Piano transcriptions

[silvestrione]

Liszt's Don Juan fantasy must be one of the least played of all the great piano works. Very few pianists attempt it live . In fifty years of recital going I have never heard it live . Some of the chromatic minor thirds are more difficult than the Chopin G sharp minor etude (Not that I can play either ).I don't know how the virtuosi get ther fingers round them. There is a superlative recording by Arrau. But it's not a virtuoso plaything - it's a wonderful re-imaging of the opera , a masterpiece in its own right.

I've always rather liked this work, though it's hard to make sense of it sometimes. I didn't know there was an Arrau version: do you have details?

[silvestrione]

I've always rather liked this work, though it's hard to make sense of it sometimes. I didn't know there was an Arrau version: do you have details?

Talking to myself again I know, but I don't think there is an Arrau version, can find no evidence he ever played it (would like to be proved wrong of course) so I'm wondering, if Heldenleben's pen slipped, as it were, who is playing on the superlative version he's thinking of?

[Bryn]

Talking to myself again I know, but I don't think there is an Arrau version, can find no evidence he ever played it (would like to be proved wrong of course) so I'm wondering, if Heldenleben's pen slipped, as it were, who is playing on the superlative version he's thinking of?

Claudio Arrau's U.S. début at the Carnegie Hall, New York, on 20th October, with a program comprising:

> Beethoven's Sonata No.18 Op 31 No. 3 The Hunt
> Chopin's Nocturne Op 48 No. 1
> Chopin Waltz Op.34 No.3
> Chopin's Scherzo No.3
> Debussy's Reflets dans l'eau
> Debussy's Feux d'artifice
> Debussy's Minstrels
> Liszt's Don Juan fantasy, with
> a Liszt's Rhapsody as encore.

[Appreciative review in The New York Times of 21st October]

I have not found any information regarding his having recorded the work, however.

[Pianorak]

I have not found any information regarding his having recorded the work, however.

There's no mention of one in T.W. Scragg's Discography (Conversations with Arrau by Joseph Horowitz). Jorge Bolet recorded the work for Decca in 1979.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Yep you're all right . I confused the Bolet Don Juan with the Arrau Verdi Concert paraphrases . Both are superlative . The Arrau Don Juan remains sadly just a fantasy ....

[Ein Heldenleben]

Ps I wish all the Liszt transcriptions got more outings in recital . It would be a welcome change from the Chopin warhorses..

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Ps I wish all the Liszt transcriptions got more outings in recital.

It would be a welcome change from the Chopin warhorses..

[ahinton]

Ps I wish all the Liszt transcriptions got more outings in recital . It would be a welcome change from the Chopin warhorses..

Whilst I agree with the first bit of that, to what "Chopin warhorses" do you refer here? He wrote few transcriptions anyway...

[Ein Heldenleben]

Whilst I agree with the first bit of that, to what "Chopin warhorses" do you refer here? He wrote few transcriptions anyway...

The B flat minor Piano Sonata , the A major and A flat polonaises , the E flat nocturne , the E major étude - the B minor scherzo. Don't get me wrong I love them all but lets have a bit of pianistic variety.

[ahinton]

The B flat minor Piano Sonata , the A major and A flat polonaises , the E flat nocturne , the E major étude - the B minor scherzo. Don't get me wrong I love them all but lets have a bit of pianistic variety.

OK, so not transcriptiopn, then; good to clear that one up. Yes, like most composers, Chopin has some of his works performed far more often than others; that's the way it goes. Same applies to liszt, although his transcriptions, operatic paraphrases and the rest don't do so badly in recital programmes, as far as I am aware.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Something was bugging me re Don Juan. So I've just spent 10 mins flicking through CD's. The 'superlative ' version I was thinking of was neither the non-existent Arrau nor the excellent Bolet . It's a piano roll version on Nimbus by Ignatz Friedman . The playing is so stupendous I can't believe it hasn't been doctored or played hands seperately in the piano roll equivalent of multi tracking but I don't think Friedman would have done that and by all accounts his playing was stupendous ...

[Ein Heldenleben]

OK, so not transcriptiopn, then; good to clear that one up. Yes, like most composers, Chopin has some of his works performed far more often than others; that's the way it goes. Same applies to liszt, although his transcriptions, operatic paraphrases and the rest don't do so badly in recital programmes, as far as I am aware.

I can't remember the last Liszt transcription I heard in recital though as I am proving my musical recall is less than 100 per cent !

[Ein Heldenleben]

Time must be hanging heavily on my hands but looking at the forthcoming London pianoforte series of 30 recitals I can't see any Liszt transcriptions programmed . Annees De Pelerinage from two pianists , ditto Mephisto Waltz . The transcriptions have gone out of fashion. Though no doubt Rigoletto will turn up as an encore...

[Zucchini]

Rite of Spring is very effective (Barenboim/top & Argerich/bottom is a great romp)

[Serial_Apologist]

Rite of Spring is very effective (Barenboim/top & Argerich/bottom is a great romp)

Isn't it just?!! Monteux may have claimed he found the unorchestrated version of The Rite he heard Stravinsky and Ansermet play as a duet incomprehensible, lacking as it did the magnificent orchestral colours it had yet to acquire, but I have to say I've never had this problem. Maybe it's better to hear the orchestrated before the two piano version.