Wow, I loved how you played that Tocatta

Wow! What a topic! Food for endless consideration and endless discussion. Music which involves text and voice is always more complicated for assessment than pure instrumental works.. Perhaps that's why it's so rare to find a pianist whose interest stretches as far as the subject of this video. Voices differ so much, linguistic ability is so critical. Mignon herself is a fascinating creation, but one among many in the source novel. And, of course there are a number of other songs credited to her and copiously set to music. Thanks for drawing attention to Liszt - whose songs are undeservedly less known than his vast piano repertory. He led a very rich life, widely influential in so many areas. He songs certainly should be better known. Obviously, he was drawn to vocal repertory - witness his many transcriptions of songs. It's also fascinating to compare his settings of music set both with voice/text and their solo piano versions. Your ranking rather surprises me, but individual taste rules! And all of these settings deserve hearings and appreciation. Thanks very much.

The thumbnail 🤣

Thank you the long form video. It was so great to be able to hear and compare how all these different composers approached the same text. As a composer myself, I immediately started thinking how I would set about the same task. In the end, I agree with your #1 pick. I love every bit of Liszt’s song. It was exquisite on every level. I was surprised by how little I liked the Wolf setting. I was frankly bored by its bombast and lack of grace. The Schumann was my second choice. I don’t know if Ravel ever set Goethe poems, but I’d love to hear what he might have come up with.

"Why did I not love Frank Bridge's cello sonata for so many years? As if I'd avoided someone for years - and then discovered he was a saint." - Steven Isserlis

Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed your analyses. I want to see more from you. I am not educated in music like you are, but listen and go to concerts an have over 700 CDs of music to listen to.

Liszt was an avid reader. Would be reading and practicing scales at the same time

Listen to the piano LH in Hensel's setting. Wow.

Ok I made my choice before I listened to your summary I listened to the Liszt first and the rest totally paled in comparison ! I barely even wanted to hear the rest 😊 Those d naturals in the opening phrase are to die for ! Also the performance was particularly beautiful I love those subtle slides as she approaches some notes (I’d get kicked out if my choir for doing that !) The zither bars are fascinating in the little bit of extra space he provides I note there are 3 versions, 1842, 1854 and 1860 This you said was the first. Well Liszt invariably improves with his revisions so I’m going to try and find those. He was only 31 when he penned this, but it feels like a very mature work.

Absolutely fabulous topic. I'm only six minutes in and it sounds like you will not be reading us the text in German. For me, for whatever reason it's the German that creates magic with this text. Anyway, back to the video...

BABE WAKE UP COLE POSTED YEHHHHH

The thing that is so great about music,and particularly pieces like these etudes, is that the composer challenges each artist to not only develop technical skills but to bring his or her own artistic interpretation. But I do agree there is something special about Margulis' interpretation. He really does bring out the inner voices, and the rubato and dynamics really do bring the "poetry" of this piece to life. Thank you for sharing!

It's pronounced "Nyir-redy-haz-ee" gy in Hungarian is pronounced like a palatalized d (d')

20:21 i find the 1979 live recording of this etude much more deep, like the studio recording later shown he actually plays in a more balanced way but at the TEMPO 1 he brings out the singing line even better.

You're so right that once you hear this piece, it never leaves your head. I first heard it as a teenager in 2006 and to this day, I'm in love with this melody.

Fantastic to see these comparisons and learn how to listen well. Thank you!

Playing at retirement communities is the one performance outlet I have at the moment, and I enjoy it very much! I really appreciate hearing your experiences in music school. I have been considering going to a university, but I am older and not sure I could keep up physically, but I would just love being surrounded by music and musicians. Being more mature, I would truly appreciate a classical education. Maybe I should have lessons with you! 😉

I was lucky enough to shake his hand,,,in his prime he made even great players sound tame,but ill never forget listening to 12 of the greatest pianists play the rach 3rd,after listening to Horowitz, rather then sounding musical,they sounded like a tangled mechanical mess....ya hard to believe,but true....and yet while so musical still totally electrical..... That electricity is rare,and he just had it,and it made a huge difference.....on Rachmaninoff and lizst ,he was the best....

Fascinating to this non-instrumentalist - I approve of your regard for this Margulis recording. The inner melody certainly brought out something rather pretty in the composition, which otherwise can sound rather mechanical. That anyone can play it half speed is still incredible to me!! It would also have been valuable to have a recording of Chopin playing it himself, must have got broken?? ;-)

My takeaway is what a fine pianist Demus was. Horowitz was wonderful in solo Schumann, but here to me he seems to miss the point. And, reading between the lines, didn’t Fischer-Dieskau agree? (Tho I admit that about DF I have some temptation to agree with the writer who spoke of his (by implication: exaggerated) exaltation).

Great points. I have experience with this. I played an incredibly hard piece for the longest time, and eventually I was able to play it after much time (and pretty well I admit). I thought that this would make things much easier for less technically difficult repertoire. Boy was I wrong. I now have a bizarrely uneven foundation where gnarly things are easier for me, but I struggle with elementary finger-work in more pianistic works by Mozart for example. What do you think is a sufficient amount of 'foundational' repertoire before tackling harder stuff? (e.g. # of etudes, classical sonatas, etc.)

Even rachmoninoff admired Friedman,he had big sound and a big technique.....and very electric,,and his playing has guts....very important,music was something very,very personal to this great man,and you can hear it,he was not just another good player,bUt a giant,.

Sorry, Liszt is OFTEN bombastic. And he also pushed minimal material beyond what it could support. When young Brahms made his pilgrimage to Weimar, Liszt performed his new B min Sonata, and Brahms fell asleep!

I was lucky enough to have tought Rachmaninov, he wasn't the best student but was the smartest. I had to really drill the young Sergei because his technique was not that great.

The best exercise is that as much as you relaxed is the key.

Harold Schonberg, in his book The Great Pianists, said that to perform Liszt's piano music to have it's greatest effect, the pianist needs to "throw caution to the wind" and play with abandon. Schonberg said that those pianists who are afraid to take chances and do everything in a measured, pre-planned way can never be great Liszt-players. What's interesting is that Arrau's playing was typically like that; Arrau seemed to play everything (including Liszt) in a measured, pre-planned way, with very little spontaneity.

Independent of what ?

Reminds me of the old joke: "Maestro, why do you play so fast?" "Because I can."

In Henle Library App you could find Beethoven Sonatas with Fingerings of C. Hansen, d'Albert, Schnabel, Arrau and Korstick, which are very helpful to compare. The edition Alfred with Stewart as Editor is also helpful. The are comments and footnotes, which are also helpful. Unfortunately, there are some misprints in the scores, in the Paper form and also on Kindle.

One reason, I think, is that the "great personalities" are over-shadowed by whatever is popular at the moment, even in the classical era. What makes someone great is usually revealed over time, rather than some magnum opus that explodes onto the scene, and it takes a lot of effort to find, follow and support new artists that 'can become great'. Even the opposite can happen (e.g. Liszt), where their most revered work appeared when they were the least popular, and the only reason we can appreciate it now is because of their loyal fanbase. The 'Golden Age' exists only for those that do not actively support contemporary artists.

Nowhere near the hardest. The hardest one of all has fast descending thirds accompanied by fast extended arppegio's in the left hand. Vladimir Ashkenazy played the piece and left out the left hand while playing the thirds. Now that's what i call hard. Not arguing with Vlad.

"Teasing the tonic" is a technique Brahms uses often in these little miracles of piano expression. My favorite is the op 76 C major Capriccio where he takes this playful puzzle of dancing around the tonic to an extreme.

Lovely playing and interpretation. Informative and charming

That was great. The voicing was so careful and thoughtful; you really give a great imitation of an organ playing different voices with different stops.

That's great. I love the voicing of the final chord. Depending on the piano, it's possible to clearly hear the half-tone dissonance of the D natural overtone from the bottom Bb against the D flat overtone of the lower Db, and the hands are far enough apart to leave space for that clash to be heard. It's one of the great final chords in music.

I love your videos on late Brahms, really great. I also love the way you managed to bring out the canon between the voices on the final return of the lullaby - it's not easy to make that clear to the listener. I do agree with the commenter who wanted the middle section a little softer. The anguished harmonies do seem to call for more volume, but Brahms was pretty clear in his dynamic markings. I think a lot of late Brahms is about strong emotions that are inhibited and have trouble coming out (as though he wants to say something but hesitates), and a softer dynamic would bring that aspect of the middle section out more clearly. Thanks for these great analyses.

Question- do you play the very beginning passage perfectly in time (meaning the eighth notes/triplets are perfectly aligned with groups of 4 and 6 notes in the LH) or do you play rubato here/ mix up when to play the RH notes?

I just got introduced to this piece earlier this summer, so I was very excited to see this video pop up! Really lovely performance and analysis- I really loved how you emphasized the importance of that final tonal resolution that Brahms provides, and the amount of space and gravity you give that moment in your performance is really wonderful.

Thank you for the illuminating introduction and exquisite performance, Cole. As ever, just superb: bravo! It is amazing how this Intermezzo is just saturated with descending thirds - and the emotional impact this structure affords the music. In the second half, where the sequences of descending thirds overlap with each other, the discords created are on an even larger scale making it teem with dissonances. Brahms told Clara Schumann in May 1893 that this "little piece is exceptionally melancholy, and 'to be played very slowly' isn’t saying enough. Every bar and every note must sound like a ritardando, as though one wanted to draw melancholy out of each and every one, with a voluptuousness and contentment derived from the aforementioned dissonances." It is even more remarkable that despite the relative brevity of the piece, Brahms is still able to introduce a more consolatory middle section in the major, whose ‘rocking’ melody seems to carry with it a strong sense of yearning.I wonder what Clara thought of the music . . . and if the yearning captured by Brahms reflected his unrequited love for her?

Thank you for this - both the analysis and the lovely performance. I was introduced to this piece by my college piano teacher. Hearing it the first time almost brought me to tears. One of the most poignant moments in all of piano repertory, sad and haunting and somehow satisfying. May I ask about the instrument on which you play? It comes across on my system as very beautiful.

Вообще, наука текстология утверждает, что последняя воля автора - священна. Но между первоначальным текстом пьесы и переработанным прошло 50 лет! Пьеса всё это время жила собственной жизнью. Что делать? Я бы назвал новую версию "авторской транскрипцией", которая имеет право на существование наряду с оригиналом. Таковы транскрипции Листа некоторых произведений Шуберта или Паганини, которые успешно сосуществуют с оригиналом. Такова авторская транскрипция романса Рахманинова "Маргаритки", которая сосуществует с оригиналом и не зачёркивает его.

It reminds me of the Brahms song "Waldeinsamkeit"

A good video to do would be to talk about pieces that will motivate students to make progress technically to help them play the pieces they want to. I get demotivated from hanon and repetitive exercises.

What a great gift you’ve given today. I for one had no idea, zero - that Brahms wrote anything like this. I am smitten 🥰. Your shop talk about it is fabulous like you always do. Ever many thanks. 🙏🏼

Thank you for the wonderful explanation and performance of this piece. I have a hard time understanding its meaning--I think it is difficult to describe and therefore, even more difficult to interpret and play.

Your analysis, as always, is spot on. I've always loved this piece. But for me, there's something unapproachable about. Like it exist as a perfect jewel, not to be disturbed. But of course one has to play it. The darkness and the restrained passion is irresistible. For an old man like myself, it's like a distant memory of something lovely . Wonderful!

If you want more piano works similar to Brahms’ late piano miniatures, check out the piano works of Max Reger. Some of his later pieces, such as the gargantuan collection Aus meinem Tagebuch Op. 82, Episoden Op. 115, and especially Träume am Kamin Op. 143 sound like logical extensions of Brahmas’ mature harmony into the 20the century (this should be unsurprising since Reger was an avid proponent of Brahms). Listen to the particularly Brahmsian Op. 143 No. 2 for a start: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hmiQdYpvgNlgmbcsi=spSGtbmmVqyZLARV&t=209

It’s such a beautiful piece - I’ve been playing it a bit lately and it’s on my immediate list to learn properly and record I find some of Brahms’ late pieces a bit strange - meaning I find them hard to make sense of easily. But this one immediately draws me in and sits comfortably in my head Your analysis as always helps me understand why I react the way I do to such music

If you ask me, there's a well worn Henle Beethoven vol 1 in the back left, i say

Thank you!!...for listening to/researching and critiquing Nyiregyhazi...so i dont have to ! lol