I am posting three YouTube videos which a colleague and fellow-blogger, Notesfromapianist, flagged up in her Twitter feed yesterday. For anyone studying the three ‘Sonnetti del Petrarca’ from Liszt’s Années, these video clips provide some invaluable food for thought, study and practising: hearing the original song versions has really informed my practising today. The piano pieces included in the second year of the Années de pèlerinage are Liszt’s resettings of his own song transcriptions (composed ca. 1839–1846 and published 1846). I am learning the Sonetto 123 at the moment….
The Cross-Eyed Pianist 
Glad you liked them, Fran! David Owen Norris, speaking about the second Sonnet recently on CD Review, commented that one of the featured pianists seemed not to have read the words of the poem. It could also be added that hearing the songs, and knowing which words go where, is a revelation.
Well, the first thing I did was read the sonnet when starting work on this piece! How else can you understand where the music is coming from?? It surprises me when I hear that musicians don’t do their ‘homework’ – but then, my approach has always been “intellectual”: I like to do the reading and contextual research.
I am so enjoying my first forays into Liszt – a composer I had, until now, avoided. Hope all your projects are going well!