【钢琴】李斯特 - 沉思，思考和回答 S.203

Franz Liszt - Schlaflos! Frage und Antwort, S203
Performer: Andrea Bonatta

The title of Sleepless! Question and Answer, with its suggestion of insomniac uncertainty and subsequent resolution, finds its musical realization through clever thematic transformation (compare 0:00 with 1:05); Liszt's nocturne evokes a highly restless state when after the tonal clarity of the opening in E minor, chromatic melodic fragments unfold over a tonally inconclusive sonority of  F-A-C-E—but at bar 35 (0:44), there surfaces an augmented-sixth sonority, D-sharp-F-A-C, whose altered tone D-sharp subsequently acts as a leading tone to E major, which is securely established in Liszt's "Answer" at 1:05.  Although the chorale-like passage brings a sense of comfort, the status of E major as tonic is jeopardized as the composition expires with a monophonic line that touches upon the relative minor, C-sharp—note the B-sharp at 1:43—and ends on its dominant degree. For the faint-hearted, Liszt provided an ossia ending that is harmonized, with the final G-sharp secured as a mediant, anti
According to the title-page, Schlaflos! was based on an original poem by Liszt's pupil Toni Raab which has remained unpublished and has never been traced. Perhaps a more "to hand" description of the piece, is as the musical equivalent of the biblical text "Come unto me all ye who are heavy laden, and I will give ye rest." As with so many of the other pieces of the period, there was no thought in Liszt's mind to publish this music; it was sufficient for him to have written it, and it was only printed by default as it were, in 1927.
Andrea Bonatta gives a serious, unpretentious performance on a historically appropriate Eduard Steingraeber piano.