W O W ! What a virtuoso performance of incredible awesomeness and brilliance! The cluster chords and the sustained pedalling give the music an emotional dynamic that is more hurricane than storm! You really bring to this recording a most spectacular depiction of an Alpine storm, Cole - a torrential octave study truly revealing Liszt’s hallmark pianistic and melodic style. I'm aware that Liszt wrote many representations of nature’s fury . . . but surely none that is more focused and compact than this amazing work? As ever, your introductory commentary was most illuminating and anyone who dismisses this masterpiece as just bombastic showmanship has failed to appreciate the sheer genius of Liszt in his imaginative artistry: B R A V O !
Hey Cole, nice performance of the Liszt Orage! I had emailed you a while ago intending to share some interesting recordings, and I unfortunately have not heard back from you-I think I speak for all of us here when I say your insight on a variety of topics is very much valued!
The cluster chords are satisfyingly jarring and ahead of their time, although Alkan took clusters even further with his Une Fusee, Op. 55 - published in 1859. The clusters at the end of the coda are absolutely brutal in his piece, and I can imagine they may have been inspired by Orage.
I had never paid much attention to this piece until I saw your video. After hearing your astute analysis and your highly convincing rendition, I've become quite smitten with it. I began learning it a couple weeks ago and it has become one of my favorite pieces to play. However, I am still a bit confused about the chords in the first and third measures: why the dotted quarter notes tied to eighth notes? Why not a half note? Should this be articulated differently ? The notes in the Henle edition make some cryptic reference to a slur that I don't really understand. I've listened to several recordings but don't hear anything particular in the way the pianists articulate these chords. Why did Liszt choose this strange notation?
If I could do this video over I would want to talk about this detail-I am now increasingly of the opinion that Liszt intended the 2nd 8th note chord to be played again. Rather like a 2-note slur, akin to Beethoven’s notation in Op 110 for 2-note slurs on the same note. I think the Henle edition also gives a quotation from Liszt’s Malediction with a very similar figure in which the 2nd chord is played.
@@TheIndependentPianist Thanks for your reply. I believe you are correct that Liszt intended the eighth-note chords to be played again as a sort of punctuation to the initial dotted quarter-note chords. It does indeed seem to mirror the figure in Malédiction. Thanks for the great video and for your insight.
@@ruramikael Yes! Thank you. That's it. This rendition makes eminent sense to me. I think it's achieved by not fully releasing the dotted quarter, and then moving your hand forward toward the fallboard and letting its weight fall back into the keys for the eighth note.
theres a youtube channel called "Score Circuit" which has a really interesting video on cluster chords and even gives some 17-18th century examples of them
Absolutely phenomenal and very impressive when the "voix interieures" become audible in music!!! I really hope that in addition to your unforgettable performances of i.a. 'Orage', 'Vallée d'Obermann' and 'Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude' we may one day also hear your versions of Liszt's Dante and Norma (hopefully). Preferably with another poem (of Victor Hugo maybe). Thank you for your inspiring work Cole! So much passion and skills! I'm all admiration.
What an extraordinary performance supplemented with thorough explanation of the piece! What are your thoughts on Neil Eisenstein's performance of Orage?
W O W ! What a virtuoso performance of incredible awesomeness and brilliance! The cluster chords and the sustained pedalling give the music an emotional dynamic that is more hurricane than storm! You really bring to this recording a most spectacular depiction of an Alpine storm, Cole - a torrential octave study truly revealing Liszt’s hallmark pianistic and melodic style. I'm aware that Liszt wrote many representations of nature’s fury . . . but surely none that is more focused and compact than this amazing work? As ever, your introductory commentary was most illuminating and anyone who dismisses this masterpiece as just bombastic showmanship has failed to appreciate the sheer genius of Liszt in his imaginative artistry: B R A V O !
You and Lowenthal play it the best
Hey Cole, nice performance of the Liszt Orage! I had emailed you a while ago intending to share some interesting recordings, and I unfortunately have not heard back from you-I think I speak for all of us here when I say your insight on a variety of topics is very much valued!
My apologies! I think I remember your email, but I didn't get a chance to listen yet. I will get back to you now, thank you for commenting!
The cluster chords are satisfyingly jarring and ahead of their time, although Alkan took clusters even further with his Une Fusee, Op. 55 - published in 1859. The clusters at the end of the coda are absolutely brutal in his piece, and I can imagine they may have been inspired by Orage.
That's a great example. Of course immediately after posting I remembered Scarlatti... doh!
The first composer to use these types of cluster chords might habe been Bach or Scarlatti
Thank you for clarifying so much of the content in this piece. I appreciate it so much more.
I had never paid much attention to this piece until I saw your video. After hearing your astute analysis and your highly convincing rendition, I've become quite smitten with it. I began learning it a couple weeks ago and it has become one of my favorite pieces to play. However, I am still a bit confused about the chords in the first and third measures: why the dotted quarter notes tied to eighth notes? Why not a half note? Should this be articulated differently ? The notes in the Henle edition make some cryptic reference to a slur that I don't really understand. I've listened to several recordings but don't hear anything particular in the way the pianists articulate these chords. Why did Liszt choose this strange notation?
If I could do this video over I would want to talk about this detail-I am now increasingly of the opinion that Liszt intended the 2nd 8th note chord to be played again. Rather like a 2-note slur, akin to Beethoven’s notation in Op 110 for 2-note slurs on the same note. I think the Henle edition also gives a quotation from Liszt’s Malediction with a very similar figure in which the 2nd chord is played.
@@TheIndependentPianist Thanks for your reply. I believe you are correct that Liszt intended the eighth-note chords to be played again as a sort of punctuation to the initial dotted quarter-note chords. It does indeed seem to mirror the figure in Malédiction. Thanks for the great video and for your insight.
@@da__lang Leslie Howard plays it correctly, one could call it "ultra-legato".
@@ruramikael Yes! Thank you. That's it. This rendition makes eminent sense to me. I think it's achieved by not fully releasing the dotted quarter, and then moving your hand forward toward the fallboard and letting its weight fall back into the keys for the eighth note.
theres a youtube channel called "Score Circuit" which has a really interesting video on cluster chords and even gives some 17-18th century examples of them
Fabulous, I will take a look. Of course, immediately after posting I remembered Scarlatti... cluster chords a good century+ earlier!
Absolutely phenomenal and very impressive when the "voix interieures" become audible in music!!! I really hope that in addition to your unforgettable performances of i.a. 'Orage', 'Vallée d'Obermann' and 'Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude' we may one day also hear your versions of Liszt's Dante and Norma (hopefully). Preferably with another poem (of Victor Hugo maybe). Thank you for your inspiring work Cole! So much passion and skills! I'm all admiration.
Thanks Joanne! Definitely Dante sonata.... maybe Norma if I feel inclined to work that much 🙂
What an extraordinary performance supplemented with thorough explanation of the piece! What are your thoughts on Neil Eisenstein's performance of Orage?
Bravo que hp
The introduction comes from "Malediction", so it is a dotted rhytm, only Howard plays it correctly.
Could you play some Lyapunov perhaps? Or Liszt's concert etudes
This is where the relation with d'Agoult leaves the idyllic stage.