“They saw their injured country's woe;
The flaming town, the wasted field;
Then rushed to meet the insulting foe;
They took the spear, - but left the shield.”
―Philip Freneau
.
And by a prudent flight and cunning save A life which valour could not, from the grave. A better buckler I can soon regain, But who can get another life again?
Archilochus
Sunday, April 17, 2016
A Dream in Venice...
“Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go.”
Lovely performance of Liebestraum. Was the pudgy young man with too much curly, fluffed out hair, perhaps, the pianist?
I don't believe Liebestraum was ever specifically associated in Liszt 's mind with Venice, but Venezia e Napoli, a pianistic tour de force from Liszt 's Années de pélerinage, most definitely is.
The first part, entitled Gondoliera is a musical evocation of what it must have been like to traverse the canals on a beautiful moonlit night with a beloved companion. The piece is filled with ravishing cadenzas that bring frissons de plaisir exquisses to the spines of enchanted listeners. The second part, called Tarantella provides a stark contrast to the delicious languor of Gondoliera. Played with appropriate vigor at the required galloping pace, Tarantella shows Liszt at his brilliant, crowd-pleasing best.
When Jean-Marie Darré played Venezia and Napoli in New York to a capacity house at Carnegie Hall. When she finished the entire audience rose to its feet with a roar of delight to cheer her incredible brilliance, and stomped its feet so hard I was honestly afraid the balcony might come down.
Such an uninhibitedly enthusiastic response was rare in the New York of my day, which prided itself on being blasé.
2 comments:
Lovely performance of Liebestraum. Was the pudgy young man with too much curly, fluffed out hair, perhaps, the pianist?
I don't believe Liebestraum was ever specifically associated in Liszt 's mind with Venice, but Venezia e Napoli, a pianistic tour de force from Liszt 's Années de pélerinage, most definitely is.
The first part, entitled Gondoliera is a musical evocation of what it must have been like to traverse the canals on a beautiful moonlit night with a beloved companion. The piece is filled with ravishing cadenzas that bring frissons de plaisir exquisses to the spines of enchanted listeners. The second part, called Tarantella provides a stark contrast to the delicious languor of Gondoliera. Played with appropriate vigor at the required galloping pace, Tarantella shows Liszt at his brilliant, crowd-pleasing best.
When Jean-Marie Darré played Venezia and Napoli in New York to a capacity house at Carnegie Hall. When she finished the entire audience rose to its feet with a roar of delight to cheer her incredible brilliance, and stomped its feet so hard I was honestly afraid the balcony might come down.
Such an uninhibitedly enthusiastic response was rare in the New York of my day, which prided itself on being blasé.
Yes, the pianist, VLADIMIR MOGILEVSKY was in the video, which I think did complement the piano piece.
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