Liszt Au Bord D 39;une Source

[Prisc Chandola]

Thesecond version of Au bord d'une source is often regarded as the most popular. In the first version the technical difficulties are considerably higher to the pianist, whilst the last version adds a flashy coda.[3][4]

Liszt links the various sections of the piece together using passages of intricate scale and arpeggio patterns ascending high into the upper register, descending back down and transforming back into the melody; this allows the whole piece to flow as one.

Au bord d'une source belongs to a collection of pieces published in 1852, Annes de Plerinage, Suisse or "The Years of Travel: Switzerland". As the title of the piece suggests, the piano writing is used here to allude to the shimmering of a creek by the delicate figurations given to the right hand and by the weaving of chromatic writing to connect different harmonies used to produce a "shimmering" effect. Carlos Csar Rodrguez

This disc culminates in one of Liszt's greatest works, Les jeux d'eau la Ville d'Este. Written in 1877, it is a summation of a lifetime's devotion to piano composition, breaking new ground in the sonic possibilities of the instrument, and fusing Liszt's descriptive powers with a palpable sense of spirituality, both contemplative and ecstatic. On the manuscript Liszt inscribed John 4:14: 'The water I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life.' Liszt infuses his melodic material with vibrant tremolandos, conveying the very presence of the wellspring that gives life to everything around it. The fountains of the Villa d'Este, Liszt's Italian retreat in the last years of his life, were for him a symbol of spiritual aspiration.

Ravel's Jeux d'eau, written in 1901, his first major work for the instrument, bears a contrasting epigraph: 'Laughing river god tickled by the water,' a quotation from the symbolist poet Henri de Rgnier. Where Liszt's piece is the work of an aged master, Ravel's is the fruit of youthful genius, already displaying a mastery in the handling of the instrument. It is indebted not only to Liszt's great water piece, but to his much earlier Au bord d'une source ('Beside a Spring', also on this disc). When asked how Jeux d'eau should be played, Ravel replied 'Like Liszt of course!'

3a8082e126