FINALLY, THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION: … We must think, imagine: what meaning lies here between the tones? We should always stimulate our imagination and try to understand: what did composer write, why are these notes here? This work is written on the concrete occasion, execution of Liszt’s friends, Hungarian revolutionaries, in October 1849. Boris Berlin interpreted this work at a march to the scaffold. This genre is at the core of musical romanticism: think about Hector Berlioz’ Symphony Fantastique. Liszt has transcribed Berlioz' work for the solo piano. It has to be mentioned, the executions often took place at the time. The beginning. The sound of a toscin. The bells are calling the crowd to come and see some monstrous act, the execution. Someone’s head will roll. First of all, what is going on here musically? There are two bells, D-flat and the low C. (demonstration). Prof. Berlin advised a student to make a gesture like a bell is swinging, swaying. The very physical gesture helps create the right sound image. It's actually quite hard to execute. First bell is being played off keyboard … and what is also important here: you all must listen to the “complex ” of 2 sounds, the harmonic aura. It is not one tone and then the other, but their sum. And interestingly enough, the student will be free to choose, whether to play the sounds forte or piano. What was important, is to create that resonating noise of the bells. And then, with this hum at the background- comes this heavy melody… I play it very slowly… and just have recorded this work on a CD. What is an extreme difficulty here? How to connect these three fragments together into a line. Otherwise it will sound like this (demonstration of a bad performance). That's how it’s often played. But one must adjust these fragments into a long phrase. …. All this tones belong to the dominant harmony. Berlin used to say, after the end of a harmonical complex you must put it together (assemble it) in your head. And again, the most interesting part is that afterwords you are free to interpret music as you wish: play it faster or slower, piano or forte (demonstration). But only after you did this meticulous work I mentioned before. Now, back to the music… it’s growing… here one could dare to use some extreme colours, extreme means of expression. Even optically, one creates a feeling of a swaying bell with a broader and broader attitude. Here it comes to the fanfares. How to create an melody on a single note? Let's remember Berlin's exercise I mentioned in my previous lecture: melody on the one, single tone. … And here it goes like this (demonstration of a silent octave on D flat). And on and the actual procession, the march begins….. And here again: a melody on one single repeated tone. It’s one of the hardest things to do on the piano… this is a really difficult passage, and Boris Berlin suggested using a “caption”, in order to understand better how these three fragments a connected: Oh …(sigh) how… (sigh) hard it is.. Tragedy, with no escape. On the single note. The middle section…Maybe, a flashback into the past, some lighter moments… For me, it's a very difficult melody to play. I used to work at it a lot, and I’m still working. Preparing to the recording my Liszt CD, I spent a lot of time perfecting this passage. Here we have a good example of, as Boris Berlin postulates, music being between the notes. Imagine a crescendo on a high F, sliding to the F-flat. It’s hard to create a long phrase… (“how would we define a civilised person’s speech? by the ability to deliver a long phrase” - Boris Berlin). One should think in harmonic complexes. Here is one complex (demonstration)… we pull together all the tones over the D#… than the next one on the G#, And here is another… here… and here… (demonstration) (F major) Here the crowd of people starts gathering at the execution square…Pedalling should be in accord with Liszt’s markings… just like in the introduction, one creates a hum, and should listen to the “complex” (an aggregate) of the sounds. (A major) Here…the noise , the hum of the crowd is growing. Fanfares! they should sound very bright (fingers like nails). The crowd is pushing forward… (ascending octaves). And now they will chop off the head. (the chord). I use a “special effect “, hitting the right pedal with my foot simultaneously with the chord. The crowd’s pressure cannot be held, it breaks through the barriers… People lift the bodies of heroes high up over crowd. And It's only here that the funeral procession begins. (Reprise) Here the pianist should get “another” pair of hands: one pair imitates strings playing the melody, another - chords (brass and drums). You can dare to use extreme colours, extreme means of expression. (E major episode. Demonstration of a bad way to perform this passage. ) Again, one should assemble harmonic complex in the left hand on each note of the melody in the right. Prof. Berlin asked me to play the melody with a bleak, faded sound… no to “sing” it (actually, in the Funerailles there was no singing at all). Again, D-flat… Liszt keeps both D-flat and C on the same pedal. And now - the brief afterword. “We’ll аvenge the heroes!”.
Sergei Dreznin: … We have to think, to imagine: what meaning lies here between the tones. We should always stimulate our imagination and try to understand what did composer write, why are these notes here. This work is written for a concrete reason - the execution of Liszt’s friends, Hungarian revolutionaries in 1849. Boris Berlin interpreted this work at a march to the scaffold. This genre is at the core of musical romanticism: think about Hector Berlioz’ Symphony Fantastique. Liszt has transcribed Berlioz' work for the solo piano. It has to be mentioned, the executions often took place at the time. The beginning. The sound of a tocsin. The bells are calling the crowd to come and see some monstrous act, the execution. Someone’s head will roll. First of all, what is going on here musically? There are two bells, D-flat and the low C. (demonstration). Prof. Berlin advised a student to make a gesture like a bell is swinging, swaying. The very physical gesture helps create the right sound image. It's actually quite hard to execute. First bell is being played off keyboard … and what is also important here: you all must listen to the “complex ” of 2 sounds, the harmonic aura. It is not one tone and then the other, but their sum. And interestingly enough, the student will be free to choose, whether to play the sounds forte or piano. What was important, is to create that resonating noise of the bells. And then, with this hum at the background- comes this heavy melody… I play it very slowly… and just have recorded this work on a CD. What is an extreme difficulty here? How to connect these three fragments together into a line. Otherwise it will sound like this (demonstration of a bad performance). That's how it’s often played. But one must adjust these fragments into a long phrase. …. All this tones belong to the dominant harmony. Berlin used to say, after the end of a harmonical complex you must put it together (assemble it) in your head. And again, the most interesting part is that afterwords you are free to interpret music as you wish: play it faster or slower, piano or forte (demonstration). But only after you did this meticulous work I mentioned before. Now, back to the music… it’s growing… here one could dare to use some extreme colours, extreme means of expression. Even optically, one creates a feeling of a swaying bell with a broader and broader attitude. Here it comes to the fanfares. How to create an melody on a single note? Let's remember Berlin's exercise I mentioned in my previous lecture: melody on the one, single tone. … And here it goes like this (demonstration of a silent octave on D flat). And on and the actual procession, the march begins….. And here again: a melody on one single repeated tone. It’s one of the hardest things to do on the piano… this is a really difficult passage, and Boris Berlin suggested using a “caption”, in order to understand better how these three fragments a connected: Oh …(sigh) how… (sigh) hard it is.. Tragedy, with no escape. On the single note. The middle section… Maybe, a flashback into the past, some lighter moments… For me, it's a very difficult melody to play. I used to work at it a lot, and I’m still working. Preparing to the recording my Liszt CD, I spent a lot of time perfecting this passage. Here we have a good example of, as Boris Berlin postulates, music being between the notes. Imagine a crescendo on a high F, sliding to the F-flat. It’s hard to create a long phrase… (“how would we define a civilised person’s speech? by the ability to deliver a long phrase” - Boris Berlin). One should think in harmonic complexes. Here is one complex (demonstration)… we pull together all the tones over the D#… than the next one on the G#, And here is another… here… and here… (demonstration) (F major) Here the crowd of people starts gathering at the execution square… Pedalling is in full accord with Liszt’s markings… just like in the introduction, one creates a hum, and should listen to the “complex” (an aggregate) of the sounds. (A major) Here… the noise , the hum of the crowd is growing. Fanfares! they should sound very bright (fingers like nails). The crowd is pushing forward… (ascending octaves) And now they will chop off the head. (the chord). I use a “special effect “, hitting the right pedal with my foot simultaneously with the chord. The crowd’s pressure cannot be held, it breaks through the barriers… People lift the bodies of heroes high up over crowd. And It's only here that the funeral procession begins. (Reprise) Here the pianist should get “another” pair of hands: one pair imitates strings playing the melody, another - chords (brass and drums). You can dare to use extreme colours, extreme means of expression. (E major episode. Demonstration of a bad way to perform this passage. ) Again, one should assemble harmonic complex in the left hand on each note of the melody in the right. Boris Berlin asked me to play the melody with a bleak, faded sound… no to “sing” it (although, in the Funerailles there was no singing at all). Again, D-flat… Liszt keeps both D-flat and C on the same pedal. And now - the short afterword. “We’ll аvenge the heroes!”.
А я вот думал, что тема в левой октавы, это собственно и есть само шествие! А про толпу, гул, собирается, шум, напряжение не знал. Пытаюсь это связать с образом.
![5 Minutes On... Liszt - Funérailles | Daniel Barenboim [subtitulado]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/0dIfzfUaJq0/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanks for your interest. We are planning a massive website for the so called Boris M. Berlin Method, and that'll include English translations
FINALLY, THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
… We must think, imagine: what meaning lies here between the tones? We should
always stimulate our imagination and try to understand: what did composer write,
why are these notes here? This work is written on the concrete occasion,
execution of Liszt’s friends, Hungarian revolutionaries, in October 1849. Boris Berlin interpreted this work at a march to the scaffold. This genre is at the core of musical romanticism: think about Hector Berlioz’ Symphony Fantastique. Liszt has transcribed Berlioz' work for the solo piano. It has to be mentioned, the executions often took place at the time.
The beginning. The sound of a toscin. The bells are calling the crowd to come and see some monstrous act, the execution. Someone’s head will roll.
First of all, what is going on here musically? There are two bells, D-flat and the low C.
(demonstration). Prof. Berlin advised a student to make a gesture like a bell is swinging, swaying. The very physical gesture helps create the right sound image. It's actually quite hard to execute. First bell is being played off keyboard … and what is also important here: you all must listen to the “complex ” of 2 sounds, the harmonic aura. It is not one tone and then the other, but their sum. And interestingly enough, the student will be free to choose,
whether to play the sounds forte or piano. What was important, is to create that resonating noise of the bells. And then, with this hum at the background- comes this heavy melody… I play it very slowly… and just have recorded this work on a CD. What is an extreme difficulty here? How to connect these three fragments together into a line. Otherwise it will sound like this (demonstration of a bad performance). That's how it’s often played. But one must adjust these fragments into a long phrase. …. All this tones belong to the dominant harmony. Berlin used to say, after the end of a harmonical complex you must put it together (assemble it) in your head.
And again, the most interesting part is that afterwords you are free to interpret music as you wish: play it faster or slower, piano or forte (demonstration). But only after
you did this meticulous work I mentioned before.
Now, back to the music… it’s growing… here one could dare to use some extreme colours, extreme means of expression. Even optically, one creates a feeling of a swaying
bell with a broader and broader attitude.
Here it comes to the fanfares. How to create an melody on a single note? Let's remember Berlin's exercise I mentioned in my previous lecture: melody on the one, single tone. … And here it goes like this (demonstration of a silent octave on D flat).
And on and the actual procession, the march begins….. And here again: a melody on one single repeated tone. It’s one of the hardest things to do on the piano… this is a really difficult passage, and Boris Berlin suggested using a “caption”, in order to understand better how these three fragments a connected: Oh …(sigh) how… (sigh) hard it is.. Tragedy, with no escape. On the single note.
The middle section…Maybe, a flashback into the past, some lighter moments… For me, it's a very difficult melody to play. I used to work at it a lot, and I’m still working. Preparing to the recording my Liszt CD, I spent a lot of time perfecting this passage.
Here we have a good example of, as Boris Berlin postulates, music being between the notes. Imagine a crescendo on a high F, sliding to the F-flat. It’s hard to create a
long phrase… (“how would we define a civilised person’s speech? by the ability
to deliver a long phrase” - Boris Berlin).
One should think in harmonic complexes. Here is one complex (demonstration)… we pull together all the tones over the D#… than the next one on the G#, And here is another…
here… and here… (demonstration)
(F major) Here the crowd of people starts gathering at the execution square…Pedalling should be in accord with Liszt’s markings… just like in the introduction, one creates a
hum, and should listen to the “complex” (an aggregate) of the sounds.
(A major) Here…the noise , the hum of the crowd is growing. Fanfares! they should sound very bright (fingers like nails).
The crowd is pushing forward… (ascending octaves). And now they will
chop off the head. (the chord). I use a “special effect “, hitting the right
pedal with my foot simultaneously with the chord.
The crowd’s pressure cannot be held, it breaks through the barriers… People lift the bodies of heroes high up over crowd. And It's only here that the funeral procession begins.
(Reprise) Here the pianist should get “another” pair of hands: one pair imitates strings playing the melody, another - chords (brass and drums). You can dare to use extreme
colours, extreme means of expression.
(E major episode. Demonstration of a bad way to perform this passage. ) Again, one should assemble harmonic complex in the left hand on each note of the melody in the
right.
Prof. Berlin asked me to play the melody with a bleak, faded sound… no to “sing” it (actually, in the Funerailles there was no singing at all).
Again, D-flat… Liszt keeps both D-flat and C on the same pedal.
And now - the brief afterword. “We’ll аvenge the heroes!”.
Sergei Dreznin: … We have to think, to imagine: what meaning lies here between the tones. We should always stimulate our imagination and try to understand what did composer write, why are these notes here. This work is written for a concrete reason - the execution of Liszt’s friends, Hungarian revolutionaries in 1849. Boris Berlin interpreted this work at a march to the scaffold. This genre is at the core of musical romanticism: think about Hector Berlioz’ Symphony Fantastique. Liszt has transcribed Berlioz' work for the solo piano. It has to be mentioned, the executions often took place at the time.
The beginning. The sound of a tocsin. The bells are calling the crowd to come and see some monstrous act, the execution. Someone’s head will roll.
First of all, what is going on here musically? There are two bells, D-flat and the low C. (demonstration). Prof. Berlin advised a student to make a gesture like a bell is swinging, swaying. The very physical gesture helps create the right sound image. It's actually quite hard to execute. First bell is being played off keyboard … and what is also important here: you all must listen to the “complex ” of 2 sounds, the harmonic aura. It is not one tone and then the other, but their sum. And interestingly enough, the student will be free to choose, whether to play the sounds forte or piano. What was important, is to create that resonating noise of the bells. And then, with this hum at the background- comes this heavy melody… I play it very slowly… and just have recorded this work on a CD. What is an extreme difficulty here? How to connect these three fragments together into a line. Otherwise it will sound like this (demonstration of a bad performance). That's how it’s often played. But one must adjust these fragments into a long phrase. …. All this tones belong to the dominant harmony. Berlin used to say, after the end of a harmonical complex you must put it together (assemble it) in your head.
And again, the most interesting part is that afterwords you are free to interpret music as you wish: play it faster or slower, piano or forte (demonstration). But only after you did this meticulous work I mentioned before.
Now, back to the music… it’s growing… here one could dare to use some extreme colours, extreme means of expression. Even optically, one creates a feeling of a swaying bell with a broader and broader attitude.
Here it comes to the fanfares. How to create an melody on a single note? Let's remember Berlin's exercise I mentioned in my previous lecture: melody on the one, single tone. … And here it goes like this (demonstration of a silent octave on D flat).
And on and the actual procession, the march begins….. And here again: a melody on one single repeated tone. It’s one of the hardest things to do on the piano… this is a really difficult passage, and Boris Berlin suggested using a “caption”, in order to understand better how these three fragments a connected: Oh …(sigh) how… (sigh) hard it is.. Tragedy, with no escape. On the single note.
The middle section… Maybe, a flashback into the past, some lighter moments… For me, it's a very difficult melody to play. I used to work at it a lot, and I’m still working. Preparing to the recording my Liszt CD, I spent a lot of time perfecting this passage.
Here we have a good example of, as Boris Berlin postulates, music being between the notes. Imagine a crescendo on a high F, sliding to the F-flat. It’s hard to create a long phrase… (“how would we define a civilised person’s speech? by the ability to deliver a long phrase” - Boris Berlin).
One should think in harmonic complexes. Here is one complex (demonstration)… we pull together all the tones over the D#… than the next one on the G#, And here is another… here… and here… (demonstration)
(F major) Here the crowd of people starts gathering at the execution square…
Pedalling is in full accord with Liszt’s markings… just like in the introduction, one creates a hum, and should listen to the “complex” (an aggregate) of the sounds.
(A major) Here… the noise , the hum of the crowd is growing. Fanfares! they should sound very bright (fingers like nails).
The crowd is pushing forward… (ascending octaves)
And now they will chop off the head. (the chord). I use a “special effect “, hitting the right pedal with my foot simultaneously with the chord.
The crowd’s pressure cannot be held, it breaks through the barriers… People lift the bodies of heroes high up over crowd. And It's only here that the funeral procession begins.
(Reprise) Here the pianist should get “another” pair of hands: one pair imitates strings playing the melody, another - chords (brass and drums). You can dare to use extreme colours, extreme means of expression.
(E major episode. Demonstration of a bad way to perform this passage. ) Again, one should assemble harmonic complex in the left hand on each note of the melody in the right.
Boris Berlin asked me to play the melody with a bleak, faded sound… no to “sing” it (although, in the Funerailles there was no singing at all).
Again, D-flat… Liszt keeps both D-flat and C on the same pedal.
And now - the short afterword. “We’ll аvenge the heroes!”.
O, please, give us a translation!
Yes, I should... hmmm... lots of work though. Shall I?
А я вот думал, что тема в левой октавы, это собственно и есть само шествие! А про толпу, гул, собирается, шум, напряжение не знал. Пытаюсь это связать с образом.
Please....