Interesting thought came to mind today while teaching Chopins Ballade no. 1 in g minor. For those who may not know, Franz Liszt was a brilliant pianist, an incredible composer, and also transcribed other composers music. For example, he created solo piano transcriptions of all Nine Beethoven Symphonies (#9 for two pianos), Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, many operas, songs and other works. He probably also thought, as I do, that Franz Schubert never composed a Piano Concerto. As a result, Liszt took Schuberts solo piano Wanderer Fantasy and turned it into a concerto for piano and orchestra. It dawned on me today that had Liszt lived another lifetime, would he have done this with many other works by other composers? Chopin composed only two piano concertos, and the Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise, for piano and orchestra, and a few other shorter works. Might Liszt have created piano and orchestra pieces out of some of the solo pieces by Chopin? Heres a thought: how would it be to hear a concerto version of the Ballade no. 1 in g minor and the Polonaise-Fantasie? I think this could possibly be a new way of listening to these pieces, and perhaps, introduce a new generation to the music of Chopin. If Chopin had lived longer, might he have done this with some of his solo works for piano? Would Liszt have done this? Are there composers today who would be interested to do what Liszt might have done?
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 23:52:48 +0000
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