This is from the concert I did last year for Liszt's 200th birthday. I put the CD away and forgot to listen to it, and got distracted by other things, so I'm only now going through last year's recordings.

As you might expect, the Beethoven-Liszt transcriptions make full use of Liszt's huge stretch--they're full of tenths, which means that I'll probably never perform a complete symphony. But I found one movement that I can sort of manage, and in my opinion it works surprisingly well for piano. I'm interested in other people's impressions.

Beethoven-Liszt - Symphony no. 1, 2: Andante

Hi Alexander,
As usual, your playing is of an artistic level. I'm not familiar with this Liszt transcription but followed along with orchestral score in hand instead. I think you did a really fine job of managing the dynamic contrasts and simulating different timbres, producing overall an orchestral experience. I think that the triplets in the violins and flutes (bars 54ff) prove retrospectively that the dotted rhythm that permeates the work should be done as triplets throughout, for when they sound together, as in bar 54 (with and anticipated by the timpani) it would sound dysynchronized otherwise, though this is certainly open to debate. (I mention this because I have the timpani part there penciled in with triplet signs from somewhere out of my past.) Except for one (maybe 2) bumped wrong note, your note execution was essentailly flawless. A few issues that caught my attention: first, there was some slight hurrying of the tempo in bars 20-24 (0'32"-0'40"), but even more so at 120 and 122 (5'00"- 5'06"). This seems to correlate to an increase in complexity of the playing, and is maybe just a bit of anxious accelerando. Your approach to bar 93 (at 4'17"), the cadence on C7, was for my taste too delayed (between bars 92 and 93). Then the oboes with ascending thirds at bar 165 (6'15") are legato, but you played staccato (maybe Liszt has it that way, but why?). These are VERY slight matters that I mention only because you are worthy of such nuanced issues, and if you were conducting an orchestra I believe they are matters that you would raise with your performers.

Thank you very much for bringing this rarely heard movement back into my life! I expect this will be quickly added to our server.

Sincerely,
Eddy

Thanks for your perceptive comments, and for your care in giving bar numbers and times.

I like the phrase "anxious accelerando". It is indeed something that happens to me occasionally in live performance. But on this occasion it was actually deliberate: the crescendo and the increasing richness of the texture suggest to me a forward momentum, and personally I don't believe that music of this era should always be played metronomically. Of course the effect is meant to be subtle, and it's entirely possible that I overdid it in this case. Likewise at bar 93 (not technically a cadence, but I know what you mean)--to my mind it's the point of greatest tension in the movement, and needs to be highlighted in some way, but there's certainly room for a more subtle interpretation.

Well spotted at bar 165! Yes, it's staccato in Liszt's score. I hadn't been aware of the discrepancy until you pointed it out.

You've almost got the file named correctly. Your name should be at the end:

beethoven-liszt-21-2-hanysz

Please correct this - I'm not home now, but I hope to put your file and also Eddy's up late tonight.

Oops, sorry about that.

When you say "please correct this", you mean that I need to upload the file again? There's no way to rename it without reuploading? It seems silly to send ten megabytes of data down the line just to add six letters.

Silly? Ok, fine, I've fixed it myself. It's on the site.

Thanks! I'll try and get it right next time

Of course there is, but I then need to get onto the server, locate the file in the bowels of PhpBB, and rename it manually. This is kind of stuff we do want to avoid. Or else we'd have to download it, rename, and upload again. Want to avoid that too ! We really need to get people do do these things right to start with (even though it is as much a pain in the butt as doing it ourselves...)

Hello Alexander,
Congratulations for this beautiful version of Beethoven 1st, 2nd movement ! I have listened it with the score, and I find your playing very accurate and close to the text, in spite of very minor details - but I'm not forgetting you played it in concert... These days I am practicing the 5th one, and I can recognise the same way of transcribing orchestra to piano. Indeed Liszt was a so marvellous pianist that he adds his genius to Beethoven's one. Why not playing the rest of the symphony now ?

Hi Mr. Hanyz,

I had a listen to your recording, your phrasing and touch are quite polished. I think playing a lot of 10ths would run me down, but you seem to play them through the piece without a problem. For criticism, some parts I think you could have differentiated the dynamics more. I have not seen the score but am guessing there are several places calling for crescendos?

Enjoyed listening to this Beethoven-Liszt transcription,

Riley