Waltz, op 64 #2

I've decided to continue with romantic era piano pieces, and that means it's time for Chopin. With so many admirers of his unique style, we couldn't forget about him. Even one who has heard very little classical music will have come across a Chopin nocturne or waltz at some point. "Favorite" or "most influential" composer lists can never be proven "right," but whenever one is made, he is usually in the top 5.

Somehow, I didn't know much about Chopin for my first, say, 5 years playing the piano. At that point, I had not learned any of his compositions yet. I remember having little to say when my teacher made a pun regarding a "Chopin board." Granted, I was very young during those years. This was the time when I didn't know how to pronounce Liszt and all I knew of Rachmaninoff was that he had big hands. As I noticed from my folders of sheet music, I have played a lot of Chopin since then.

Listen to the song here
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Liebestraum #1

Yes, I have already made a Liebestraum post, but I failed to mention in the title that it was the third Liebestraum. I have changed that now, but eventually, someone will be confused that I played the third piece in the series before the first one. (This was most likely because I heard it before the other two.)

If you have heard that piece, or if you saw me last month finding flour in Budapest, you also know who we are talking about today. Before someone suggests that I rename my site Tea with a Lisztian (TwL), I have a good reason to bring the famous pianist back.

I just discovered that Franz Liszt played this piece at his last-ever performance, just two weeks before the fateful day of July 31, 1886.

137 years ago. (Sometimes I don't appreciate the force of how long that is.)

Listen to the song here
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There Will Never Be Another You

I think now's a good time to get back to some songs that have been sitting in my folder, waiting to be posted. Here's one that has been there for 2 years.

Listen to the song here
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La Campanella

If you looked down, you would see "the greatest pianist of this or any other century," as one of his students called him. Known for hundreds of years now, he is still looked up to as one unlike anything else we've ever seen. Merely looking at him strikes fear into the hearts of pianists (but apparently not music researchers). So, this time only, I hope you have never played a piano, or this will remind you of your inferiority to him all over again.

(I do have a recording. I just moved it down so viewers on my home page will have to click the button first.)

I hope you're ready for it.

Christ the Lord is Risen Yesterday

Listen to the song here
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Round Midnight

Welcome back to Tea with Liya! I feel like 2023 is sort of an "odd" number -- not just in the sense of not being divisible by 2, but rather "different" or "unexpected." Does that mean this is a good time to add a song by Thelonious Monk, a jazz pianist known for being distinctly unlike any others? I think it's the right time. Today I will be playing for you "Round Midnight," a jazz standard that Monk composed in the late 1930s or early 1940s, and published in 1943. I hope you like it!

Listen to the song here
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When I Fall in Love

Welcome back to Tea with Liya! To finish 2022, I'm playing a ballad called "When I Fall in Love," composed by Victor Young and Edward Heyman. This one has been around for 70 years now, but you might know it because of the famous version by Nat King Cole. I hope you like it!

Listen to the song here
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