. He grew up in war torn area of Poland before moving to Paris during the 1830 uprising. In his remaining part of life, he managed to perform publicly 30 times always opting for salon atmosphere. He made a living by selling his compositions and teaching, always confronted by health difficulties, and died in 1849 aged 39 years (Chopin 32). Most of his work is those of solo piano but he also on rare occasions wrote a number of piano concertos, chamber pieces, and songs in Poland texts (Adler & Carter 29). His piano work was generally technically demanding with stress on nuance and deep expression. He discovered instrumental ballade, innovated piano sonata a great extend, improved the waltz, etude, polonaise, impromptu, prelude, mazurka and scherzo. Music In his music for the piano, he combined rhythmic sense while using rubatos that were unique. In addition, he often used chromaticism and sometimes counterpoint. With this mixture, he produces a tender sound in the melody and in the harmony that were nevertheless stressed by concrete and exciting harmonic techniques (Parakilas 101). He actualized the emerging genre of salon and the nocturne as invented by John Field the Irish composer to an intense level of great sophistication. He also developed popular forms of dances for instance the mazurek of Poland and Viennese waltz with a better scope of expression and melody (Banowetz 23). Chopin developed mazurka, which was initially epitomized in the ancient polish dance to a different variety that was suitable for dance settings, as well as, in halls for concerts. He was indeed able to induce the spirit of nationalism in his mazurka, an idea that fellow composers had written but had not incorporated into their compositions. His expression of nationalism through his work made a significant impact and influenced composer’s throughout Europe. He actually created a new genre worth of public concert (Parakilas 121). Rubato He was a master of rubato, often utilizing it in his music. He always maintained his playing beautiful and noble, sang his tones both in softest piano and in full forte, a cantable style he dedicated himself fully to impart this legacy to his students. However, he is criticized for inability to join notes together, two or more. He always adhered to rhythm, disliked any lingering, or dragging, sometimes misplaced rubatos and used exaggerated ritardandos thus the terrific mistakes he sometimes made while playing his work (Chopin & Williard 43). Chopin never named an influential work outside genre and numeral, leaving the listener with suspense to identify all possible extra-musical relations. Romanticism Chopin is painstakingly one of the best masters in the domain of romantic music. Despite having many friends in the genre of romanticism in music, fine art, and literature that he met through his ally George Sand, he associated with his contemporaries coldly (Banowetz 63). His music stressed on romantic style as revealed by his classical purity and maturity in his music characterized by little The two pianists as discussed above seem to have differed at some point yet converge at some points. Liszt’s most exciting works are done in the form of etudes. Whereas undoubtedly meaningful in developing technique, Liszt’s etudes are different from those of Chopin as they lack relentless, concentrating on one side of a specific procedural aspect that is seen on the latter. What is worth noting of the two pianists, as a point of convergence in their works, is creativity, depth of their musical messages, the intrigue they arose in the listeners, and their intellectual capacity (Hinson 65). Eight Minutes Presentation Liszt piano work had a unique performing style. He was always original in the way he played his piano. The styles that he used were quite different from the normal one. He did it with brilliance preciseness and strength to ensure that his audience always got entertained. The impact of his music caused ripple that ran through the entire European music. His popularity was due to two main reasons. The first being that he was naturally a virtuosic artist. Most of his works were unplayable and it required four hands in order to play. He was a composer, a piano instructor and a piano teacher. He invented symphonic poem and went ahead to advance the idea of thematic changes. His works always revealed an emotional aspect. He always exercised excess liberty in his work, adding tremolos, cadenzas, and intrigues when playing the first movement of Beethoven’s sonata. Chopin’s piano work had similarities and differences to that of Liszt. First, the two styles had romantic aspects in them. Whereas Liszt work maintained tempo in its production, Chopin’s work always concentrated on the concertos, songs in Poland texts, and piano concertos. Liszt’s piano work were unplayable and could only be played with the use of four hands unlike Chopin’s work which was generally and technically demanding with necessary stress on deep expression and nuance. Liszt discovered symphonic poem and went ahead to advance the idea of thematic changes. Chopin discovered instrumental ballade, innovated the piano sonata, improved the waltz, polonaise, etude, impromptu, mazurka, prelude and scherzo. Work Cited Chopin, Frédéric & Palmer, Willard & Lloyd, Valery.Chopin -- An Introduction to His Piano Works: Book & CD. New York, NY: Alfred Music Publishing, 2004. Print. Banowetz, Joseph & Liszt, Franz. 21 SELECTED PIANO WORKS. New York, NY: Alfred Music Publishing, 2006. Print. Parakilas, James. The Nineteenth-century Piano Ballade: An Anthology, Volume 9.New York, NY: A-R Editions, Inc., 1990. Print. Chopin, Frédéric. Piano Work: Performing artist series. New York, NY: Alfred Music Publishing, 2000. Print. Adler, Martin & Carter, Gerard. LISZT PIANO SONATA MONOGRAPHS - Arthur Friedheim’s Recently Discovered Roll Recording. New York, NY: Epubli Publishers, 2010. Print. Carter, Gerard. Franz Liszts Piano Sonata: Includes a Compact Disc Containing Two Historic Piano Roll Recordings of Franz Liszts Piano Sonata (Eugen DAlbert and Ernest Schelling). New York, NY: Wensleydale Press, 2004. Print. Saffle, Michael. Liszt and His World: Proceedings of the International Liszt Conference Held at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 20-23 May 1993. Boston, Massachusetts, MA: Pendragon Press, 1998. Print. Evans, Allan. Ignaz Friedman: Romantic Master Pianist. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2009. Print. Banowetz, Joseph. The Pianists Guide to Pedaling. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1992. Print. Hinson, Maurice. Guide to the Pianist’s Repertoire. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2000. Print. Read More