Three Concert Études

Three Concert Études (Trois études de concert), S.144, are a set of three piano études by Franz Liszt, composed between 1845–49 and published in Paris as Trois caprices poétiques with the three individual titles as they are known today.[1] As the title indicates, they are intended not only for the acquisition of a better technique, but also for concert performance. Liszt himself was a virtuoso on the piano. Due to an unusual flexibility in his fourth fingers, he was easily able to play many complex patterns some consider difficult. The Italian subtitles now associated with the studies – Il lamento ("The Lament"), La leggierezza ("Lightness"), Un sospiro ("A sigh") – were not in early editions.[2]

Étude No. 1, Il lamento

Il lamento is the first of Liszt's Three Concert Études. Written in A-flat major, it is among the composer's longest pieces in this genre. It starts with a four-note lyrical melody which folds itself through the work, followed by a Chopin-like chromatic pattern which reappears again in the coda section. Although this piece opens and ends in A-flat major, it shifts throughout its three parts to many other keys including A, G, B, D-sharp, F-sharp and B.[1]

Étude No. 2, La leggierezza

La leggierezza (meaning "lightness") is the second of the Three Concert Études. It is a monothematic piece in F minor with a very simple melodic line in each hand under an unusual Quasi allegretto tempo marking, usually ignored in favour of something a bit more frenetic.[3] It starts with a fast, but delicate sixteen chromatic-note arpeggio divided in thirds and sixths under an irregular rhythmic subdivision and cadenza so as to underline the light atmosphere of its title.[3] The technical difficulties involved include rapid leggiero chromatic runs, often with irregular rhythmic groupings, and passages in sixths and thirds. An Ossia for the right hand involving brilliant runs in minor thirds is almost universally preferred by performers.

Famous performances

La leggierezza was admired and championed by the great Polish teacher Theodor Leschetizky, who also wrote an alternate ending for the piece. Two of his most famous students,Ignacy Jan Paderewski and Benno Moiseiwitsch, performed and recorded the piece. The Paderewski recording includes the full "Leschetizky ending," while the recording by Moiseiwitsch - perhaps the greatest ever made - includes an abbreviated version of the Leschetizky ending. The great Simon Barere also recorded the piece with an abbreviated version of the Leschetizky coda. Another absolutely superb recording is that made by Leopold Godowsky, with the original Liszt ending. All of these performances include the right hand Ossia in thirds.

Étude No. 3, Un sospiro
Un sospiro
Performed by Martha Goldstein on an 1851 Erard piano
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The third of the Three Concert Études is in D-flat major, and is usually known as Un sospiro (Italian for "A sigh"). However, it is likely that the title did not originate with Liszt. Although there is no evidence that he actively attempted to remove the subtitle, none of the editions or subsequent printings of the Three Concert Études published by Kistner during Liszt's lifetime used them; he simply ignored such subtitles in later years, always referring to the piece by key.

The étude is a study in crossing hands, playing a simple melody with alternating hands, and arpeggios. It is also a study in the way hands should affect the melody with its many accentuations, or phrasing with alternating hands. The melody is quite dramatic, almost Impressionistic, radically changing in dynamics at times, and has inspired many listeners. The étude has been considered by many pianists as one of the most beautiful piano pieces ever composed, Liszt kept the ètude in his repertoire until his final years.

Un sospiro consists of a flowing background superimposed by a simple melody written in the third staff. This third staff—an additional treble staff—is written with the direction to the performer that notes with the stem up are for the right hand and notes with the stem down are for the left hand. The background alternates between the left and right hands in such a way that for most of the piece, while the left hand is playing the harmony, the right hand is playing the melody, and vice versa, with the left hand crossing over the right as it continues the melody for a short while before regressing again. There are also small cadenza sections requiring delicate fingerwork throughout the middle section of the piece.

Towards the end, after the main climax of the piece, both hands are needed to cross in an even more complex pattern. Since there are so many notes to be played rapidly and they are too far away from other clusters of notes that must be played as well, the hands are required to cross multiple times to reach dramatic notes near the end of the piece on the last page.

This étude, along with the other Three concert études, was written in dedication to Liszt's uncle, Eduard Liszt (1817–1879), the youngest son of Liszt's grandfather and the stepbrother of his own father. Eduard handled Liszt's business affairs for more than thirty years until his death in 1879.

In film

Famous performances

Perhaps the most widely admired performance of Un Sospiro is that by Van Cliburn. Other great performances include those by Claudio Arrau, Marc-André Hamelin, and most recently Jan Lisiecki. Some performers, such as Earl Wild and Lang Lang, choose to redistribute the notes so as to eliminate some of the crossing of hands that is central to the character of the piece as an Étude. This controversial choice can be seen in videos of their performances, and is considered unacceptable "cheating" by purists, who also believe it subtly changes the aural character of the piece. The aforementioned performances by Arrau and Hamelin incorporate an alternate ending composed in later years by Liszt. (The Arrau recording also features a short bridge passage inserted at the fermata after the second cadenza, again composed by Liszt himself. Three different versions of this bridge are known, written down by Liszt in the notebooks of various pupils during his later years.)

References

  1. 1 2 Arnold, Ben (2002). The Liszt Companion. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 103. ISBN 0313306893.
  2. ↑ Not in the first edition, nor in Busoni's edition of 1911.
  3. 1 2 Howard, Leslie. "The complete music for solo piano, Vol. 38 – Les Préludes". Hyperion Records. Retrieved 29 June 2012.

External links

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