Variations or Ballade?

Alright, I’m calling on the random crowd here to take thirty minutes out of your day to listen to these two recordings. Once you're done, cast your vote for which one hits harder. Honestly, I can't decide which one to put on repeat, so I need some help. 🕺

S180 Franz Liszt : Ballade no Weeping, Lament, Worries, Hesitation Variations on a Theme of Bach

Franz Liszt: Ballade No.2 in B minor, S.171

🤣🤣I promised I’d listen and vote later 🤣but I can't right now😳

thanks 🙂 😍

I’ll go ahead and vote now—then I'll give it a listen later. 🙂

bluebadger112 said:I'm gonna play it now, then listen later. 🙂

🤣

Just listened to the Variations—don't care much for how it starts, I guess, but it gets pretty dramatic later on.
Moving on to the ballad now.

You can actually rely on Louise Hay 🙂 detailed and dependable 👍

hiddenmarlin14 said:you can actually count on Lux 🙂 thorough and reliable 👍

thanks for the input, I guess. 😁

Personally, I prefer the Ballade—mostly because the opening hits harder, and I love how it shifts from a calm tempo to pure drama in an instant. It’s a bit too much like my own life, if I’m being honest. 😁
So, my vote goes to the Ballade. 👋

and now you're sitting at 1:1 😁

Drew Ross2 said:so now you're at 1:1 😁

Look, I'm telling you, it's not an easy call to make 😵

Variations – boring and gloomy

The ballad feels more beautiful, almost like it’s meant to be harder to play (even if it isn't—that's just how it sounds to us amateurs). It feels like something a virtuoso would perform, keeping you hooked like you're watching a movie... those little pauses can be a bit frustrating sometimes, but they really build up the suspense...

At first, I thought the variations felt superior—there was a certain calmness to them. But in the end, I’m going with the ballade. It has much better dynamic range, and that ending provides a really nice sense of resolution.😁

Variations—the intro is rough, and the whole thing feels a bit disjointed and tedious for my simple tastes—though there are definitely some lovely moments in there.

Ballade—neither the intro nor the rest really hit the mark for me. It’s more cohesive than the Variations, sure, but even then, the good parts feel a bit sparse.

:nohomo: ☕

Ballade🥳

Yeah, so now everyone's acting just like me—it’s pretty obvious you haven't actually listened to anything, you're just copying down whatever that resident nerd says 😁

bluebadger112 said::nohomo: ☕

🤣

Drew Ross2 said:Look, if everyone is suddenly echoing my sentiment, don't flatter yourselves. I'm not leading a movement; I'm just transcribing the notes from the resident overachiever.😁

🙄

Chloe Cooper10 said:🙄

I was thinking about skipping 🤣

Now I really have to🤣

Just looking back at my own comment 😁
copycats 🙂

Personally, I think this version actually beats both of them...