Liszt - Un Sospiro

Recorded for a University musical performance module in April 2021
Hi, first of all thank you for clicking on this video - it really means alot.
On this channel, as well as uploading piano performances, I also upload my own compositions, so if you're interested please check out this playlist - • Composition Demos
Thank you for reading the description, I understand completely if you're not interested, but as this is the most viewed video on my channel, it gives me the chance to reach out to more people. Have a great day and keep watching Un Sospiro videos on KZbin :)

[@arobertowen]

Hi! First of all, thank you for watching! Please consider checking out my latest album "Say When" kzbin.info/www/bejne/hJ_Xq6Snd9WIi7cfeature=shared Thanks!

[@zoe6174]

Woww! I never get tired of hearing this piece. Amazing performance! Wish I could play like this.

[@harrydurnall5830]

When I hear it, I have to cry...

[@hi-hc3ms]

@@harrydurnall5830 why ? ok

[@nezkeys79]

For those who don't play piano...his rendition has a lot of mistakes but it is still hundreds of times better than a lot of professional pianists can do (like me), and a million times better than what an amateur could hope to play The middle sections of this are incredibly difficult to play and this performance is still very good imo in light of that. For those that misunderstand this comment go and watch Hamelin play it, who makes it look incredibly easy at a much faster tempo which obviously is ridiuclous

[@cianothebeano]

It's harder than it looks to crossover your hands!

[@nezkeys79]

​@@cianothebeanoonly for someone completely new to piano The most difficult sections are in the middle for an accomplished pianist, and hand crossing is the easier parts of it

[@happyplonting]

@@nezkeys79 quit gaming and get back to your piano 🙏🏻✨

[@nezkeys79]

​@@happyplontingboth are fun XD 😆

[@nezkeys79]

​@@happyplontingno piano uploads regularly since 2009 🎮🤓😱😂

[@Appassionata311]

i love your base and voicing ❤ you can always improve your technique with more practise, but this already is amazing and really musical:) i hope to hear more of your playing

[@arobertowen]

Thanks! I definitely should start practising this piece again!

[@federicobernabei2467]

great job!!

[@arobertowen]

Thank you!

[@ingemewis2043]

What a talent!!! You were meant to play the piano! Just beautiful!

[@pavlo1]

yeah, sure is a talent, he was born like that right? is so easy to ignore the amount of years of practice and sweat that takes to be this fucking good

[@user-nv2wt4hi8t]

@@pavlo1 Honestly, I agree entirely but I think the problem is inherent with the word talent and it's connotations as opposed to the spirit of Inge's comment. The word talent immediately springs thoughts of 'God given talent' as opposed to 10,000 hours a day, passion, love, obsession and hard work, which is frustrating.

[@Fh64ghjyfvjtr]

This is magic

[@arobertowen]

Thank you!

[@RA-el6zj]

great playing man. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@arobertowen]

Thanks!

[@harshilkakaiya1553]

It's wonderful! ❤️ Loved it

[@lembit1647]

I never tire of listening to this amazing piece; bravo, Robert. You more than qualify for possessing an instrument commensurate with your ability, to bring out the delicate flourishes of this wonderful music.

[@frederictaillard6095]

It's beautiful piece with talented performer

[@atharvabarpande9535]

Seriously beautiful performance

[@carolinet.8493]

Amazing!! I’ve been at this piece for two years now and I watch you play this piece to try and understand how to play it. You’re amazing, Trebor Newo. (Haha).

[@arobertowen]

Thanks! Hope your practising goes well, it's a lovely piece!

[@lalitookamoto2492]

Very nice performance dude. Its a really hard piece and you played it smoothly ;3

[@kerawelt2008]

Beautiful performance !!

[@arobertowen]

Thank you for your comment!

[@sirkido178]

Wow! Absolutely Stunning! 🥰🥰🔥🔥

[@arobertowen]

Thank you!

[@georgethegreat3114]

you inspire so much this is awesome

[@arobertowen]

Thanks!

[@MichaelLaw1023]

This piece is great

[@dustinlaferney3160]

Nice job bro!

[@arobertowen]

Thank you!

[@basicstype994]

Lovely!

[@choose_8731]

So beautiful

[@arobertowen]

Thank you!

[@rlrober]

GREAT JOB !!!

[@arobertowen]

Thanks!

[@ThePuppetMaster429]

Hello! Im a beginner in the piano, and I dont think that this is hard, I think that this is like an etude to improve your hand movements between each other, as you can see, he uses his left hand to play the G clef, so nice.

[@olivegrove5215]

Lovely! I used to listen to Eileen Joyce play it.

[@arobertowen]

Thank you! I've just started listening to Eileen Joyce and she sounds absolutely amazing!

[@user-gp3hv9fz2d]

Great bro, I really like it. You have a few mistakes played but otherwise it is very good. What I really like is that you didn't put yourself on a show with those weird "showtime" silly, moves made by some pros, and you - correctly - didn't play it lightning-fast. I may try this piece as it is one of my favs of Liszt (and Liszt is my fav in general).

[@arobertowen]

Cheers! I am aware of the mistakes and would like to re-record it at some point (if I can find time). If you do decide to learn it, I wish you the best of luck!

[@user-gp3hv9fz2d]

@@arobertowen Seems I really need some luck with it. Already gave a try for the very 1st time and it is indeed VERY difficult. Diploma-level piece, by all means. Stopped (for now) at the first 2 minutes (a bit after it goes to F major), playing it very slowlly and emphasizing on specific parts to avoid as many mistakes as it is possible. Also, I am about to finish the 1st sonetto (47, my fav of the three) in a week or so. Cheers from Greece

[@nahiku8521]

so good dawg

[@arobertowen]

Thanks!

[@Antimanium]

Great job!

[@arobertowen]

Thank you!

[@thomasschulte7635]

Wonderful! I listened to your Performance with great interests as I am actually trying to learn this piece myself. How long did it take you to learn it?

[@arobertowen]

Thanks! Good luck with your practise - I think it around 6 months.

[@Kiszts]

I found a random video about Piano Performance And but its Very good Performance Cause that sound so clean

[@coulomb1]

fantastic

[@arobertowen]

Thanks!

[@drea7295]

Bravo 👏👏👏👏 wow ,,,I'm encouraged to try learn to play this .I gave up very fast .I see it's possible.

[@arobertowen]

Thank you for your comment! I would encourage you to learn this piece, but take it slow and work on little sections one at a time. I would also encourage you to learn some easier pieces alongside Un Sospiro to break up your piano practise sessions.

[@drea7295]

@@arobertowen thank you for the good advice.i appreciate it .I'll try that out starting today .well done !

[@HeRoMaN7]

Amazing performance

[@arobertowen]

Thank you!

[@fakiAZer]

Nice technique fella

[@arobertowen]

Cheers!

[@user-mn6cl5pv7j]

Hello, I am a person who is cheering from Korea. Where are you from? And how old are you? How long did you practice this song?

[@arobertowen]

Hi! I'm from the UK, this song took around 6 months to learn. Are you a pianist yourself?

[@rafamarques2145]

Very good interpretation! Congratulations! This piece is very complicated, how long have you studied piano? How many hours a day do you study?

[@arobertowen]

Thanks! I have been studying classical piano since 2017, moving up through grades and have just recently acquired a piano diploma. Depending on if I have performances coming up, I aim to study an hour a day.

[@rafamarques2145]

@@arobertowen I understand. My congratulations, Robert! You are very young and you are on the right path, you are an inspiration to me! Hugs from Brazil!

[@hi-hc3ms]

@@rafamarques2145 no, it's his congratulations. you've done nothing lol.

[@Skhal]

That deserve a way better mic !!

[@core3gamegd587]

Over all really good. I noticed a few things. Its noticably slowed down, I feel like ot sounds a littel better at full speed although I u derstand how much harder it gets. Also in the second part (with the octaves up high) for the love of god dont do what you did. P!ease just use pink and thumb it makes speed so much easier. Apart from those, great preformance. Good job :)

[@arobertowen]

Thanks for your comment! Really appreciate your feedback 👍 On your second point (I think you've referred to the triplets above the arpeggio at 0:57), definitely using the 5th finger and thumb is much nicer, thanks for the suggestion!

[@skipzcs]

@@arobertowen Ignore what he said, most editions do recommend 3 2 fingerings in the left hand crossover, which you are doing, as it sounds more melodic whilst keeping the line flowing (5 1 actually makes the separation of both hands only slightly, but more noticeable). Also in regards to the tempo, you are playing it more on the steady side but I would still consider it 'Allegro Affettuoso' as written so there's no need to increase the speed (which would probably remove a lot of the subtleties you can play with).

[@arobertowen]

It's interesting regarding the fingering, I think 3-2 adds more of a 'ting' to the second note (not noticeable in this recording because the practice pedal was on - neighbors 🙄), but 5-1 provides more of a fade. I need to re-visit this piece and upload a more polished recording of it...

[@vaughngaminghd]

@@arobertowen This was with practice pedal? Would love to hear it without. Great job!

[@lux5164]

have you improved since then?

[@arobertowen]

I haven't played it since! After this performance I realised spending so long on one piece wasn't worth the time. I mostly play ragtime pieces and piano parts in a band (my sight reading and aural skills have improved tenfold!). Are you a pianist?

[@hi-hc3ms]

what's the click at the start ? lol 😆.

[@arobertowen]

I think it's me cracking my knuckles... Probably reducing my piano career by 5 years.

[@lisawiesel862]

👏👏👏

[@danny_missing8447]

How Much time did it took you to learn this

[@arobertowen]

I can't remember exactly, but it was a fairly long time. Are you thinking of learning this piece?

[@suzonjinzeyt1580]

how long did it take you to learn

[@arobertowen]

Hi! I think I started learning the piece in December 2020 (so December to April), however, I haven't played it since this video was uploaded.

[@izaacbaah5000]

Good music, but how do you see with the hair in your eyes?

[@arobertowen]

Simple, I've mastered the art of x-ray vision.

[@izaacbaah5000]

@@arobertowen noice

[@catherineloriotahahah6614]

il a de l'avenir

[@arobertowen]

Merci!

[@jimmorris1002]

Piano needs to be tuned to show off his ability

[@arobertowen]

Almost 3 years since the last tuning...

[@umutsaskn3582]

notes looks like a -cosine wave

[@arobertowen]

Maybe a sine wave, just because at x=0, y=0 😂

[@umutsaskn3582]

@@arobertowen it looks like -1 at x=0 as far as I can see in the video but jokes aside you did a fantastic job. liszt is my fav composer and this is a wonderful interpretation. hope I'll be as good as you at some point later in my life 😅

[@arobertowen]

Thank you, I'm sure you're a good pianist and will be a great one, keep learning lots of pieces and also practise to a metronome from time to time! (Note: the graph should be y=-cos(x), silly me)

[@peterpfotzer2544]

Tres bien mon grand … malgre je prefere F.Chopin …belle Performance

[@arobertowen]

Merci! Moi aussi je préfère Chopin car c'est beaucoup plus facile à jouer !

[@giorgioquercioli9246]

in the section where C B is played in the octave you should have played two more quatrains of CB and then went to Eb. I'll give you some advice because I guessed one of your problems from this "CB": you do not become a great pianist if you are not a great reader of scores. Im italian idk how to write.

[@arobertowen]

Thanks for pointing this out (I think I know where you mean - could you link a timecode?), I really appreciate the feeback. As I tend to memorise all the sheet music, slip ups do happen!

[@frederictaillard6095]

How long does it take to play this piece like this

[@arobertowen]

Thank you for the comments, I think this piece took around three months to learn.

[@frederictaillard6095]

When did you start playing the piano ?

[@arobertowen]

Around 3-4 years ago

[@frederictaillard6095]

@@arobertowen Did you start with a teacher?

[@arobertowen]

I didn't initially but I have had various teachers since and they've really helped me progress faster. How long have you been playing for?

[@-lynch001]

Maybe try speeding it up

[@arobertowen]

Definitely, I'm currently considering whether to re-record this at some point...

[@-lynch001]

@@arobertowen I say go for it it’s rlly good it just needs sped up. I’m sure it’s very good now as it’s nearly been a year😅

[@arobertowen]

😬

[@moneymanxd3648]

What an amazing performance Robert! Literally no mistakes. You play as well as Rousseau!

[@arobertowen]

Thanks!

[@jurgengolob1485]

Not easy to play this- Gratulations- that needs much time

[@arobertowen]

Thank you for your comment!

[@maximiliangyan4353]

Not bad but i heard some mistakes

[@arobertowen]

Yeah, I think the main issue with this performance is the unsteady pulse that highlights the note slippages, probably due to me not practicing with a metronome as much as I should of...

[@alainspiteri502]

Maximillian Gyan : all pianists records several times , don't forget that G Gould in 1981 recorded his Goldberg in 23 hours ; only Cortot played one time a recording and mostly it's not a numeric piano with many false videos mostly about the tempis Presto ; have you understood what j mean ? You listen here an original piano j prefer

[@asianserenadr7776]

Eh its not that good, such as the the flexibility in speed and clarity in the notes not apparent, but they're all fixable mistakes. Keep at it

[@happyplonting]

I hate comments like this. Yu suck

[@happyplonting]

Good grief the only video you ever uploaded is of Dre on the piano. What a waste of that gorgeous piano

[@nezkeys79]

@happyplonting the people with the insults online are almost always zero content, and zero subs. I mean it's one thing if a 2 million subs virtuoso piano player says something isn't good (still kinda rude), but if it's someone with literally nothing backing them up it's just easy for most people to instantly put them in a "no credibility" category Andrew Tate as profile pic lol 😭

[@happyplonting]

@@nezkeys79 lmao, a virtuoso pianist isn't going to waste their time making hateful comments. They're busy practicing piano

[@nezkeys79]

​​@@happyplontingactually someone with a large corporation did this recently (not a pianist). Ruined their business. Paper parchment or something. The actually MD started posting hate comments on a small youtubers channel and she went viral exposing him 😅 But yes most people that are extremely good at what they do don't post negativity without anything to back it up since they're practicing or performing 24/7 lol