Mengjie Han | Beethoven/Liszt - Symphony No. 7, S464/7 2nd Movement

Mengjie Han (prize winner 2014) performed Liszt's transcription of Beethoven's 7th Symphony at the online festival 'Long Distance Liszt' at 4 July 2020 in TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht.

[@jimc1466]

Great performance I can’t understand anyone not liking this performance

[@andreasneuthe7087]

What for a great music...

Fantastic rendition - and one of the few respecting Liszt's original articulation that deviates in some detail from traditional orchestral practice: e.g. in Liszt's version the last note of the main motif is written as staccato whereas most orchestras and, consequently, lots of piano performers of this piece play it as regular quarter note. Similarly, the grace notes of the second motif are unmistakably written short by Liszt but usually are played long.

[@GoodxLad]

Brilliant performance! Definitely deserves more views. The technicality of this piece continues to blow me away.

[@sallymjmj750]

Bravo many times over! I never knew until today there was a piano reduction of this marvelous Beethoven movement. Of course it was Liszt! Your rendition just knocked my socks off. It’s so powerful, yet so light. And of course,, the cello parts are the best.😉 I absolutely adore your performance. I will listen to your video again and again.

[@danwolfe9087]

Bravo Mengjie Han, Maestri Liszt AND Beethoven are smiling down at your performance. I have watched or listened to every recording on KZbin of Liszt Beethoven Symphony No. 7 2nd movement Allegretto and yours is most breath taking...I think best overall ... tempo, interpretation, nuanced !!!!

[@azzam1]

One of my favorite pieces

[@mariamkhachatryan1122]

Excellent!👏

[@jc9552]

Beautiful.

[@sbalak]

Thank you! An emotional ride to the max.

[@cheolist]

아 너무 잘들었습니다. 감사합니다.

[@stevede0000]

Such talent. WOW!

[@MariaPerez-oq5wl]

Gracias! Una fiesta!

[@ValzainLumivix]

Bravo!

[@gergelykiss]

Beautiful performance! I was curious to find out whether Maestro Han would take Professor Chiu's view on the famous grace-note question - turns out he doesn't concur with the Professor and plays the grace notes on the beat rather than before. I, for one, was convinced by Chiu's reasoning - but it is delightful either way.

[@Varooooooom]

The lighting of the stage is so odd, but I kinda love it.

[@claudioviteri8113]

👍👏👏👏

[@maartenho]

wie slaat de pagina om?

[@lisztcompetition]

Dat doet hij zelf via een pedaal op de grond (in het shot over de schouder kun je deze zien liggen)

[@therealoswald1176]

PRE-CI-SION !!!! amazing !!! beautifull !!! so bad a good piano is for the elite....but in this case, he deserve it.

[@claybomb1064]

Bashar 👽

[@Jack-hy1zq]

For me, this beautiful piece sounds too cumbersome on the piano.

[@Coudy_the_Cat]

1:07 he missed an E at the end

[@Coudy_the_Cat]

@@denis-besliu that’s true I was nitpicking an amazing performance though

[@jeffhayz7802]

Not to bad, maybe 6.5 or 6.75 out of 10.

[@jeffhayz7802]

🤣🎹🤣jk of course, well done! Unbelievably well played 10/10 !

[@LightSearch]

I don't appreciate Liszt music particularly, but the fact that he made this transcription for piano, makes me like him even less. It's one of those things that shouldn't be touched.

[@naillik1517]

I very much disagree. Piano is a beautiful instrument and I am very much glad someone (Liszt) made some beautiful transcriptions from pieces that were at first made for full orchestras.

[@catherinetypist2371]

In Liszt days, there's no recording technology and access to concerts are limited. Liszt transcribing these masterpieces were great service to people who didn't have the fortune to see the symphonies live and were great service to promote the music to more people. As a modern pianist, I really appreciate the opportunity to experience Beethoven's symphonies on my instrument through Liszt's skills as transcribers. If you think these pieces are sacred and shall not be touched, no, this is a case that you should stay away from performances of those transcriptions and let other people enjoy it.

[@LightSearch]

@@catherinetypist2371 Thanks for point that out. To my ears, there's a huge degradation of this piece when trancribed to piano. It doesn't translate well.

[@victorgallardo3475]

@@LightSearch To my ears it is beautiful,there are not rules in taste.

[@gergelykiss]

I have never understood this thought-process. Having these transcriptions available is not taking anything away from anyone, it does however add joy to many. Noone is forcing anyone to listen to or play them. In any case, arrangements of these works appeared already in Beethoven's lifetime (Hummel made chamber arrangements, Kalkbrenner made piano arrangements), so "not being touched" was gone before Liszt came to the scene. His arrangements were not the first - they were just the most careful and complete. (Interestingly, Glenn Gould who simply hated Liszt's music loved his symphony-transcriptions, while Horowitz thought they represented the peak of the piano literature.)