Milana Chernyavska: Liszt – Années de pèlerinage, 2ème année: Italie S 161 – 7. Après une lecture du Dante

LISZT, Franz

Années de pèlerinage, deuxième année, Italie (Years of Pilgrimage, Second Year, Italy) for solo piano S 161

7. Après une lecture du Dante, fantasia quasi sonata

Milana Chernyavska, guest professor

Izem Gürer, student

The student plays the first part of the Fantasy without interruption, and then the teacher intervenes to begin working in detail: in the chords at the beginning, to achieve tension, it is advisable not to play them all the same, but to make some diminuendo on the 3rd and then crescendo, and she suggests playing them with both hands and not just using the left. She also makes articulation suggestions here to achieve the most appropriate sound and color, as well as pedal.
Milana Chernyavska continues to give very detailed indications for each fragment, relating to phrasing, meter, pauses and pulse, internal dynamics, articulation, accents, etc. to achieve the character and color appropriate to each harmony. The teacher considers that Liszt’s ideas are all written in the score, she does not need to do more. They then work on the phrasing and articulation in a certain “mysterious” passage, slow and without pedal, and reviewing the fingering so that both hands sound the same: two lines making the same phrase, like two instruments in an orchestra.
The teacher continues to give recommendations on the use of the pedal and fingerings. The following should sound very “lamenting”, also in terms of phrasing, and taking care with the pedal changes. In the crescendo, one should be helped by the direction of the hand and the pedal. Regarding the character, it is “lamenting” (right hand) but at the same time it is “agitato”, and that is given by the left hand which must be more active, and playing “dry” in terms of articulation.
The student must also be careful not to slow down the tempo when playing diminuendo (keep constant in tempo) and then also in the balance of the two hands (the left should be more present). Chernyavska insists that the pedal should go with the harmonic changes, not with the melodic ones. For another passage of rapid intervals in the right hand, she suggests using the movement of the hand, even up to the arm and not only fingers, and proposes another fingering to achieve more weight and force, while the left hand should play very articulated and marcatissimo. They continue checking until the end of the class the pedal changes, accents, not lengthening pauses but only taking air, phrasings and dynamics according to the character (in this case, desperate).

Language: English