Liszt Prize 2014 – Jury deliberation

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