Bösendorfer rocks ! Low Octave Black Keys Imperial Liszt Ballade 290 Lisitsa
I thought it was fun to highlight just a fragment of Liszt Ballade #2 using the low octave . Look how those bass strings vibrate! it is insane 
Better speakers and full volume is a must … In the score, Liszt writes the downward octave martellato passage in octaves in both hands — but then drops left hand to a single. Bosy Imperial 290 was not yet created back then… This piano( as well as a superb Steinway Hamburg on which I recorder Rach concerti ) is avilable for concert and recording rentals from Gerd Finkenstein : www.fluegelfink.de
Video Rating: 4 / 5
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25 comments
I remember accompanying a choir at the Llangollen Music Festival in 1998 — happily on a Bosendorfer Imperial. The piece was Roy Bennett’s Psalm 150, an exuberant work which used bottom Ds and B flats. In 1996 whilst playing on a Bosendorfer Model 225 (bass low F) for the choral movement Sing for Pleasure, I couldn’t resist ending a piece (in the key of A flat) with the sub — bass A flat!
Incredible! How those sub bass octave notes enhance this work. This point in Liszt’s score is meant to terrify (in musical terms) and here it is realised to full effect. There is a performance available of Debussy’s Submerged Cathedral by Carol Rosenberger in which she doubles the repeated low bass C; incredible when played through a good sound system.
Other uses of the extra keys (in the printed score ) are the Bartok Rhapsody, Concertos and the Dohnanyi Variations on a Nursery tune;
thank you for posting this the day after my birthday, i consider it a late present, from the friend whom you dont know yet
so these pianos go down to the c below A0 (usual piano low note)… this is below the human hearing range, 20hz being about the E… i guess that’s the genius of it having harmonics without fundamentals that you can hear.
Bösendorfer Black Keys are really best instrument, and you play it beautifully Lisitsa!!
Valentina where is full video to this ballade!?!?!
Besides the instrument being beautiful and incredibly sounding the most beatiful impression comes from your ability to play middle “registers”. I love your song-like phrasing towards the end. Thank! You!
Hi!I thought that was terrific!What a sound,sorta like a big exploshin.Nifty!LvU&prayerDan– Oh Yes,I’m going to try to give those two Grand canyon videos to Hilery Hahn.I’m not sure if anything I send gets to Her,but I do think they are worth watching. Thanks LvU much!
There’s also a nice opportunity for a low Ab in Liszt’s Harmonie Du Soir.
It’s a little surprising that no other maker has copied this design in some way or another. People might not realize that even when they’re not in use, they will vibrate in sympathy with the higher strings, which helps give the piano such a rich sound. I stood beside one of these as someone played and thought the piano had descended from heaven! I yearn for the day I might be allowed to play one…even for a few minutes.
sorry, forgot about the first comment..
Did you not read my first comment? I said he would have loved it for concerts. There’s no point in arguing with you since you’re doing it for the sake of argument. Read first, then decide whether or not it’s worth commenting, because it really wasn’t.
for playing concerts, yes..
for composing no..
he also used a small sweet-sounding vertical piano of the french design..
he was flexible, and could use anything.. but his ‘daily companion’ for a great time was the Boisselot..
No. It is well known in the Liszt literature that he preferred louder sounding pianos, like those of Erard, and often criticized the softer and delicate pianos of the age, such as those made by Pleyel. Liszt used many pianos in his life, for practicing, performing, and composing, but he always preferred those with the loudest sound.
Beautiful!!! Bring it over for studio practice!
oh my god 0:23 is so intense
maybe.. maybe not… he composed on the Boisselot, which is a small-sounding piano..
Aww it’s shameful Bösendorfer is now sold to Yamaha.…. seriously never buying asian piano :/
I look forward to your posting. This DVD will not play on my MAC (although the first two DVDs do). Also you speak of making analogue recording, but all this info: music + picture is coming to us digitally. I believe you are experiencing the loss of info that comes from low end players that are limited to 8 or 16 bit bandwidth whereas a high end decoder has 48 or even 96 bit width. You sound better on a McIntosh or other high player than on a $69.99 bluray player.
I have bought a ticket to see you in june 5, in the nezahualcóyotl room, I hope you don’t get distracted if I cry.… I’m sure I’ll cry, cause I cry even with no very special pianists, with you I’ll need a galon water to survive and don’t get dehydrated
Я вас люблю, Валентина
I bet Liszt would have loved to have one of our modern day pianos so that he could fill those large concert halls with his solo piano even more.
0:42 is piano porn .
that was badass
Ukraine seams to turn out wonderful Musicians super pretty girls like Valentina and great aircraft as well.…. I would let Valentina play my Yamaha concert grand anytime.. : )