Franz Liszt: La Campanella

I am sharing today Franz Liszt’s “La Campanella” (Italian “the little bell”), which is the third of the six etudes in Liszt’s work Grandes etudes de Paganini, where the composer reworked Paganini’s Violin Concerto No.2 in B Minor for piano. The composition below is played by American pianist André Watts (1946-2023), and I somehow prefer it over other hastier renditions. This piece is considered challenging not least because it requires a very light touch (to sustain the bell-like quality of the notes) and excellent dexterity to take on its fast, large leaps, trills and tricky ornaments. The piece’s gentle start soon unveils surprising buoyancy and vibrancy, a flowing (“torrent of water”) progression, before culminating in a passionate, even violent, coda, making it a very memorable piece. Overall, a virtuosic gem.