1Min, 10Min, 1Hour Challenge: Elfking/ Erlkönig by Schubert/Liszt/Goethe

#Erlkönig Goethes poem is about a child, experiencing a strong and deadly fever, the father rides his horse as fast as he can. The Erlkönig is part of a fever dream of the child, representing death. As the father comes home, he carries his dead son. You experience that drama by reading it, but you´re truly feeling it, when you lisen to it. The dialog of the worried father, the weak son and the Erlkönig, who talks glossed over. Thanks to Schubert who made it, and thanks to Liszt, who perfected it and thanks to Annique, who made me smile today.

#Erlkönig My German teacher had us memorize the poem in class. I must say that the English transcription of the poem does not have the same meaningfulness as it does in German. The thing I like most about Liszt is the diversity of his music. It can be dramatic, light and happy, or melancholy.

Hi everyone! Don’t forget to write #Erlkönig or #Elfking in the comments to win today’s scores!😊

#Elfking As someone who plays piano and violin, this piece is just amazing to me. Hilary Hahn's recording is one of my absolute favourites of any piece and I had no idea this incredible song had a piano version! It's so unique in how the voices sing together and tell a story. Classical music working it's magic once again

Erlkönig... Liszt's transcription is by far the most ejoyable piece I ever played. It's really fun play this lol

I read that Goethe didn’t like this adaptation because it wasn’t in line with the rhythm he had in mind for the poem (and I guess that makes sense as an author), but I really love it, it’s such an intense piece.

I absolutely love the violin version, too. I highly recommend to everyone to check it out. Hilary Hahn is the queen playing it. #Erlkonig #Erlkönig

#Erlkönig ich muss sagen, ich habe als erstes von der Version für Geige gehört, Hilary Hahn spielt es genial, liebe jetzt aber auch die Klavierversion. Ich finde, Schubert hat es sehr gut geschafft, die Panik in dem Gedicht musikalisch zu gestalten

Liszt's arrangement on Schubert's piece based on Goethe's poem played on Annique's piano

Liszt has perfectly showed the four (!) characters in the piece: Father, son, #Erlkönig and storyteller. For example Erlking is characterized mainly by wide-spreaded arpeggios - creepy, because they show perfectly the "false sweetness" of his talking. It is very important to know the details of this poem. I have often heard this piece in a mainly technical way, some pianists probably don't know the poem at all, but in my opinion it makes the difference. This is a really dark, dark, dark german romantic piece.

Hello Annique, I'm 44 years old and only started playing piano 2 weeks ago, for the first time in my life. Found your channel by chance and got hooked instantly. Watching you approaching the new pieces and listening to the points you make about each of them is very inspiring. I would like to ask if you'd consider making challenge video of 'The Moldau' by Bedrich Smetana. It's my mum's favourite piece and the reason I decided to buy a piano ( to learn and play it to my mum on her birthday next year). Thank you

As a singer who does this as kind of my signature piece at every event (cos I studied it for nearly a year and a half straight 1 hour a day), every pianist I've done it with have said something along the lines that this will contribute 20% progress to RSI or smth. Would also like to say that the voices thing is extremely true. I actually say that there's four voices in this piece: The narrator at the start and the end, the father, the son, and the elfking.
This is how i tried to characterise them
Narrator: Standard vocal tone for me, just resonant and filled with expressive emotion
Father: Make the tone richer, more tender, but also warmer and firmer
Boy: Make tone far less rich and try sing with vocal quality that is mimicking a skilled amateur, but still maintaining understanding of colour and good technique. I also emulated fear through tonal and dynamic changes
Elfking: This was the hardest to do for me. I wanted maturity and potency, but needed to balance cold lethality with a sickeningly sweet persuasion. Ended out doing so by closing my vowels slightly, purifying the sound, adding slight slurring in my interpretation, and singing at a middle ground in richness, but also adding a little bit of darkness in the form of my facial expressions, gestures, and vibrato. However, in his last appearance when he says "Ich liebe dich mich reizt deine schöne Gestalt, und bist du nicht willig so brauch ich Gewalt." I started that phrase with even more sweetness, but slid down into an animalistic growl in the last clause.

Ahhhh finally, you attempt my most favourite piece ever! 😍I never got past Liszt’s transcription’s first two pages, always struggling with tempo and agitation. We learned to sing this piece in high school (in Holland), it’s always been special to me. The ending can still make me cry 😭.

I just lost my nephew and burst into tears while reading the poem. It is lovely to hear you play this.

#Erlkönig #Elfking I have been singing this piece for a few months now, and its very difficult! All the characters have to be shown in a different way! I really respect anyone who can play this Liszt version or the accompaniment so much!

#Erlkönig
Ich liebe die Intensität dieses Stückes und die Ausdruckskraft... In der Orchesterfassung kommen die dunklen Gefühle noch stärker zum Ausdruck und ich bekomme immer Gänsehaut, vor allem am Ende!
Liebe Grüße

#Erlkönig Schubert's Erlkönig and Liszt's transcription of it is I think one of the greatest pieces in the early romantic era, the conversation between the voices is just amazing! Because of this, I remembered this excerpt from Alan Walker's Franz Liszt Vol. 1:
"There is one giddy moment in the headlong rush of this song(Erlkönig) in which Liszt calls for the pianist to play the following passage with a repeating fifth finger. Goethe’s line says: “I will play beautiful games with you.”(Gar schöne Spiele spiel’ ich mit dir, bar 64) The passage discloses a sly sense of humour on Liszt’s part at which only the erlkings of the keyboard can afford to smile."
I haven't dabbled on Schubert aside from his 12 lieders and his Wanderer Fantasy, both I learned from Liszt's Transcription (12 lieders for piano solo and wanderer fantasy for piano and orchestra) but what I like about him is how he uses his melody especially his use of thematic transformation in his Wanderer Fantasy.
What I like about Liszt is his vast soundscape, from his classical opera Don Sanche, to his Années de Pèlerinage, to his Douze Grandes Etudes(and his Transcendental Etudes, but personally I like the former version more), to his Paraphrases and Reminisces, to his VERY broad amount of transcription ranging from Chopin's songs to Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique to Handel's Almira to Beethoven's Symphonies and more, and finally to his late works in which the compositional change was radical, challenging tonality through his Bagatelle sans tonalitie and Prelude Omnitonique(although this was composed in 1840, you can also hear it in his Transcendental Etude 10), a glimpse of impressionist harmony through his Nuages Gris, non-tertian harmony through his Mephisto waltz no 1(Quintal harmony) and Mephisto waltz 3(quartal harmony), and so much more.

"my arm is already seeing the erlking" lmao XD

What a stunning (and impressive) way of learning such a hard piece to play (even for a virtuosa like you). Hats off!
I love Schubert's music for its soul and Liszt's for its technicity, and this very transcription shows - to me - the better of these two Maestros combined.

That was pretty good! Staying consistent with the right hand is the real challenge in this piece.

As a fellow German who just found your channel, I found it really interesting that I could tell roughly where you're from before you even said "Erlkönig" because the dialect is audible even when you speak English. I never really realized that this was even possible

#Elfking I absolutely love the dissonances near the end of this piece! There is so much energy in it!

WHOAAAAA THAT 1 HOUR FINAL PERFORMANCE WAS SO BOSS ESPECIALLY WITH THESE PAGE TURNS... Annique you simply never disappoint! Keep up the amazing content.

One of my favorite pieces of all time! Excellent work and thank you for featuring it in one of your videos!! :)

Schubert's pieces are so light yet appropriately intense when needed! #Erlkönig

#Elfking this is one of my favorite pieces to compare recordings of. Of course it is technically insane, but even harder is how the different voices all interact and how to portray this. I especially love Yujas recording! Great playing, I’ve also loved how both Liszt and shubert are sometimes so lyrical and then just decide to drop hilariously musically complex pieces.

#Erlkönig Oh my, the speed of your progress is amazing once again. Amazing piece too!

#Erlkönig - can you imagine, listening to this piece, and I'm not even German, that the name of this art period comes up in my brain: "Sturm und Drang" - because that's what this sounds like

Ich hab noch nie jemanden so schnell umblaettern sehen. Der Hammer!

#Erlkönig This is fabulous! It's truly amazing that you can play so well for this piece in 1 hour!

#Erlkönig I'm a Tenor and Pianist and everytime I stumble upon it I marvel the piece. It was on of my favorite "mandatory" Poem at school.

Yes, I’ve sung this piece, accompanied many singers, and have played this transcription. It’s a masterpiece and a beast. I believe even in Schubert’s day, they published a simplified version. You are so wonderful and generous to share this with us.

Huge fan of Liszt's transcriptions so when I read the title I got super excited for this challenge! You did an amazing job as usual. Looking forward to more Liszt transcriptions!

I have so much more respect and appreciation for the accompanists who played it for me as a voice student after watching this video. It's not an easy song, for either the vocalist or the pianist.

I have heard the piece being played by Hilary Hahn on the violin. This piece is extremely hard to play, so props to you! love your videos

#Elfking I love how depressing the story in Erlkonig is and how beautifully Liszt has transcribed it

Wow, you made it tough on yourself doing Liszt's version. Those bass octaves! Also the sheet music fighting you added visual drama!

I’ve just discovered this piece and I listened to Kissin and Yuja and a few others. Your video was the most entertaining and really impressive how quickly you can learn it to play very decently. Hugs!

Thanks!

#Elfking I'm in awe with the sheer power and lyricism this arrangement has and how the 2 blend so naturally. Also I love the boldness of Liszt's latest works that were a premonition of atonality, impressionism and Scriabin

#Erlkönig
Ich liebe an dem Stück Schuberts, dass die Welt dieses Gedichtes vor einem steht.
Die Liszt Version für Klavier ist super auf das Instrument übertragen.

#Erlkönig Ach!!! My favourite piece by my favourite composer and poet played by my favourite pianist RUclipsr!
I have to say that Erlkonig is so special to me - it basically ignited my love for classical music. I first heard it 3 years ago because it was mentioned in the textbook, and after the piece ended I nearly could not breathe. I never knew music can have so much power on me (I always thought my feelings not sensitive enough to music), and the effect of Erlkonig on me just completely stunned me. Then I became interested in Schubert's lieder. As I hear more of his lieder and read more of the analysis, I learnt to apprieciate Schubert's skill of setting the scene in music, and as I pay more attention to details, I can feel the emotions in music more and more sensitively.
And then intrigued by this, I was interested in classical music as a whole...💓
(Btw, I also illustrated two of my favorite Schubert lieder from Winterreise :) If you are interested, you can go into my channel)

#Erlkönig I absolutely love this piece it is really dramatitic, and also the poem by Goethe is so beautiful. What I love about Schubert is that even though he died at the age of 31 he composed so many pieces. Listening to this masterpiece while reading the poem gives me goosebumps

Erlkonig is my favorite classic piece for now, both in opera, piano and violin❤️. You're awesome!

#Elfking Schubert is one of my favorite composers, he has some really beautiful melodies and his music feels very intimate and emotional.

Beautiful. I always understood that the deeper meaning of this poem is about when you grow older you lose contact with your ability to believe in your imagination.

The piano solo version is awesome!! Well done Annique for your beautiful playing!!! #Erlkönig

#Erlkönig While I absolutely love Schubert's Impromptus (especially n.3), I also love the transcriptions of Listz on for example Erlkönig or Liebeslied (from Schuhmann). So to see you play some kind of a mix of both composers is absolutely stunning.

Yes! I've been waiting for this one!

I LOVE this piece and you played amazing for one hour! Schubert is a favorite composer - he could do it all!!

Love these short Masterpieces.

#Erlkönig Thanks for this video, well done ! I love the way Dietrich Fischer Dieskau sing the different characters ! Erlkönig's voice is so spooky. Love from France

The way you play the repetitions left me in awe! #Erlkönig #Elfking

#Erlkönig Lied is a fascinating genre because of the amount of emotional and artistic depth that can be incorporated into such a small outer form. Schubert ist a real master of this achievement.

That was so beautiful. It was good to see you have so much fun learning to play that difficult piece. I love you German accent by the way 💯.

#Elrkönig i looove this piece the most difficult piece on violin i love Hilary's interpretation on violin and I'm so happy to listen to your interpretation on piano❤❤❤❤

as a german, I love this intro hahahah #Erlkönig #Elfking I love how they created the different Voices and especially how good you did these voices after only one hour of practice...

Hoffentlich gibst Du bald (wieder) Konzerte! Ich kann es kaum erwarten. 🤩

#Erlkönig, hi, We actually recently started learning about this piece in music class (I’m still in high school) and it fascinated me so much that I’ve been obsessed with it ever since!! So I’m so happy that you did a challenge on it because I always love seeing how you learn and the tips and advice you give. I am totally in love with Schubert’s symphonies and really think they deserve more recognition!!!

#ErlKönig A really great transcription, I love Liszt‘s transcriptions a lot because he puts so much color and creativity which is pretty astounding to see.

#Elfking I’m taking German at my high school, and in our first year we listened to this along with the poem and it was very captivating. Great performance mit deine Klavier! Schoneswochenede!

I’m a far cry from being a classical pianist as I can only play simple pop pieces (self-taught) but I find the tips you provide in all your videos to be very very helpful! Thanks!

#Erlkönig Schubert's melodies are amazing. One of the best melody writers ever!

I love the Erlkonig! I"m a singer, not a pianist, and I have been known to watch 15 different version of the song, trying to find the best. Enjoyed watching your progress on this....my first video of yours.

I performed this lied for my degree and I can't tell you how difficult it was. I really love every part of it, as a vocalist the best part was being able to create voices for characters to sing in. It was also the hardest part!

#Elfking what I love about this piece is that it sounds super epic from the start. It goes against the mainstream notion of classical piano pieces, and you don’t have to love classical music to love it!

WOW! Smashing a basketball into the ground is also called dribbling . This was Fun to watch !

I remember last year in music class we studied the lieder version from Shubert and I immedialty tough "Oh shit this is cool". So the night right after I went back home I tried playing the beginning and my right hand collapsed two seconds after I started playing. I really like the lyrical sound of this piece and I think Liszt did a really good job transcribing Shubert's work. I would maybe go back to it in the future when I think I'm ready technically speaking #Erlkönig

YES FINALLY THANK YOU ANNIQUE

erlkönig what I love about liszt is his crazy arrangements of many pieces that are better than the original. :)

I played this piece. The relaxing the wrist on the G octaves was the hardest part for me even though I came from a technique-driven background. This is very impressive for an hour of learning!!

gosh im such a fan of the #Elfking I think in particular Jessye Norman's performance of the Schubert setting is a must listen, loved seeing you play around with the Liszt transcription!

You got pretty good at slapping down those pages in time!

#Erlkönig Once again I can't grasp how fast you can play those pieces so well. I love the contrast between the soft and the more intense parts in this piece

#Erlkönig I think that Schubert is the master of combining simplicity with pure beauty. His impromptus are one of my favourite sets of pieces. I love Liszt's music as well. All of his piano music is so grand most of the time, and I hope that one day I'll be able to play more of his amazing pieces even though they are so difficult!

so glad you picked this one. love it. well done. keep up the great work 🤘

#Erlkönig Liszt and Schubert put together - what’s not to like? Liszt seems to be the perfect composer to write that manic theme at the start (Mephisto Waltz, eh?!)
I love watching these challenges. It never ceases to amaze me what level of playing can be achieved in just an hour. Impressive!

Nice vid. This is an exciting one

#Elfking what I love about this piece is that it could be fierce but also soft, harmonic

#Erlkönig Ich liebe an Schubert die Sehnsucht und gleichzeitig das (in manchen Stücken) trotzdem Unbändige, was die Stücke musikalisch für mich wahnsinnig interessant und schön macht. Meine Herausforderung bei Liszt ist, die Technik zu meistern und trotzdem musikalisch und ausdrucksstark zu bleiben.
Da bin ich fleißig am üben, um für meinen Traum zu „kämpfen“ und in 2,5 Jahren Klavier studieren zu können.

Nice piece. Felt like I was in a Intense video game

#Elfking I love Schubert's melodies and sensitivity / Liszt's flame and passion

#Erlkönig I just started to learn this piece. 😍 I've been in love with it for about 4 years now, but I could not start to learn back then, because I couldn't sing it 😅. Now I'm so excited. You did very well. ❤️ This piece is extremly hard to sing it well with the right colours and by showing the extreme emotion changes, let alone playing it on another instrument. I hope You'll show us the finished piece of Your interpretation.

#Elfking I really love the how Schubert was able to include all of these really different voices and weave them into something that sounds coherent in a piece. Hilary Hahn's recording is also one of my favorites @Eve Bolton!

Very interesting challenge.
Yes, I have sang it years ago. I love Schuberts songs.

#Erlkönig
Was ich vorfallen bei Liszt liebe ist, mit wie wenig Tönen er eine wunderbare Melodie zaubern kann. Guckt man sich seinen Liebestraum no3 an sieht man, wenn man die Tone für den Klangteppich weglässt, dass er mit ganz wenig toben diese träumerische Melodie geschaffen hat

Hahaha loved the use of the "under music" (Gaiety in the Golden Age)

This is my favorite one so far! Brava!

As a vocalist, this is one of those pieces you just don't bring to competition usually. Don't want to risk it being bad since the accompanist is likely sight reading.

#Erlkönig I've learned this and am playing it in a competition soon. This piece is immensely fun to play, and sounds brilliant at slower speeds. I would highly recommend learning it. The 8ves come quite naturally and if you don't try to consciously build up the speed, it happens surprisingly effortlessly. The notes themselves are rather straightforward, and the challenge is really in the interpretation of the voices (in terms of playing this to a high standard). The overall goal, as always, is enjoyment, and this piece certainly delivers this!
Good luck, you can do it!
ps. rather than listening to a recording by today's pianists, I would suggest F. Lamond's recording as it is slower and much less intimidating.

I literally listened to #Erlkönig so much this month, just a week ago I sang it in my break and my history teacher recognized it and was suprised that I know it, thank you for suprising me annique :)
I love how you get scared by the timer everytime :L , also what is the meaning of your name?
my favorite shubert piece is impromptu no 3 and liszt's mephisto waltz no 1 is my favorite piano piece in general.

#Erlkönig this piece to me is so enjoyable because I really like how you can hear the different voice clearly and I think the story has been wonderfully transposed into music.

Courageous of you to play this.
Amazingly courageous.

It's really amazing how you rehearse the piece so perfectly and so quickly.😊 I'm always really impressed by your challenge🙈
I tried to play the original Schubert once, but it was really too difficult for me...😬😬
Btw, have you ever played appasionata 3rd movement by beethoven?

I love How Liszt just composes so many both beautiful But at the same time so difficult to play. For example his etude Un Sospiro is just so beautiful. And all his transcendence etudes are just so good:)
#Erlkönig #Elfking

#Elfking #Erlkönig liszt's Hungarian rhapsody no. 2 is the reason i started playing piano and its changed my life .

This is really great! First time hearing it…#Erlkönig. Thank you for sharing your expertise with us. 👏👏👏❤️

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE BEAUTIFUL VIDEO

This is the first time I watch you...and I love you now

I subscribed to your channel because I'm still learning how to play piano. I don't think we ever stop learning LoL I love your videos keep up the good work...