LEARNING MORE ABOUT THE MUSIC WE SING
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Lesson 11, for April 29
Our wonderful work by Franz Liszt, “Pace non trovo” (Petrarch Sonnet 104), was originally a song for solo voice and piano. Here is a performance of it sung by Pavarotti, with piano accompaniment by John Wustman, in 1978. You will be amazed at the rhythmic liberties he and his pianist take. Here is another performance, this one by Louise Alder, accompanied by an unidentified pianist. This one is super operatic. Some years later Liszt arranged his song for solo piano, something he did for many songs, including those by Schubert and Schumann. Almost all of the recordings I could find interpret the tempo to be very slow and the mood to be quite subdued. I think if they knew the song and had performed it with a good singer, they would all play the piece faster and more dramatically. Here is Horowitz playing it at Carnegie Hall, probably in the 1960s. Here is Dinu Lipatti playing it, probably in the 1940s. The performance closest to ours is this one by Murray Perahia, but even Murray Perahia falls short of what Päivi does with it!
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