Archivio di Febbraio 2015

Liszt Prize 2014

The three members of the examining board (Mario Baroni, Azio Corghi, Fabrizio Ottaviucci) met on 17 February 2014 to discuss the awarding of the prize. Their verdict on the works, discussed in order of arrival, was as follows:

Candidate n. 1
The piece starts with a glissato effect on the black keys of the piano and subsequently makes further (quite extensive) use of the contrast between white and black keys. On the whole, though, it does not show any significant inventiveness.

Candidate n. 2
The piano part is based on a pointillistic shower that is not so easy to perform, but the piece is at times quite interesting especially when it manages to create a good integration between the recorded sounds of the piano and the part to be played live.

Candidate n. 3
The starting point for this piece is an explicit reference to a Lisztian model of a funeral march, while the electronics part uses “granulators” that create a low and gloomy aura. However, it is somewhat blemished from a creative point of view as it is not always able to hold the attention of the listener.

 Candidate n. 4
The piano writing is complex and varied, and the electronics part exploits quite sophisticated informatic tools, so from a technical point of view the piece is interesting. But the sounds tend to be rather constant and risk creating a certain monotony, even though at times compensated by an element of meditative charm.

Candidate n.5
The piano part relies on the phrasing produced by the computer, but the electronics remains prudently in the background and adapts itself to the brilliant and almost Lisztian gestures of the performer. In general the piece is built on the basis of expectations that are formally quite well organized.

Candidate n. 6
The idea of transforming Liszt’s Campanella into a piece of House music is curious, but the outcome is devoid of any particularly interesting or meaningful musical invention.

Candidate n. 7
Although the work may present some interesting compositional aspects, it cannot be considered because it is signed on the first page of the score and thus contravenes the anonymity required by the rules of the competition.

Candidate n. 8
This work too was consigned with the name of the composer and in addition the electronics part is incomplete while the piano part appears to be only sketched. It was not included among the pieces to be considered.

On the basis of the above mentioned considerations the following classification was produced:

first place n. 5

second place n.4

third place shared by nn. 3 & 2

fourth place n. 1

fifth place n.6

The other two pieces were not taken into account since they contravened the rules of the competition.

The envelopes containing the details of the participants were then opened and the numbers were matched to the corresponding names.

At the end of their deliberations the board decided to award the Premio Liszt 2014 to:

Dimitri Maronidis

LISZT PRIZE 2014

The past five editions have helped to increase the number of Lisztian scholars (not only in Italy) although we don’t consider we have exausted our initial task. In this edition we wish to experiment by moving our target to the world of music creation.

Liszt was not only a great piano composer: his skill and creativity were also expressed in vocal (solo and choral) and symphonic music.

The challenge launched by the present contest consists in imagining how the composer would have expressed himself if, in addition to the piano, he had had access to current technological devices and in particular to electronic instruments.

Competition Announcement

for a Composition for Piano and Electronics inspired by Franz Liszt

Liszt  Prize 2014
€ 1000

Rules

1. The Liszt Institute Foundation NPO will award a prize for the best composition for piano and electronics inspired by Franz Liszt.
2. The competition is open to musicians and music students of all nationalities.
3. The prize consists of 1000 Euros.
4. Each competitor may only submit one work.
5. The work must be submitted in triplicate.
6. The competitor is requested to send to the Jury the following material: a piano score written with FINALE or an equivalent software, accompanied by an audio recording on digital media of the electronics and a description of the techniques adopted. Multichannel audio is permitted. To help the evaluation, it may be useful to include an audio or video performance of the composition (piano and electronics).
7. The work must be presented anonymously. Personal details should be sent in a sealed envelope – attached to the work – that will only be opened after the verdict.
8. The deadline for submissions is December 31, 2014.
9. Works should be addressed to: Segreteria della Fondazione Istituto Liszt Onlus, Via Righi, 30, 40126 Bologna.
10. The jury will consist of: an expert in composition, an expert in electronic music, a member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors.
11. The jury’s decisions will be by majority vote and shall be final.
12. The verdict will be announced by May 31, 2015.
13. The prize will be awarded during one of the concerts of the season 2015-16. On that occasion the winning composition will be performed. For the electronics the Foundationguarantees only a sterophonic sound system.
14. The winning composition will be showcased on the Foundation’s website, subject to the composers’ approval. The other compositions will be conserved in the Foundation’s archives.
15. Participation in the competition implies full acceptance of the above rules

Prize Liszt 2014. Download the printable version

Premio Liszt 2014

I tre membri della commissione esaminatrice (Mario Baroni, Azio Corghi, Fabrizio Ottaviucci) si sono riuniti il 17 febbraio 2014 per discutere sull’assegnazione del premio. Il giudizio sui lavori, discussi in ordine di arrivo, è stato il seguente:

Candidato n. 1
Il brano inizia con un effetto di glissato sui tasti neri del pianoforte e successivamente utilizza ancora la contrapposizione (peraltro abbastanza sfruttata) fra tasti bianchi e neri. Nel suo complesso, tuttavia, non dimostra una significativa fantasia inventiva.

Candidato n. 2
La parte pianistica si basa su un brulicare puntillistico non facilissimo da eseguire, ma il pezzo è talora abbastanza interessante soprattutto quando riesce a creare una buona integrazione fra i suoni registrati del pianoforte e la parte da eseguirsi dal vivo.

Candidato n. 3
Si tratta di un brano che parte da un esplicito riferimento a un modello lisztiano di marcia funebre e che nella parte elettronica utilizza “granulatori” che creano un alone grave e cupo. Tuttavia ha qualche ingenuità sotto l’aspetto creativo perché non sempre sa tenere sufficientemente desto l’interesse per l’ascolto.

 Candidato n. 4
La scrittura pianistica è complessa e ben elaborata e la parte elettronica è aggiornata sulla base di strumenti informatici assai sofisticati e dunque dal punto di vista tecnico il brano è interessante. Ma le sonorità tendono a produrre una continuità che rischia di creare qualche monotonia, sia pure talora riscattata da un certo fascino contemplativo.

Candidato n.5
La parte del pianoforte si appoggia al fraseggio prodotto dal computer, ma l’elettronica rimane prudentemente sullo sfondo e si adegua al gesto brillante e quasi lisztiano dell’interprete. In generale il pezzo è costruito sulla base di attese formalmente assai ben organizzate.

Candidato n. 6
L’idea di trasformare la Campanella lisztiana in un brano di musica House è curiosa, ma la sua realizzazione non si basa su elaborazioni musicali particolarmente interessanti e significative.

Candidato n. 7
Il lavoro può avere aspetti compositivamente apprezzabili, ma non può essere preso in considerazione perché è firmato sulla prima pagina della partitura e perciò contraddice il requisito dell’anonimato previsto dal bando.

Candidato n. 8
Anche questa composizione è stata inviata con il nome dell’autore e per di più è incompleta nella parte elettronica e apparentemente solo abbozzata nella parte pianistica. Non è stata inclusa fra i lavori da prendere in considerazione.

Sulla base delle precedenti considerazioni è stata stilata la seguente graduatoria:

primo classificato il n. 5

secondo classificato il n.4

terzi classificati i nn. 3 e 2 a pari merito

quarto classificato il n. 1

quinto classificato il n.6

Gli altri due brani non sono stati presi in considerazione perché contravvenivano ai requisiti del bando.

Vengono successivamente aperte le buste contenenti le generalità dei partecipanti e vengono assegnati i numeri ai corrispondenti nomi:

A conclusione dei lavori la commissione decide di assegnare il Premio Liszt 2014 a:

Dimitri Maronidis

Premio Liszt 2014

Dopo cinque edizioni che hanno contribuito ad allargare la cerchia – non solo italiana – degli studiosi lisztiani, non si pensa di avere esaurito il compito iniziale, tuttavia con la presente edizione ci si propone un esperimento, ossia di spostare l’obiettivo sul mondo della creazione musicale.

Liszt non fu soltanto un grandissimo compositore di pagine per il pianoforte: la sua creatività si espresse magistralmente anche nella musica vocale, (solistica e corale) e nella musica sinfonica.

La sfida lanciata dal presente concorso consiste nell’immaginare come si esprimerebbe la sua natura profonda di compositore se, oltre al pianoforte, avesse a disposizione alcuni dei mezzi tecnologici del nostro tempo, e in particolare gli strumenti elettronici.

Premio Liszt 2014

Dopo cinque edizioni che hanno contribuito ad allargare la cerchia – non solo italiana – degli studiosi lisztiani, non si pensa di avere esaurito il compito iniziale, tuttavia con la presente edizione ci si propone un esperimento, ossia di spostare l’obiettivo sul mondo della creazione musicale.

Liszt non fu soltanto un grandissimo compositore di pagine per il pianoforte: la sua creatività si espresse magistralmente anche nella musica vocale, (solistica e corale) e nella musica sinfonica.

La sfida lanciata dal presente concorso consiste nell’immaginare come si esprimerebbe la sua natura profonda di compositore se, oltre al pianoforte, avesse a disposizione alcuni dei mezzi tecnologici del nostro tempo, e in particolare gli strumenti elettronici.

Bando di Concorso

per una composizione per pianoforte ed elettronica ispirata a Franz Liszt

VI edizione Premio Liszt 2014

€ 1000

REGOLAMENTO

1. La Fondazione Istituto Liszt onlus assegna un premio per la migliore composizione per pianoforte ed elettronica ispirata a Franz Liszt.
2. Al concorso possono partecipare musicisti e studenti di musica di ogni nazionalità.
3. Il premio consiste in € 1000.
4. Ogni concorrente può partecipare con un solo lavoro.
5. Il lavoro dovrà essere presentato in triplice copia.
6. Alla giuria dovrà pervenire il materiale necessario alla formulazione del giudizio. Si richiede una parte pianistica scritta con FINALE (o similia), corredata da registrazione in formato audio su supporto digitale della parte elettronica e dall’illustrazione delle tecniche utilizzate. La diffusione può essere multicanale. Ai fini della valutazione potrebbe essere utile il documento audio o video contenente un’esecuzione del pezzo comprendente anche la parte pianistica.
7. Il lavoro dovrà essere anonimo. Le generalità del concorrente saranno contenute in una busta allegata alla composizione proposta, che verrà aperta soltanto dopo il verdetto.
8. Il termine ultimo per la presentazione dei lavori è fissato al 31 dicembre 2014.
9. I lavori vanno indirizzati a: Segreteria della Fondazione Istituto Liszt onlus, Via Righi, 30, 40126 Bologna.
10. La giuria sarà composta da: un esperto di composizione, un esperto di musica elettronica, un membro del Consiglio di Amministrazione della Fondazione.
11. La decisione della giuria avverrà a maggioranza e sarà inappellabile.
12. Il verdetto sarà comunicato entro il 31 maggio 2015.
13. Il premio verrà conferito durante uno dei concerti della stagione 2015-2016, insieme all’esecuzione della composizione stessa. La Fondazione garantisce per la parte elettronica solo un impianto di amplificazione stereofonica.
14. La composizione vincitrice sarà inserita nel sito WEB della Fondazione a scopo di divulgazione, previa autorizzazione dell’autore. Le composizioni non premiate verranno conservate nell’Archivio della Fondazione.
15. La partecipazione al concorso implica la totale accettazione delle suddette regole.

Versione pdf stampabile

Between 1883 and 1911, Ferruccio Busoni wrote a letter, some postcards and short messages to Antonio Zampieri and his sons in Trieste. Antonio Zampieri was a good musician and close friend to Busoni during his youth; he often helped him in the difficult relationship with his father Ferdinando. In this paper, besides giving the necessary pieces of information about Zampieri, his family and musical life in Trieste during Busoni’s childhood, the author takes the opportunity to analyse all life relations between father and son, with a particular attention to money matters.
In fact, Ferruccio’s letter to Zampieri dating from 1883 originates from Ferdinando’s request for a loan. In the following years, Busoni senior asks his son for more and more money, due to his being totally unable to organize everyday life, and his bad habit of making continuous debts. From Ferruccio’s letters 1884-1909 (the year of Ferdinando’s death) we can see the development of this very uneasy situation. Only in Busoni’s preface to one of his Bach Editions we can learn another, unexpected side of his musical education, and of his father’s role in it.

In this paper I present a history of friendship between Franz Liszt and a Silesian prince, Felix Lichnowsky, from their first meeting (beginning of 1840s) until the death of the prince in September 1848. During this period Liszt and Lichnowsky spent much time together (e.g. holidays in 1841 on the German island Nonnenwerth). Lichnowsky accompanied Liszt during his European tournées (in 1841 and 1842). The composer stayed at Lichnowsky’s estates in Krzyżanowice, Racibórz and Hradec nad Moravicí. These stays occurred between his concerts in 1843 and 1846. Liszt set to music a poem by Lichnowsky – in his Lied Die Zelle in Nonnenwerth, which became a tribute to Marie d’Agoult. In his last years the composer revised many of his works among which was his Elegy, a piano transcription of his Lied from 1841 Die Zelle in Nonnenwerth. This time it seems to be written as a posthumous homage to Lichnowsky, Marie d’Agoult, and other loved people who had passed away prematurely.

The first part of the article is devoted to the history of the genre “opera paraphrase” as it appears in the contemporary theoretical literature and in particular in Czerny’s treatises. The analysis of Réminiscences de Boccanegra is done in three stages: 1) the finding out of the thematic material chosen by Liszt from the Verdian score; 2) the analytical survey of Liszt’s arrangement of the chosen material; 3) the general form of the “new” piece and its narrative content. The analytical method follows the principles of Schenkerian theory.

The author aims to make an “analysis for a virtual performance” in order to be prepared for Riccardo Risaliti’s real performance, so that her discussion can be labelled under the category of “analysis for listening”.

The paper is devoted to a reconstruction of Simon Boccanegra’s image in Liszt’s Réminiscences on the basis of musical topoi well known to the audience, who is able to identify them and interpret them in a coherent plot. The musical topoi capable of connecting together the three main episodes of Liszt’s piece are: the rhythm of the funeral march, the recitativo on the same pitch and the “figure of death”, present in Verdi’s opera but transformed by Liszt in a new light. The similarities and the differences between Verdi’s score and Liszt’s paraphrase are described and interpreted in order to sketch the “new” image of the protagonist.

The relation between Liszt and Verdi is very long, but not continuous. Here a survey is proposed, where, in fact, a strong caesura emerges in the very middle: the paraphrases from Jerusalem to Rigoletto maintain the virtuoso imprint, which is strongly rooted in the cultural practice of the bourgeois concert. After a long rest the late Lisztian compositions on Verdi’s music follow opposite objectives and ideas. At the end of this course the Réminiscences de Boccanegra represent a diversion, not a logical conclusion, not only (or not mainly) on a technical-compositional level but in the ideal and spiritual contents.
With a superimposition of forms and conceptions, in Réminiscences de Boccanegra Liszt realizes an individual comment on Verdi’s laical spirituality, anticipated by the two previous piano transcriptions from Aida and Agnus Dei. The Doge’s blessing in the last scene of the opera is Verdi’s voice addressing a new Italy already torn by contrasts between Catholics and Liberals; Liszt clearly realizes this is the Hohepunkt of the whole drama and gives it the same central position in his Réminiscences. But while Verdi’s opera ends with this scene’s dark and ambiguous sound, Liszt repeats the opening theme at the end with an emphatic fortissimo and in the main key, achieving ideas of harmony and completeness wholly opposite to those of Verdi. Therefore with his Réminiscences the late abbé completely (and deliberately) overturns the forms and contents of the late anti-clerical Verdi and overturns his pessimistic disillusion.
The distance between the two men (not only two composers) thus becomes a symptom of a wider debate. Since this perspective is not strictly analytical, it is open to criticism as being too conservative or “continental”; but it is nevertheless worth the risk.

The article is a detailed account of the thoughts of the author during the study of the piece. The first step was to compare Verdi’s and Liszt’s text in order to check their structural differences; then the analysis tried to identify the impact of the single difference on the general meaning of each episode – chosen by Liszt for his paraphrase – in itself and in comparison with the whole opera. The author pays particular attention to the sequence of the episodes and to Liszt’s apparently groundless expansions of the Verdi’s themes. Decisions for performance regarding tempo, dynamics, phrasing and touch derive from this comparison, enriched thanks to the information given by the lyrics of the libretto.
Many other suggestions arise from observations regarding several aspects of Liszt’s Réminiscences de Boccanegra compared with the whole repertory of the réminiscences especially those of Liszt, but also those of other composers. As a conclusion of his analysis the performer has to find out the sound properties able to underline Liszt’s design for the personality of Boccanegra partially different from that emerging from Verdi’s opera.