Guest
Danish marimbist Anders Elten presents his new solo marimba arrangement of F. Liszt's concert etude for piano “La Campanella“ - the third etude in the “Grandes Études de Paganini“ series (S. 141). The thematic material of the etude derives from N. Paganini's 2nd violin concerto - Liszt ingeniously combines the simple material with numerous virtuoso piano techniques designed to dazzle the audience. The piece ebbs and flows with contrasting A/B sections - playful, yet somehow restrained, “A“ sections give way to joyful “B“ sections that charge ever forward, gradually building momentum. The technical challenges of the etude are amplified manifold on the marimba, but I tried to stay as faithful as possible to the “layout“ of the original etude, preserving as many voices and techniques as possible. I had to transpose the entire etude in order to better preserve high/low contrast. The result is devilishly difficult, showcasing a wide variety of usual and unusual marimba techniques such as double octave skips, superfast triples, three/four note one-hand arpeggios, one-handed three-voice polyphony, octave fifth intervals and “extreme wingspan“ passages. I'll probably eventually tweak the arrangement slightly and then re-record it - however for now, please enjoy my first attempt at bringing “La Campanella“ to life on solo marimba! If you want to give this arrangement a go, it is now published by Edition Svitzer! Please find it through the following link: Sound and video recording/editing: Torsten Jessen Thumbnail photo credit: Thomas Rockall Muus
