| Sight-reading is the musical art whereby a | | | | Liszt was legendary for his technical flights of |
| musician is able to play music they have never | | | | fancy. Once the composer Grieg brought the |
| heard or seen before, instantly, reading from the | | | | great master his A minor piano concerto, which |
| sheet music with great fluency. | | | | he humbly showed to Liszt in a handwritten |
| There are many stories of the legendary abilities | | | | manuscript. It was a very messy manuscript, |
| of the great composers, and today we will show | | | | indeed, for by Grieg's own account it was full of |
| you several hair-raising examples that will have | | | | scratched out passages and terrible music |
| you running to the practice rooms to hone your | | | | handwriting. |
| sight-reading and related abilities. Or perhaps you | | | | But Franz Liszt was not deterred by the tattered |
| will collapse in frustration. Read on. | | | | condition of the score. He calmly opened it, looked |
| Mozart was said to be able to read and play any | | | | at it for a moment and then played it perfectly |
| music instantly. No practicing, no rehearsing. Not | | | | and with gusto in front of the dumbfounded |
| only that, he could, for example, write out the | | | | composer. All the while Liszt missed not a note, |
| four separate parts of a string quartet BEFORE | | | | mind you, keeping up an erudite and witty |
| he had written out the complete score. This | | | | commentary on the orchestra parts, which he |
| means that he had a perfect mental impression | | | | played as well, along with the solo piano part. |
| of every note in a piece he had never played, and | | | | Liszt was in fact encyclopedic in his knowledge of |
| never heard. | | | | all the music published in his lifetime. He is said to |
| Beethoven once had to play one of his piano | | | | have played every known piece in history, |
| concertos on a piano that was a half step out of | | | | perfectly, in his weekly master classes. And this |
| tune. With no time to tune the instrument, there | | | | included not only piano music, but any music, |
| was only one choice: play the concerto not in the | | | | operas, symphonies, concertos, popular music. |
| key of C, but in the key of B, instantly, which he | | | | Anything. |
| did with not a single wrong note, to the utter | | | | In a spirit of encouragement, remember that |
| astonishment of the orchestra. | | | | even Liszt had to develop this breathtaking |
| To put this in perspective, in case you don't know | | | | musical craft. When he first came to Paris as a |
| what musical "keys" are, it is like an actor who, | | | | teen aged firebrand, he was a gawky Hungarian |
| five seconds before taking the stage as Hamlet, | | | | boy and needed polish in order to become the |
| is told suddenly, "Oh, by the way, please do the | | | | first genuine superstar of classical music. |
| part in Swedish." No problem, said Ludwig, and did | | | | Now go back and practice. |
| it straightaway. | | | | |