Another Liszt Sonetto

I started a new Liszt piece, Sonetto del Petrarca 104, the most well-known one out of the Tre Sonetti del Petrarca. I learned No. 47 (the first one) last semester because it seems easier, and now I’m picking up the second one. This one seems a little bit more difficult, but Yunzhi said performing it is easier than it seems, so let’s hope that’s right :p.

To be honest, the first few times listening to this, I didn’t connect with it very well. It seems a little bit too irregular and dissonant for my taste (at first). But after a few times, I now realize it’s lyrical qualities and so I like it a lot.

This is perhaps the most dramatic sonnet of the three in the set. In this passionate yet agitated sonnet, the lover expresses his confusion love has put him in. He felt imprisoned, free, burned, emotional, contemplated, unrequited, passionate, all at the same time by his love. (I quoted this from my HTML / CSS training site).

Here’s Tiffany Poon’s version that I’ve been listening to and study off the keyboard.