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COOL!! You mentioned Scriabin too! (See above post.)
That etude you mentioned (42/5) is one of my favorites also....and I understand it was THE one that Scriabin himself performed the most, supposedly even more than the famous earlier C# minor.
I'm trying to listen to really passionate music, such passionate as the Transcendental Etude No.10 by Liszt or the Symphony No.2 by Rachmaninoff. Btw, my favorite piece in this field is Reminiscences de Norma by Liszt :), it's so passionate and emotional. Can you list some other options??
Jason
I haven't read the other replies yet, so apologies if someone has already said these:
Prokofiev Piano Sonata 1, Op 1 Scriabin Etude D# minor Op 8 Schumann Fantasie in C, Op 17 no 3
Among many others :-)
Pianist Accompanist Piano Teacher and best of all... Mom!
Nice collection there!! BTW...by saying #3 on the Schumann, do you mean to single out the last movement?
Certainly that Schumann (even just the opening bars of the piece) belong in any discussion of 'passionate and intense.'
And I'm thrilled to see so many people mentioning Scriabin. That D# minor etude is extremely passionate and intense, even when played in an understated way, which some people do.
Nice collection there!! BTW...by saying #3 on the Schumann, do you mean to single out the last movement?
Certainly that Schumann (even just the opening bars of the piece) belong in any discussion of 'passionate and intense.'
And I'm thrilled to see so many people mentioning Scriabin. That D# minor etude is extremely passionate and intense, even when played in an understated way, which some people do.
Re: Schumann - no, I think it is passionate pretty much from beginning to end, although the middle mov is held back.
Thanks for the link to that recording, no I had not heard it before! My fave recording of it prior was one of Horowitz last live performances of it. Very powerful and moving.
Pianist Accompanist Piano Teacher and best of all... Mom!
Yes.......Horowitz of course performed the D# minor Etude many times and recorded it various times also. I mentioned before that some people play it "understated," and while some of Horowitz's performances of it were full of fire, I came across at least one (a LATE performance) that was EXTREMELY restrained -- starting softly and remaining 'lyrical' most of the time.
Btw, my favorite piece in this field is Reminiscences de Norma by Liszt :), it's so passionate and emotional.
The OP managed to mention -IMO- Liszt's greatest operatic fantasy, and certainly a work which qualifies as 'passionate and intense'. Taken on its own, there are few finer, and more exciting, pieces in the repertoire. It should be cataloged as an original work by Liszt with themes borrowed from Bellini.
Really now, to call it an 'operatic fantasy' damns it to reside amongst the pedestrian -and frequently tiresome- efforts of Thalberg, Herz, Pixis, deMayer, all that stuff. Might as well put the Liszt B minor Sonata next to the MacDowell sonatas and be careful not to remove the musical blinders.
Fantastic. What a MONSTROUS piece. Almost too much for me... almost.
I think the greatest performance is by Sofronitsky, but it's less enjoyable in sound quality. The way he plays that theme at 1:54 is out of this world. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvc2K_5JWho
I personally like Arrau's version of the preludes the best (but they aren't on YouTube), and Zimerman/Ashkenazy for the sonata. As for the four Ballades, Zimerman is unparalleled.
Some other intense pieces that may or may not exactly meet your criteria are a few of Chopin's etudes (10/1, 10/4, 10/12, 25/11, 25/12 come to mind), the first movements of both his concertos, and Liszt's TE Nos. 4, 8, and 12, and Liszt's Totentanz.
I only just recently discovered Sofronitsky (via youtube, plus via learning more about Scriabin ......you probably know that Sofronitsky married his daughter). I'd never heard of him before. And yes, he's extraordinary. I found a fantastic recording by him of the 9th sonata, and it sounds probably even weirder than it was supposed to because (I'm pretty sure) they played back the master too slow, so THE PITCH IS LOW!! (by about a full quarter-tone)
Yup -- the 2nd movement of the Brahms 2nd concerto absolutely also belongs in any discussion of "passionate and intense."
BTW.......off the subject, but did you ever realize..... The main theme of the 1st mvt fits perfectly to the words: "This.....is.....Brahms'......se-cond-con-cer.........to......"
And that's not all. The main theme of the FIRST concerto fits perfectly with: "THIS........IS.........THE...FIRST...ONE!"
Yes, it's pretty glaring that nobody had mentioned Chopin. And I'd have to guess that it's because of that word "INTENSE." It's not that Chopin isn't intense, just that it's not one of the main things we associate with him.
If we had to single out some Chopin pieces......good job mentioning that prelude (#24). Also how about the 16th prelude. And also, good job mentioning the 2nd sonata -- through and through.
I'd add the 4th Ballade and the F# minor Polonaise.
And that's not all. The main theme of the FIRST concerto fits perfectly with: "THIS........IS.........THE...FIRST...ONE!"
Maybe not such an unusual occurrence as you might think. Listen to the opening theme of Elgar's Enigma Variations: Ed-ward EL-gar. Perhaps not surprising considering the very cryptic nature of so much of his music.
Listen to the opening theme of Elgar's