I was hoping someone could give me advice on playing the section with the repeated octaves/chords, I think it starts around bar 79....
How do I get it up to speed and pefectly smooth?
Also, I know this is a paraphrase on something from Verdi's Rigoletto, but what exactly?

Thanks in advance

Congratulations on the choice of piece - this is a magnificent example of Liszt's superb transformations of another composer's work into a work of glorious piano writing. It's based on the Quartet in Act 3 of Verdi's Rigoletto, http://www.music-with-ease.com/verdi-rigoletto.html .

In terms of performance of the part you mention, I agree the problem is the hand/wrist seems to tense up due to the very high rate of octave repetition required. I guess most experts would say relax the tension, but that's easier to say than do!

Good luck

P.S. Here's a URL to a PDF of it http://www.sheetmusicarchive.net/dlpage_ne...osition_id=1060

its frightfully difficult to play

Thank you Storini!

The secrets with fast octave repeated patterns are always the same; they involve avoiding over much movement and releasing tension.

Position your hand over any octave and repeat 4 of them. Don't let your fingers lose contact with the keys as you play them. Hey-presto; instant rapid speed achieved because you are not flapping your wrist around.

As you play each group of 4, you will notice tension building up in your wrist. This happens whenever you play repeated notes without movingyour hand to release the tension.

Start each group of 4 with a slightly low wrist, then lift it slightly with each key strike. The gentle up and down movement of your wrist releases the tension. You will be able to play this passage all day if you need to.

Summing up, without all the verbiage:
* keep your thump and little finger in contact throughout each group to evoid 'flapping'.
* start each group with a fairly low wrist and gently raise it with each key strike.

Steve

Excellent advice from Steve, as ever. Just a couple of other points.

Note that much of this piece, including the problem section, is in Db. I don't think this is purely fortuitous, as it gives access to the black keys which require less distance in movement to play, and this has to be to your advantage. Minimum movement = faster repetition. Incidentally, as in this piece, I think Liszt often achieves a wonderful warmth in the key of Db, q.v. his studies Un Sospiro and Harmonies du soir.

In general, you can also play repeated octaves on the black keys with alternating fingers, e.g. instead of:
5555
1111
use:
5454
1111
or
5434
1111
This assumes you have a good hand stretch of course. In this piece the repeated notes thicken out to four-note chords so that wouldn't be possible throughout.

Schubert's song Erlkönig has repeated octave patterns throughout and is quite notorious among accompanists for its taxing nature. It looks fairly straight-forward, but just try it:


The complete music of the song is at http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/variations/sco...046/index1.html under Ausgewählte Lieder.

Thank you steve and storini!

"schuberts song erlkonig.It looks pretty straight-forward but just try it"

I could imagine it would be quite taxing

I tried playing through 'der erlkoenig' before i could properly play the piano. It nearly ended my piano playing then and there. My poor right hand needed at least a week to recover...

Good thing you stopped when you did. This is a piece that required an understanding of advanced piano technique. You could regard the Rigoletto paraphrase as a preparatory exercise for playing it.

Steve