Amazing musical feats

[Peter]

Inspired by Nightklavier I think I'll kick this one off with Liszt's sight reading perfectly through Grieg's piano concerto from the manuscript in front of the incredulous composer. Of more recent musicians, Richter was said by his teacher Neuhauss to be able to sight read anything perfectly and give a first rate musical performance of it!

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'Man know thyself'

[This message has been edited by Peter (edited 10-14-2006).]

[PDG]

Paganini playing the violin behind his back!

[Hofrat]

Originally posted by PDG:
Paganini playing the violin behind his back!

How about the violinist Franz Clement? He performed Beethoven's violin concerto and amazed the audience with a sonata that he played on one string with the violin held upside down!

Hofrat

[Peter]

No these are too gimmicky, I wasn't thinking of party tricks, but real feats of musical achievement like my pupils playing a scale properly!

Another example is Glenn Gould who heard a Mendelssohn string quartet and apparently proceeded to play it from memory on the piano. He claimed to do little practice at the piano and would only try a piece out a week before a concert!



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'Man know thyself'

[Nightklavier]

Liszt probably has the most anecdotes for extraordinary "pianistic" feats. All of the piano transcriptions should be counted. After a huge concert of Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique, someone brought out a piano and Liszt played his piano transcription which received even more applause than the preceding original work.

The same thing occured when Bulow conducted Tannhauser and Liszt played his transcription of the overture; several accounts said the audience from then on, preferred the overture from Liszt's fingers instead of the full-blown orchestra. Liszt was also one of the first to expose Beethoven's Hammerklavier to the public. Berlioz said this about it, that the Hammerklavier had been "the Sphinx' enigma of almost every pianist. Liszt, another Oedipus, has solved it in a manner that, if the composer could have heard it in his grave, would have sent a thrill of joy and pride over him. Not a note was left out, not one added (I followed, score in hand), no inflection effaced, no change of tempo permitted... Liszt, in thus making comprehensible a work not yet comprehended, has proved that he is the pianist of the future."

Despite what people say about Clara Schumann reviving Beethoven, Liszt was the undisputed champion. He was the only artist who funded the Bonn Beethoven monument which wouldn't have existed without him. Ultimately his extensive piano transcriptions are the sign of his fervor: not just the phenomenal symphonies, but the Septet, the Ruins of Athens march, many of Beethoven's songs, and apparently (although now lost) he even transcribed the Egmont and Coriolan overtures.

The soirees where Chopin and Liszt would get together and play seem like stuff of legends but must certainly be true. There are accounts of Chopin improvising and mimicking Liszt's style, playing something entirely original, but in a storming fashion, it sounded like a devilish Liszt etude. Some people questioned if Chopin was Liszt's teacher after that. And then Liszt would return the favor with a gentle nocturne of his own, which sounded just like a Chopin nocturne. And someone made a joke that Liszt and Chopin were "Janus"

Regarding Liszt's sight-reading of Grieg, there's another incident with one of Grieg's violin sonatas, where Liszt sight-read the entire piece and played it as if it was a piano composition. Here's Grieg's quote:

"Now you must bear in mind that in the first place he had never seen nor heard the sonata, and in the second that it was a sonata with a violin part, now above, now below, independent of the piano part. And what does Liszt do? He plays the whole thing, root and branch, violin and piano, nay, more, for he played fuller, more broadly. The violin part got its due right in the middle of the piano part. He was literally all over the whole piano at once, without missing a note, and how he played! With grandeur, beauty, genius, unique comprehension. I think I laughed-laughed like a child."

This is also one of my favorite anecdotes:

"[Liszt] was rolling up the piano in arpeggios in a very grand manner indeed, when he struck a semi-tone short of the high note which he had intended to end. I caught my breath and wondered whether he was going to leave us like that, in mid-air, as it were, the harmony unresolved, or whether he would be reduced to the humiliation of correcting himself like ordinary mortals, and taking the right chord. A half smile came over his face, as much as to say -"Don't fancy that this little thing disturbs me"- and he instantly went meandering down the piano in harmony with the false note he had struck, and then rolled deliberately up in a second grand sweep, this time striking true. I never saw a more delicious piece of cleverness. It was so quick-witted and so exactly characteristic of Liszt. Instead of giving you a chance to say, "He has made a mistake," he forced you to say, "He has shown how to get out of a mistake."

[This message has been edited by Nightklavier (edited 10-15-2006).]

[Michael]

At the first rehearsal of Beethoven's piano concerto in B flat a feat of musicianship took place which was all the more remarkable for being inaudible. The piano was found to be half a tone flat and Beethoven, after two frenzied days of composition and colic, rose to the occasion and rehearsed the entire work, transposing it up a semitone into B major.
Is that a big deal by today's standards?

Michael

[Joy]

NK, thanks for all the information on Liszt. He was truly amazing. I just learned of the Liszt/Grieg connection while watching my Musical Lectures with Professor Greenberg last week and he explained the whole incident in detail. I was amazed and immmediately put Liszt closer to the top of my classical 'list'. The man was phenominal!

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'Truth and beauty joined'

[Nightklavier]

Joy, someone else told me about Greenberg's audio/visual lectures and since I'm aspiring to major in music history, they might be invaluable to have. Can you vouch for them?

[Peter]

Originally posted by Michael:
At the first rehearsal of Beethoven's piano concerto in B flat a feat of musicianship took place which was all the more remarkable for being inaudible. The piano was found to be half a tone flat and Beethoven, after two frenzied days of composition and colic, rose to the occasion and rehearsed the entire work, transposing it up a semitone into B major.
Is that a big deal by today's standards?

Michael

There is a similar story with Brahms accompanying a violinist - I think it's pretty remarkable by any standards.

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'Man know thyself'

[Peter]

Saint-Saens may have claims to be the greatest prodigy of them all -

"He started composing at three and it was learned he had perfect pitch at two. His sight reading and memory are unequaled in the history of music. When he was ten as an encore he would let the audience choose any of the Beethoven sonatas and he would play it FROM MEMORY! Music is not the only thing he excelled in. Just about everything... Maths, Poetry, History, English. He wrote books and was a music critic. Was a great organist.
He stunned Wagner and Hans von Bülow with his sight reading of orchestral scores of Lohengrin, Tristan and Siegfried. Von Bülow commented: 'I too can play from score, but neither I nor any living man could have performed that feat [sight-reading the incomplete Siegfried manuscript] after Saint-Saëns. He is the greatest musical mind of our time.'

Debussy commented: 'He knows more about music than anybody in the world.'

Berlioz said: 'He knows everything but lacks inexperience.'"


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'Man know thyself'

[Hofrat]

Originally posted by Peter:
No these are too gimmicky, I wasn't thinking of party tricks, but real feats of musical achievement like my pupils playing a scale properly!

Dear Peter;

How about Beethoven's famous piano duels!! I recall one where Beethoven played against Daniel Steibelt. Beethoven devastated him to such an extent that Steibelt had to leave the room. Later Steibelt refused invitations to events if he thought Beethoven would be there.


Hofrat

[Joy]

Originally posted by Nightklavier:
Joy, someone else told me about Greenberg's audio/visual lectures and since I'm aspiring to major in music history, they might be invaluable to have. Can you vouch for them?

Oh, yes, I can vouch for him, he and his courses are just wonderful! He is a very good teacher who throws in some humour, odd facts, and history as well as teaching you the musical aspect of each piece.
Here's the website where you can read all about each music course, there are many and you will surely learn a lot. Enjoy the learning experience!
http://www.teach12.com/store/courses...0Music&fMode=s



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'Truth and beauty joined'

[Nightklavier]

Thank you, Joy. I didn't realize there were so many courses to choose from. Well I've just gotta have the Beethoven piano sonatas lectures and the Liszt one. I'm sure I'll end up getting all of the Beethoven courses, though

[Joy]

Originally posted by Nightklavier:
Thank you, Joy. I didn't realize there were so many courses to choose from. Well I've just gotta have the Beethoven piano sonatas lectures and the Liszt one. I'm sure I'll end up getting all of the Beethoven courses, though

I have all of the Beethoven courses and they are all excellent! The Symphonies deal mainly with the explaining the music note by note, very detailed and fascinating. The Beethoven piano sonatas explain his sonata music and his life and history. I also have 'How to Listen to and Understand Great Music' which he goes into great length about music history from A - Z which you might be interested in for your classes, The Concerto' (which features many composers not just Beethoven) of which I am in the middle of now, and some of the 'Great Masters' lectures. All are worth it and very informative.

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'Truth and beauty joined'

[This message has been edited by Joy (edited 10-15-2006).]

[DavidO]

Originally posted by Joy:
I have all of the Beethoven courses and they are all excellent! The Symphonies deal mainly with the explaining the music note by note, very detailed and fascinating. The Beethoven piano sonatas explain his sonata music and his life and history. I also have 'How to Listen to and Understand Great Music' which he goes into great length about music history from A - Z which you might be interested in for your classes, The Concerto' (which features many composers not just Beethoven) of which I am in the middle of now, and some of the 'Great Masters' lectures. All are worth it and very informative.

I have the symphonies & the sonatas on DVD, but not the general "Life of Beethoven"