Timtin wrote:Sorry to intrude on this hearty exchange of views, but two issues come to mind.
Firstly, most writers on the piano piano literature do indeed regard Liszt's Piano Sonata as a masterpiece.
Secondly, being a masterpiece and being regarded as beautiful are totally different things.
Personally, whilst recognising the greatness of this work in terms of it's structure and thematic conciseness,
I don't find it to be particularly beautiful music when compared to Liszt's Harmonies du Soir or most of the
other Transcendental Etudes. In fact, if I were brave enough to select my favourite three piano works as if
it was a beauty contest, this particular study might well be included.
Yes Tim. Exactly, except that I don't like most of the Transcendental Etudes either. If I have to hear Liszt then some of the very late pieces would be my choice. Interestingly I just sang in a performance of Liszt's Faust Symphony a month ago with the LPO @ the South Bank, broadcast on BBC Radio Three. I found the work somewhat cliche-ridden, to say the very least.
And to Duirton: You see, you manage to make my point for me - you used the words 'Liszt Sonata' and 'Shit' in the same sentence. That is PRECISELY how these exchanges get out of hand.
I will delete this thread this weekend.
If members have a particular piece about which they are passionate and want to bring to our attention, then please do so in a thread appropriate for that piece, rather than in a portmanteau-type list thread.
Rob