Week 3: Shape the Music
You’ve chosen your piece, taken your first steps, and started getting more familiar with Liszt’s world.
Now it’s time to begin shaping the music.
This week is about moving beyond “where are the notes?” and starting to ask bigger musical questions. What is the character of your piece? Where does the melody need to sing? Where does the music need more drama, more color, more patience, or more freedom?
Liszt’s music often asks us to think beyond the keyboard. It can feel orchestral, vocal, poetic, theatrical, spiritual, or deeply intimate.
This week, I’d love for you to share your thoughts on your progress! A few ideas below:
- What is starting to feel more comfortable
- One passage you’re still working through
- A musical moment you want to shape more clearly
- Something surprising you’ve discovered in the piece
- A question you have about sound, technique, pedal, or interpretation
Coming up next week will be our chance to share a recording, so this week is a great time to focus on the details that will help your piece feel more expressive and alive.
9 replies
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A musical moment you want to shape more clearly: the entirety of my part of Vision (I play the second half). This whole piece is seen by most as musically not quite as good as the others. I think it is the role of the performer to transcend (😆) whatever they play, and to convince the audience that it is a masterpiece, preferably without changing what's on the score! It's a tall order sometimes!
Something surprising you’ve discovered in the piece: Again with Vision. Maybe it IS a masterpiece after all!
A question you have about sound, technique, pedal, or interpretation:
I already asked, for Dominic's "difficult passages" live streams, and got fantastic answers!
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Here is ’s Paysage. It will most likely be the final recording of this piece as Vision is taking up most of his practice time.
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Thank you for this challenge. I have attached a recent video of the Bach Prelude in A minor transcription by Liszt.
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This is first time we have come together to work on this piece (Sancta Caecilia), in which Thurmond thought it was an adagio and realized at some point in the second line that it was an andante, throwing his singing partner off! Lesson learned (I hope): pianist needs to practice even an easy piece before working with the singer - or just stick with the established tempo. 🙂The section just after this recording's stopping point is absolutely beautiful and challenging as a collaboration (individually, not so challenging), requiring much cooperation between the two of us. I need a steadier rhythm from the piano, OR we need to sit down and decide the areas where we stretch and contract.
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Week 3 Update - Eroica
I worked fairly systematically on this last week so I am feeling that most of the material is more or less comfortable. In fact, it's all memorized as a result of the careful sectioning in week 2.
The one passage that clearly needs some more work is section F (the apotheosis). It is the most difficult section but I was still surprised at how challenging it was to stay accurate through the parallel octaves. I have continued to work on this by breaking it down in different ways and practicing it blind. I feel it has improved and will hopefully make a better recording of this section in the next few days. That is my main goal for week 3.
What has surprised me most while working on this piece is just how much I am enjoying this etude. While I have listened to these pieces many times, I mostly took it on in support of 's ambitious transcendental etude challenge and to try something outside my typical repertoire choices. Learning the Eroica has brought back some memories of working on Un Sospiro a very long time ago and how, as I worked on it, it just seemed to 'fit' the hands. I have ended up really glad to have learned this piece! I will likely add Harmonies du soir in the future as well. So thanks Noel!
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Hi everyone, this is my week 3 update. It's taking shape but still a good amount of work to get a version ready for the final week. I'm trying to allow a bit more flexibility in the phrasing now but still learning the piece at the same time! Derek