Liszt - Weihnachtsbaum, S186 (Pöntinen)

The Christmas Tree suite is one of Liszt's most charming collection of pieces, combining arrangements with original thoughts and two musical portraits. It occupied Liszt for quite some time-he was determined to make an especially good job of it to present to his granddaughter Daniela (daughter of Hans von Bülow and Cosima) to whom the set is dedicated; naturally, the sadness of heart which pervades many of the late works is for the most part, absent. It is somewhat difficult imagining this collection being performed in the concert hall, seeming more appropriate for the home (a sentiment Liszt echoed when his pupils would bring the Invocation from the Harmonies to his masterclasses, telling them that such music should only be played in private as "it is not for the great public").
Michael Praetorius (1571-1621) composed the choral work which provides the theme for Psallite, or at least, the central section-Liszt provides a formal march-like introduction and coda, setting a processional air. O Heilige Nacht is based on an old carol, and Liszt also produced a version of the piece for choir and organ. The melody of Die Hirten (In dulci jubilo) is known to practically everyone, but Liszt’s delicate left-hand pastoral dactyls are one of his happiest inspirations. His treatment of what all English-speaking people will immediately recognize as O come, all ye faithful (Adeste fideles) allows him to introduce some rather dramatic extensions to the well-known tune. The fifth piece is one of very few scherzi that Liszt wrote-full of humour, incredibly catchy, and treacherously difficult as children’s pieces go; likewise, the double notes of Carillon-the first of two bell-pieces-are similarly unnerving, as is the enigmatic, unresolved ending. The playful antics cease with the seventh piece, worlds away from Liszt’s independent Berceuse (S174); here, a very simple melodic fragment with a rippling accompaniment makes several dreamlike excursions into striking harmonic territory before it drifts off into sleep. No. 8 actually includes two old French carols, and makes another rather sophisticated little scherzo. Abendglocken is remarkably impressionistic, its bells invoking quiet recollection and, according to Humphrey Searle, the tenth piece-at once wistful and impassioned-is a nostalgic remembrance of the first meeting between Liszt and the Princess zu Sayn-Wittgenstein; the eleventh-a stirring march-a self-portrait; and the twelfth-an exuberant mazurka-a portrait of the Polish Princess. This may very well be so, although no primary source for Searle’s idea can be found.

[@ladymacbethofmtsensk]

timeframes for each piece No. 1, "Psallite" -- 0:00 No. 2. "O Heilige Nacht!" -- 2:21 No. 3 "Die Hirten an der Krippe" -- 8:19 No. 4 "Adeste Fideles" -- 11:56 No. 5 "Scherzoso" -- 15:22 No. 6 "Carillon" -- 17:30 No. 7 "Berceuse" -- 19:33 No. 8 "Altes provenzalisches Weihnachtslied" -- 23:08 No. 9 "Abendglocken" -- 24:31 No. 10 "Jadis" -- 28:53 No. 11 "Ungarisch" -- 33:03 No. 12 "Polnisch" -- 35:22

[@AndreiAnghelLiszt]

Cheers!

[@pleasecontactme4274]

no 3 should be 8:19

[@qalaphyll]

thanks.

[@Sillytonianmoth]

I love you so much thank you 🙏

[@ladymacbethofmtsensk]

Christmas arrived early!

[@antonygonzalez1672]

Yessirrrr

[@antonygonzalez1672]

I mean ma’am😅😂

[@none5020]

Back here every year, I love it. Greatest Christmas music to exist

[@teagancalkins]

Merry Christmas to anybody who cares

[@drajanacz.1376]

I waited for 4 months just to liszten to this one week before Christmas.

[@ArthurAgamenon_]

I'm here to remember that you can do that again!

[@drajanacz.1376]

@ArthurAgamenon_ I was just thinking about that yesterday 😂 Thank you very much, btw!❤️👀

[@henriboivin842]

No body is going to talk about how crazy the fact Liszt composed Christmas music is. He can be « Liszted » with Maria Carrey! Omg 😂

[@vodkat07]

16:55 you can hear him breathing (especially at 17:07), I was spooked when I first heard it 😅

[@user-gp3hv9fz2d]

Number 7 is the best of all, clearly brings the Christmas mood.. Liszt is my fav composer and I have already started to learn his 3rd Liebestraum and Sonett 47 (the Sonett is much more difficult than I was thinking when listened to it)

[@joshscores3360]

Why am I listening to Christmas music in May

[@qalaphyll]

Why am I listening to Christmas music in June

[@WEEBLLOM]

Why am I listening to Christmas music in July

[@CarloGinex]

@@qalaphyll well i'm listening to it in december!

[@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji]

Why am I not listening to Scriabin on Christmas?

[@CarloGinex]

@@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji what's the correlation

[@jaegonekim]

Finally something that I can play by Liszt

[@thenotsookayguy]

Waltz in A Major

[@ValzainLumivix]

There's a lot you can play by him, you just haven't been searching in the right places.

[@preblalar8798]

​@@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji And at closer inspection I guess many intermediate pianists will find themselves challenged by some of the technicalities found in Weihnachtsbaum. No.1: the octave passage requires the proper technique to not be a mess, and that takes years to develop. No.4: Altough it is only 8 bars in total, the octave tremolos in the left hand takes alot of work to develop. No.5: Snappy staccato chords, LH octave passages, BH staccato thirds, fast LH trills, fast RH trills with extra voicing in the thumb, RH 5th finger appoggiaturas and octave appoggiaturas. No.6: Do I need to mention double stops? 2+3 polyrythm, staccato double stops, fast switching between staccato and legato double stops, octaves, staccato melody in finger 345 with chordal support in 1 and 2, LH snappy chords, fast LH trills and tremolos. This is a great etude! Play this before moving onto Feux Follets! No.7: Another etude! RH dolcissimo trills/tromolos with finger 1 and 2 with melody on top. Great exercise for an intermediate pianist due to the not so high tempo. LH thirds when crossing hands. The hand crossing is not difficult, but the thirds are technically demanding to get even and soft like a feather. No.8: Weihnacthsbaum is easy? The thirds passage... dolce, legato, allegro, good luck. Other technical difficulties includes staccato LH octaves, staccato RH chords, and everything that follows from the tempo,articulation and dynamics, especially considering the LH in the B section. No.9: An etude in impressionistic sonorities, which demands great technique. Legato octaves, and hand substitutions of the ostinato in the end. Easy to learn to play the notes in tempo, but music is about so much more. People often call the difficulties in pieces like this "musically difficult", but to play like you have feathers for fingers is mainly a technical difficulty. The musical difficulty ads on top of that. No.10: Melody and accompaniment in the same hand, LH double stops accompaniment. No.11: Articualtion, especially considering the tenutos when they land on black notes, BH octaves, LH octave tremolo. No.12: Articualtion, fast repeated chords and octaves, BH octaves, LH jumps.

[@lowlightpiano7110]

Repent and trust in Jesus. we deserve Hell for our sins. For example lying, lusing, saying God's name as a cuss word and stealing our just some examples of sin which we can all admit to doing at least one of those. For our sin we deserve death and Hell, but there is a way out. Repent anf trust in Jesus and you will be saved. Repentence is turning from sin. So repent and trust in Jesus. He will save you from Hell, and instead give you eternal life in Heaven. John 3:16 Romans 3:23❤😊❤😊

[@tedpiano]

I learned the Berceuse in F# Major last year as a prelude to Benediction de Dieu. I like this set a lot and Pontinen does it best!

[@pietrolandri6081]

Particularly welcome this year! I rarely listen to this set, but occasionally I do because of his refreshing greatness in its simplicity. But it always managed to generate optimism and open heart. Well, what better moment to cheer up? Pandemic outbreak, death of beloved ones, stop of social activities, economic turmoil, insecurity, etc. .... We are approaching the most sad Christmas since WWII and we do need to be pampered by a glimmer of light and a tornado of hope. Liszt Christmas Tree can make it happen! Serene and Merry Christmas to all this community!

[@twochocolates4358]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

[@ibims1lauch8]

there is something magic about this suite

[@therealrealludwigvanbeethoven]

I'm glad this is up, thank you! The Colombo recording uploaded earlier was quite robotic and didn't convey the Christmas spirit.

[@tedpiano]

Colombo is a pseudonym for a MIDI keyboard posing as a real person, which is how “Colombo” has managed to record and publish the full outputs of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, A considerable amount of Liszt, Beethoven-Liszt, Alkan, Schubert, Scriabin, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Schumann, Mozart, Grieg, Ravel, Debussy, Faure, and two-dozen other composers in the past 10 years without being signed to an established record label or giving a public performance.

[@therealrealludwigvanbeethoven]

@@tedpiano I see. That's quite terrible overall.

[@preblalar8798]

Yes, Colombo is a fraud, and does not sound good at all.

[@meisterwue]

Liszt......full of surprises treasures discoveries......❤listen to him since my very first hours with music for piano and this will be now more than 45 years ago.....

[@preblalar8798]

You often hear (on KZbin at least) Weihnachtsbaum mentioned as some of the easiest and most approachable works by Liszt for intermediate pianists. It seems to me that this is the kind of thing the "internet" just have agreed upon without acctually studying the work, and I think alot of intermediate pianists would stumble upon some great challenges if they did. I'm not saying that it is nearly at the same level of difficulty as Liszt is largely known for, but I do believe that it is by no means among the easiest. There are so so many small obscure pieces that nearly noone other than Leslie Howard has heard of, and a great deal of them are quite approachable compared to Weihnachtsbaum. If you think I'm talking about pieces like 'Nuages Gris' and 'En Rêve', then you have some more research to do, and besides, they are waaay more technically demanding than the internet claim they are. I would rank Weihnachtsbaum as a whole more technically challenging than e.g. the Consolations and even the Liebestraume. To mention some of the difficulties you may find upon studying Weihnachtsbaum: No.1: the octave passage requires the proper technique to not become a mess, and that takes years to develop. No.2: LH legato melodic thirds. Not easy to play it like Pöntinen. No.3: Phrasing of meldoic chords, and a special mention to the appoggiaturas in bar 57 and 58. No.4: Altough it is only 8 bars in total, the octave tremolos in the left hand takes alot of work to develop. No.5: Snappy staccato chords, LH octave passages, BH staccato thirds, fast LH trills, fast RH trills with extra voicing in the thumb, RH 5th finger appoggiaturas and octave appoggiaturas. No.6: Do I need to mention double stops? 2+3 polyrythm, staccato double stops, fast switching between staccato and legato double stops, octaves, staccato melody in finger 345 with chordal support in 1 and 2, LH snappy chords, fast LH trills and tremolos. This is a great etude! Master this before moving onto Feux Follets! No.7: Another etude! RH dolcissimo trills/tromolos with finger 1 and 2 with melody on top. Great exercise for an intermediate pianist due to the not so high tempo. LH thirds when crossing hands. The hand crossing is not difficult, but the thirds are technically demanding to get even and soft like a feather. No.8: The thirds passage... dolce, legato, allegro, good luck. Other technical difficulties includes staccato LH octaves, staccato RH chords, and everything that follows from the tempo,articulation and dynamics, especially considering the LH in the B section. No.9: An etude in impressionistic sonorities, which demands great technique. Legato octaves, and hand substitutions of the ostinato in the end. Easy to learn to play the notes in tempo, but music is so much more. People often call the difficulties in pieces like this "musically difficult", but to play like you have feathers for fingers is mainly a technical difficulty. The musical difficulty ads on top of that. No.10: Melody and accompaniment in the same hand, LH double stops accompaniment. No.11: Articualtion, especially considering the tenutos when they land on black notes, BH octaves, LH octave tremolo. No.12: Articualtion, fast repeated chords and octaves, BH octaves, LH jumps.

[@treesny]

A very interesting summary, thanks. And beyond the technical challenges, it seems that even pianists who can overcome those must still capture the true spirit of the suite... and I have to say honestly that this is the only recording I've ever heard that manages to do that.

[@QuestforaMeaningfulLife]

Simple and beautiful, sets the tone for the Christmas season!

[@shilloshillos]

I actually like the late Liszt more and more compared to the earlier stuff....The sonata of course being the flagship of all piano music ever composed.

[@cloud-dv1wb]

Guys he uploaded it a month in advance to give you time to learn it!!

[@TheTranq]

I printed off 3 and 4 tonight!

[@thenotsookayguy]

​​​@@TheTranqNearly 3 years in the future, I printed 3, 6, 7 and 9 to learn them.

[@donnytello1544]

These are a true representation of liszts adaptability to differetn essences of music, and his pioneering of impressionistic music

[@treesny]

What a difference it makes to hear a really sensitive performance of this cycle, and to be able to follow the score! Thank you (as always) for posting! :-)

[@dominicstorella1903]

Adeste Fideles is just Oh Come All Ye Faithful!

[@pleasecontactme4274]

sorabji pfp nice

[@user-tl8oj4tv1g]

Yeah, same meaning, just in Latin

[@KeyboardKirby]

19:33 🥳 🎂 happy birthday to Jesus since it’s Christmas music.

[@cambridgeport90]

One of the most beautiful of the later works I have heard yet. I have never actually listened to it all the way through,but great timing, too!

[@timweather3847]

I always found the metronome mark for O Heilige Nacht almost impossibly slow and was pleased to see the pianist here takes minim around 60 rather than the 48 in the score.

[@angelob.1089]

This is a gorgeous suite, especially no. 6 “Chimes.” I might consider learning a few of these for Christmas this year.

[@eliasss8229]

Oh thanks I was looking for and you have just uploaded this

[@itsthatnoob9782]

Lovely

[@marcalexandrefontenay9801]

Pièces enfin accessibles pour aux pianistes amateurs. Tirées de l’arbre de Noël 🤶 Tout en recueillement comme seul Liszt savait le faire !

[@ericastier1646]

hahaha imaginez "je joue LIszt" accessible to the grand public. C'est possible ici.

[@SuperKripke]

If you came looking for Ehemals, it's here: 28:53

[@TheModicaLiszt]

Fantabulous. It’s a little early though 😂😂😂 Christmas starts earlier every year

[@AndreiAnghelLiszt]

Do not worry there is more Christmas pieces ;)

[@TheModicaLiszt]

@@AndreiAnghelLiszt ooooooh, you whet my appetite greatly Andrei!

[@jerry_moo]

Well, *especially* this year, which went by miserably swift for me, rotting in my abode and all :)

[@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji]

33:13, 36:32 similar motifs! Not surprising considering that these pieces were written after Liszt (Hungarian) and Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein (Polish) met about the time of Christmas, apparently. No wonder they are in no way related to the title of the suite (not related Christmas, that is) but were written after their nationalities.

[@Felix_Li_En]

Merry Christmas in 2021!! 🎅🏻🎄🎁

[@gergelykiss]

Mulțumesc, Andrei! The Christmas Tree Suite was the only Liszt-cycle that never had a scored video to go with it! It is also probably his least known cycle - and it's absolutely packed with fantastic, visionary music. Thanks again!

[@김동현-y1c]

Love these pieces

[@gabrielsia4578]

It is christmas day in my area when I found this

[@SD-oi3wv]

Same here🙂 Well, we can practice toward 2022 X’mas.

[@sandeegrey5977]

“Abendglocken” is basically impressionism

[@thenameisgsarci]

Thanks for doing a much more proper video. Merry Christmas. :D

[@AndreiAnghelLiszt]

Merry Christmas gsarci!!

[@thenameisgsarci]

:D

[@andrecastro2609]

Merry Christmas!

[@sprechendemulltonne5051]

Very nice! So lovely... I recommend you listening to Ervin Nyiregyhazis Abendglocken or Evening Bells in English. It's on KZbin too. Take care of yourself!

[@charlesxii5804]

this is great! thanks you so much!!

[@tiborvisi7438]

In what year did he compose this? Thanks a lot for the upload! Great work 😊

[@AndreiAnghelLiszt]

The bulk of the work was carried out between 1874 and 1876, although Liszt kept touching the pieces up until the time of publication (1882).

[@j.vonhogen9650]

I've always loved most of the pieces from Weihnachtsbaum, but there are several pages that I wish the publisher would have left out (or at least would have asked Liszt to leave out), especially the last page of the final piece. Why on earth did Liszt decide to end the final piece with those ugly octaves after what sounds like final chords that would have been a perfect ending to the whole collection? It never made sense to me to include that final page. Please, share your thoughts about the ending of the final piece. I'd love to hear some different opinions. Is there any reason to leave that page in? Would it be OK to just end the piece on those chords?

[@j.vonhogen9650]

Maybe I would add the final 7 bars of the piece to the chords, but I would probably skip the 8 measures in between (i.e. 195-202).

[@annulrsolformrkelse4023]

Very interesting how he left the possibility of them being played on a harmonium. Do I see correctly that this only concerns the first four pieces?

[@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji]

Carillon reminds me of Stravinsky at times, seriously!

[@claudioparrella183]

Si tratta di pezzi poco eseguiti che meriterebbero un'altra posizione. Pontinen li esegue in maniera deliziosa

[@Bozzigmupp]

No 9 has the same melody as mephisto waltz no 3

[@turtle945]

11 is christmas mephisto waltz

[@user-ihn2ysnp]

35:19

[@3hm5]

Why does No. 7 sound like happy birthday?

[@themobiusfunction]

Bcecause same internals

[@filipebandeira5896]

I can play “Adeste Fideles”. 🎹

[@michaelmoss267]

Shall I make u one?

[@sihyunlee6400]

holly christmas..

[@danielthonk7481]

I always wonder how you find the sheet music for this stuff

[@cadenzalien4554]

IMSLP.

[@michaelmoss267]

Amazing old profile picture was better

[@jackcurley1591]

Liszt wrote the first Christmas album 😂

[@lowlightpiano7110]

Repent and trust in Jesus. we deserve Hell for our sins. For example lying, lusing, saying God's name as a cuss word and stealing our just some examples of sin which we can all admit to doing at least one of those. For our sin we deserve death and Hell, but there is a way out. Repent anf trust in Jesus and you will be saved. Repentence is turning from sin. So repent and trust in Jesus. He will save you from Hell, and instead give you eternal life in Heaven. John 3:16 Romans 3:23❤😊😊❤

[@ChristopherHauser-58]

Least one I like not interesting

[@tobiaspeter6555]

What a daft piece of music. SOOO boring

[@MusicalMetamorphosis-]

What a daft comment.