Last time we looked at Franz Liszt as
a virtuosic pianist. Did you know he was equally gifted as a composer? Known
for his innovations in form and harmony, Liszt wrote a variety of works and
even invented the symphonic poem! For today’s purposes, let’s take a look at
one of his virtuosic piano works: Un
Sospiro “A Sigh.”
Un Sospiro was composed
in 1848 as part of “Trois etudes de concert.” Being a virtuoso himself, it
makes sense that Liszt would incorporate challenging techniques in order for
the pianist to essentially show off for his/her audience. Below you can watch a
video clip of Lang Lang performing this work. Notice how the piece calls for
hand crossing in such a way that the audience would never know just to listen.
He also writes the melody surrounded by arpeggios in a way where nearly no two
successive notes are played by the same hand!
