Simone Renzi plays F. Liszt - Consolation n. 3

Very beautiful, Simone!

Thanks Frank

We should also make a Liszt index now that there is the section.

TheSimon wrote:

Thanks Frank

Dovremmo fare anche un indice di Liszt ora che c'è la sezione.

i would say it's a good idea.... I also have some recordings of Liszt.... 2 consolations, the first transcendental étude and definitely William Tell Overture... ah, I think there is also a waltz

regarding the performance.... it could also be made a little more lively.... but it doesn't sound bad like this either...

How beautiful, Simone....I was moved!

@gilda

Thank you

@antares

If you are referring to the performances you find on YouTube, it's true, everyone plays it faster. Obviously, mine is a choice also because there are no major points of high technical difficulty that prevent a more moving tempo. Liszt writes "Lento Placido" in the score. A "lento" tempo ranges from 40 to 58 bpm. The problem is that this term "placido" could be interpreted in different ways. Literally, according to the Italian dictionary, the adjective "Placido" is a synonym for "Calm, Tranquil, being in a state of calm or instilling peace". Liszt was a very learned man, and I don't think seeking such a term to accompany a slow tempo is a coincidence. A lento that is already slow by nature, paired with this adjective, makes me think of an intensification of the slowness, as if to say, it is a slow tempo taken with calm, with tranquility, and therefore an even calmer lento. I don't want to seem immodest, but I have tried playing this Consolation at the speeds adopted by great pianists, but it no longer feels like mine. At that speed, I no longer feel this sensation of calm and poignant reflection that I am instead able to achieve at the speed at which I recorded it.

TheSimon wrote:

@gilda

Thank you

@antares

If you are referring to the performances you find on YouTube, it's true, everyone plays it faster. Obviously, mine is a choice also because there are no major points of high technical difficulty that act as an impediment to a more moving tempo. Liszt writes "Lento Placido" in the score. A "lento" tempo ranges from 40 to 58 bpm. The problem is that this term "placido" could be interpreted in different ways. Literally, according to the Italian dictionary, the adjective "Placido" is a synonym for "Calm, Tranquil, being in a state of calm or instilling peace". Liszt was a very learned man, and I don't think seeking such a term to accompany a slow tempo is a coincidence. A lento that is already slow by nature, paired with this adjective, makes me think of an intensification of the slowness, as if to say, it is a slow tempo taken with calm, with tranquility, and therefore an even calmer lento. I don't want to seem unhumble, but I have tried playing this Consolation at the speeds adopted by great pianists, but it no longer feels like mine. At that speed, I no longer feel this sensation of calm and poignant reflection that I am instead able to achieve at the speed at which I recorded.

yes but.... Liszt's own students in recordings kept a tempo that wasn't so "placido"...

Agreed, but I have some ideas about it. For example, my teacher and I have never had much in common regarding interpretation, even on pieces written by him. The point is that, in my opinion, the focus should shift to a different discussion. Should we simulate other people's interpretations like machines, or do we want to read the score trying to remain faithful to the composer's thought while still making that music our own according to our own poetic and interpretive vein? What do you think about it?

I think I'm somewhere in the middle.... I try to do my own thing, but I can't even ignore how those who preceded me did it.... especially if they were a direct pupil of the composer.... that's just how I am

Beautiful performance. I knew it. I renew my compliments to Simone

@antares

They are certainly different points of view and I respect yours even if I don't agree 100%. Personally, when I listen to a piece that I like, I am inclined to forget it to avoid being influenced by the interpretations of other pianists, unless it fully corresponds to my interpretive ideas (which mathematically never happens) and I try to reconstruct the author's thought myself... In fact, I have deliberately stopped listening to the interpretations of the Rachmaninoff prelude that I am studying, posted in another section. I assure you that mine is not acute insolence; I absolutely do not believe I am better than Richter, Rubinstein, and company, it's just that I believe music is this: studying a score trying to understand the author to make it your own, otherwise what's the point? As I see it, apart from personal taste which for me, as you will have understood, must come first, the indications (and not obligations, I want to specify this) that the author has put in the score matter much more than the recordings of students, precisely because I think it is also the composer's idea to allow posterity to interpret according to their own idea. Returning to us, in the first instance, because a student of Liszt surely could not have played everything that Liszt wrote and moreover it is highly unlikely that Liszt himself had the time to instruct him on all his writings. In the second instance, which is a corollary of the first, a student's performance is always limited by two factors: the first is certainly their artistic vein, and it is good that it is so, heaven forbid, (I can study a piece from my teacher with my teacher but I will never hear it as he hears it). If we think about it, it's a bit like describing a shade of color. There are those who would describe that color as lighter, and those who would say darker. The second is that time settles, and thus even the best of students over time would be even more driven to play according to their own idea while knowing and remaining attached to the thought of their teacher, the composer of the piece. What can I say? Usually, everything is in the score; there are all the indications to follow and composers are usually very attentive to these indications. If I read "lento placido" I feel free to play even slower than slow and not andantino, even if others play andantino, beyond the fact that I tried playing it at sustained speeds and it did not give me the cantabile emotions that it suggests to me at this speed. Other times, however, I think it is appropriate to even go against the composer's tempo indications; in short, to make a long story short, especially with certain authors, I believe it is necessary to make the pieces your own. This may seem like a contradiction to what I said before but it isn't, because first I spoke of the freedom to make decisions, and in this regard, speaking specifically about speed, Chopin's nocturnes played by Rubinstein come to mind. Very slow and very cantabile, extraordinary! Everything seems easy and clear, sacrificing speed even in the embellishments to make them cantabile as well. The nocturnes take on a whole other aspect, that of a nocturne indeed, and I strongly agree with Rubinstein's choice to even halve the tempo indicated in the score. I leave you this magnificent interpretation by Rubinstein of the nocturne op. 27 no. 2 where Chopin's tempo seems a bit excessive to me; we are talking about 50 on the dotted minimas against Rubinstein's average of just 30, where in the coda it drops even further, to around 15/20; this is the kind of freedom I am talking about, as long as it is coherent, artistic, and anyway in line with the composer's idea.

@Paolo

Thank you, even if you had already listened to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ8RVjm49hE

Simply magical!

Open content (youtube)

Very beautiful....and I find the interpretative choices excellent. It really transmits beautiful sensations....

...I wanted to say it even if the post is a little old...

Very beautiful! Congratulations!

I perform it at exactly this speed, but I like to have more movement in the left hand, both in terms of dynamics and agogics. In some parts, I like not to make the two hands coincide. However, this is just my way of playing.

Compliments again! Ad maiora.

I am sending you the first little page played by me. It was played poorly, just read; many things would need to be refined. However, my line of thought can be understood. Excuse the reverb.

Very beautiful Simone! Congratulations. You conveyed emotions to me.

I hope Simone doesn't take offense, I took the liberty of downloading all his tracks from YouTube and made MP3s to listen to in the car during commutes so I can enjoy them whenever I want. That being said, I promise to download the official ones from iTunes ✋

So I'm not the only one...

Don't worry, I am here too... You are not alone.

Listening to you talk, I seem so important as to have a group of fans. There are probably just the three of you with likely ear problems listening to me

So I also have ear problems

I've also become a fan of your SoundCloud