Stanislav Ioudenitch: Liszt – Piano Sonata S 178

LISZT, Franz

Sonata for solo piano in B minor S 178

Stanislav Ioudenitch, guest professor

Tomás Alegre, student

After playing the complete Sonata, professor and student discuss the musical rests in some passages and the different possibilities of playing the beginning (a pizzicato rather than a staccato, depending on the acoustics) while maintaining the reverberation with the pedal. They work on that beginning in depth. One must listen to the silences. The professor explains the quality of the forte needed in the octaves to create contrast. One must practice the octave leaps thinking of making them legato, and without pedal. They discuss the weight that each hand has to have in certain passages; sometimes one predominates, sometimes they go together. They work on the precision of the chords, the attack, and the sound quality, which is achieved with much more freedom of shoulders and arms and precision of the fingertips. Ioudenitch insists a lot on the precision of the left hand, in a very effective articulation. Flexibility (in both hands) is necessary in many passages, so one does not have to invest so much effort in playing certain technical difficulties. They apply this flexibility to several passages. One must pay attention to the harmony to give the passage the appropriate character. When composers write such long phrases, it is because they want the tempo not to be too slow. The steps in the ascent from pp to ff in the staccato notes must be noticeable. They work on the staccato in the left hand. They go over the passage, passage by passage, and analyze all the technical and expressive questions to create the appropriate atmosphere and colors.

Language: English