Bloop's piano performances! - Liebestraum no. 3

[Bloop]

I'm not sure how much I'll upload here, but I just uploaded an hour long video of all (except for 5) of my piano performances at my music school. If you wanna see how much my hairlength piano playing has improved over the past 4 years, you're at the right place!

Liebestraum no. 3 - F. Lizst

Piano Performances 2013-2017

0:00 - Sonatina in F major (1st mov.), Beethoven
2:20 - Auf den Feldern, Glière
4:43 - Sarabande, Corelli
7:25 - Variations on a theme by Paganini, Berkovich
12:25 - Sonata no. 16 in C major (2nd mov.), Mozart
17:05 - Prelude in E minor, Chopin
19:03 - Sonata no. 5 in C minor (1st mov.), Beethoven
24:09 - Two-part invention no. 15 in B minor, Bach
25:37 - Two-part invention no. 9 in F minor, Bach
27:08 - The Poet's Heart, Grieg
29:32 - Étude no. 1 in F minor, Chopin
31:35 - Sonata no. 8 in C minor 'Pathétique' (1st mov.), Beethoven
39:03 - Melodie in E major, Rachmaninov
44:07 - Impromptu no. 4 in A-flat major, Schubert
51:09 - WTC 1: Prelude & Fugue no. 12 in F minor, Bach
57:25 - Étude no. 3 in E major, Chopin
1:01:49 - The Seasons: October 'Autumn Song', Tchaikovsky
1:06:00 - Étude no. 2 in F minor, Chopin
1:08:06 - Prelude no. 2 in C-sharp minor, Rachmaninov

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[Bloop]

This is not my most flawless performance of Lizst's Liebestraum no. 3, but I really liked my interpretation when I recorded this so I wanted to share this with you ;)

[braix]

wowza that hair

[Bloop]

yeah it's pretty long

[AmpharosAndy]

I'd love to hear you perform this on a real piano! I used to play this a lot myself and I really admire your interpretation. You've definitely captured the right mood. In general, I think it could be a little faster throughout as a dream of love is not often tedious. Not saying listening to you is tedious; you know what I mean If you do perform it on a piano, post it here so I can listen hehe

[daj]

I think the most amazing part of this performance is that this is one of the most stress-inducing pieces in the world, and you managed to maintain your composure throughout everything - even had time to settle your hair, and then we've got those 120% swag page turns which left me feeling speechless. Of course, we can't compare this to a stage performance, haha, that would be quite unfair...but the way you presented yourself, considering this context, was absolutely amazing, so well done for that

I'll also let you know that I broke a little on that B major section - so intimate and well-controlled, that middle voice. As a side note, I found that to be the best tempo you had for the whole recording, and the point where you were the most into the music. The C major part was overwhelmingly passionate, so much so that you ignored all the minor slips and just blazed forward to the E major climax - absolutely beautiful, and I think this is the most powerful part of watching performances. You know, seeing people drop everything for passion ^^

~

...which is why, if you don't mind some criticism - I agree with AA about playing everything generally a little faster. But, "faster" meaning "less cautiously". Anyone who has played this piece knows that the first section is actually not that easy, especially when you're following the written note length. But I think, for all the A sections less the B major one, you were playing a little too carefully.

As a disclaimer, I'll be talking about the performance factor of things, hehe. I mean, playing technique is cool and all, but I believe that playing Liszt is all about making a performance. ^^ And sure, you can make a small, room-of-one performance, which is what I've judged this as so far...but this is Liszt.

I think the carefulness most clearly shows in the E major statement - you're taking a little too much time to find those G-sharp octaves, and those, actually, are the most showy parts of the piece in a performance sense. Just going full show-off mode and flying for those octaves, provided you don't miss too many of them, makes for a brilliant middle-climax that will stick in peoples' minds. You can probably afford to miss about two or three of those, but the leaps have to be leaps of faith, and that's where the magic is made

In fact, the two flourishes too: you can afford to make some mistakes, but you have to go as fast as you can, as confidently as you can. Or at least, build up to a point where you can spam a flourish with maximum power and maximum brightness, so the audience throws money at you. Then you get back to the emotional sections and make them fall to their knees with tears in their eyes~

As a rule of thumb, I think performing anything by Liszt is only meaningful if you put yourself in the shoes of a humble-bragging piece of shit that only cared about impressing the ladies and showing off. Not saying that Liszt was that, but he definitely wrote elements that looked amazing visually - so that's a whole new dimension of performing, hehe

~

All that said, no one said you couldn't play a Liszt piece to enjoy the harmonies and subtle melodies, so this all comes from a performance angle! Just thought it'd be meaningful to share ^^

Excellent work, hope to see more of your stuff! And hope you don't mind me commenting like that haha ^^;

[AmpharosAndy]

or that^

[Bloop]

I'm taking some time thinking about passionate playing <=> flawless playing. I've never played passionately for a long time, so I do wanna get more feeling into my music. The thing is though that because I play faster when playing passionately, I make more mistakes, which usually frustrates me and pulls me out of the zone. This is probably why I play it more cautious. Maybe I have to practice more, so when I get to performing the piece, I'm less likely to make mistakes. I'm going to buy a piano soon, so I'll probably rerecord this piece on that piano when it's in!

I'm really glad I did manage break you with my music though x) I haven't heard someone say something like that yet so I'm glad you do, thank you!

As a rule of thumb, I think performing anything by Liszt is only meaningful if you put yourself in the shoes of a humble-bragging piece of shit that only cared about impressing the ladies and showing off. Not saying that Liszt was that, but he definitely wrote elements that looked amazing visually - so that's a whole new dimension of performing, hehe

I'm not sure if I completely agree: I don't know a lot of Liszt yet, so I'm not an expert on his music, but this piece in particular is too emotionally loaded to be played like a "humble-bragging piece of shit". Looking at the poem that inspired the piece, the "dream of love" is more than just a dream: for me, the loved one "thought about" in this piece has died. I believe the second part, in between the two cadenzas, is the actual dream, while the two other sections being reality. The third section especially is a sigh to reality, waking up from the dream and realizing the loved one is dead.
i kinda let myself go there but i hope my point is clear
btw i'd be impressing the guys here :3

[MaestroUGC]

Hi. Big time Liszt fan, first time caller. Liszt's music is all about showing off; he was one of the greatest pianist of all time and he made sure you knew that with all of his piano pieces. While this is one of his more fanciful pieces it is deceptively difficult; albeit it being on the easier side of his works. Daj is right with half the charm of Liszt is performing with that bravado-bravura attitude, but the other half is in the complexity of the music itself. Liebestraum is but a taste of his harmonic prowess, and I advise you to seek out other works by him, though I feel he really shines with his orchestral material.