- J’aime beaucoup la musique !
Oui monsieur, comme tout le monde.
I can say that music is present in my family in some way. My dad used to play guitar, and he was pretty good at it. That’s the case if we consider “good” as being able to pick up girls with it. I’m just kidding, I love you dad.
Either way, growing up I wasn’t really a big fan of music. I considered it a part of existence -as much as architecture, as painting, as literature- although I can say that maybe I considered it as even less, and it’s not surprising seeing for just a minute what music has become in modernity. Newer generations will consider music as a product, as a little expression of certain culture perhaps, but more importantly, as nothing transcendant.
It wasn’t until some years ago, perhaps 3 or 4, that I got really interested to it, although it was something really gradual.
Petit à petit, comme vous can say, I started listening to some Vivaldi pieces. I remember pretty well that I got obsessed with this, and perhaps that little circle of fifths changed my life as a little butterfly effect. I used to listen to that movement in a loop for hours, and eventually moved on to some other pieces, like this one concerto that I love.
While listening to certain type of music, it’s normal to move to something similar, or at least from that period. That was the case for me, and so, I moved to Bach.
While Bach is perhaps the biggest musical genius mankind will ever produce; besides his violin partitas and sonatas (and only some of them), Bach it’s not my cup of tea. This is mainly because my soul belongs utterly to the piano, and it’s fulfilled (musically at least) to all its extend by it.
Therefore, it’s the moment to yap about piano. Hell yeah.
Liszt
A list should start with Liszt, and it’s not coincidental. Liszt was probably the first piano composer that I started to listen.
Libestraum is, and will always be, important (for me).
If you are not familiar with classical music -and maybe just ended up reading to this point merely for it was fun to read- please, listen to that work. now.
Libestraum is perhaps one of Liszt’s more well known pieces, if not the most popular of them all. Simple line of melody, as a lyrical song, beautiful arpeggios in the left hand, a climax good enough to last in your memory until your body becomes dust, and all this in just mere minutes.
It’s relatively simple, catchy and beautiful, and therefore a good introduction to classical music.
B minor sonata was for a long time my favorite musical piece. And it’s not a rare election at all. Liszt big sonata is one of the most complex, revolutionary, extensively analyzed, soul breaking and tear inducing pieces there is. The pinnacle of Liszt and perhaps piano literature.
I love this piece for so many reasons, and Economou rendition of it it’s such a phenomenon that I recommend everyone to experience.
Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude I don’t have words for how much I completely adore this piece and how much it hurts my soul that it’s not as popular as other Liszt works. Arrau’s rendition of it it’s my favorite by a good margin.
I don’t think it’s even humanly possible to listen to this piece without crying. Late Liszt was deeply religious and it’s an interesting contrast to his early works which some of them were demonic to call it in some way.
Transcendental Etudes all the etudes are good. 10 It’s perhaps my favorite. I’m not really sure about what can I say about all these pieces. I like them way more than Chopin etudes and Wilde Jagd is always fun to hear.
Fantasia Quasi Sonata (or Dante Sonata). A deep and complex work, perhaps similar to B minor sonata. The middle section is unbelievable beautiful, and stuck in my mind forever. The ending is cool too.
To be honest I’m getting kinda sleepy writing all this, therefore finishing will end up in a TODO.
To be honest I’m not sure if I will just write every piece that I like of every composer? I’m not sure about how to organize this page.
Either way, I will write the name of some other composers and eventually go back to finish this.