Liszt Ferenc is indubitably the world's favourite for virtuosic piano music. As well as all of his other innovations in music, which were grossly understated in the music world, he revolutionised the modern piano technique producing sounds hitherto unknown towards the contemporary audience. This video is a handful of my favourite moments of utter beauty and virtuosity from Liszt, including, but not limited to, his famous codas of immense power and speed.
Before the main list, which is in no particular order, I would first like to highlight some honourable mentions:
Sonate, S178 (Despite the fact that this extremely well-known work includes very many epic moments, I took this piece as a donnée in order for perhaps lesser-known works to make the list.)
Réminiscences de Norma de Bellini, S394 (The epic moments in this piece are strokes of pure genius from Liszt, but I opted to include the sixth piece in the list of similar calibre, and thought including this would also create a surface-level introduction to Liszt.
Rapsodie hongroise 12, S244/12 (Again, very awesome like most of the HR codas but too famous to fit in.)
Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen - Präludium (nach J. S. Bach), S179 (I am extremely fond of the busy moment in this transcendent and underplayed work.)
0:00 - Introduction
0:07 - Deuxième Ballade, S171 (Goerner)
There are many assertions, particularly from Claudio Arrau, that this piece is based on the myth of Hero and Leander. True or not, the turbulence and tempest of storm is very clear in this music. This epic moment utilises chords without a third (if you may permit me to borrow the term "power chords"!) that climb the keyboard.
0:53 - O wenn es doch immer so bliebe!, S554/1 (Dossin)
Anton Rubinstein, maintained as one of the most underrated composers of the Romantic era, wrote this lied, which Liszt transcribed for the piano. No matter how sweet the original song may be, Liszt's genius shines forth in the sheer wonder of the quasi-harp cadenza and the climax that follows.
1:52 - Etude d’exécution transcendante No 10, S139/10 (Ovchinnikov)
The tension created in this passage is goosebump-inducing every time. The repeated D-flat octaves form an inverted pedal as the bass line descends to land firmly in F minor, where the D-flat reveals itself to be a 6-5 suspension. Juicy!
2:39 - Mosonyi Mihály from Historische ungarische Bildnisse - Magyar történelmi arcképek, S205/7 (Jando)
It is necessary to listen to this piece in its total context, that is, the whole work preceded by the six other "Hungarian historical portraits". This excerpt will then make better sense, if you do not already deem it epic from this video. Although it appears to be a work of Liszt's very last years, the same music appears in the earlier version Mosonyis Grabgeleit’, S194 from 1870.
3:34 - Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude, S173/4 (Hough)
Utterly religious and heart wrenching.
4:50 - Erster Mephisto-Walzer - Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke, S514 (Laplante)
This piece features unbridled devilishness and virtuosity, and produces an enormous sound.
6:12 - Après une lecture du Dante - Fantasia quasi sonata, S158c (Filipec)
The version directly preceding the published version, which features a suitably devilish passage in the coda he scrubbed out for its outrageous difficulty.
7:49 - Réminiscences de Lucrezia Borgia 1re partie: Trio du second’ acte, S400/1 (Wolfram)
This is a lucky piece that Liszt gifted with two codas, not just one! Although Liszt intended this fantasy to be in one single unit, his publishers split it into two parts. The coda of the second part is very effective at summarising the main themes of the opera, but the first is so obstreperous and forceful that it becomes some of the loudest music Liszt ever penned.
9:19 - Zwei Orchestersätze aus dem Oratorium Christus No 2: Die heiligen drei Könige ‒ Marsch, S498b/2 (Kramer)
Liszt's oratorio Christus is his greatest musical contribution to the world. Due to the fact he is widely recognised as the greatest pianist who ever lived, his best composition being an orchestral and choral oratorio may be hard to believe, but it is very true. This piano version of an orchestral movement from the oratorio is tantamount to Liszt's skill of transcription, and its coda shown here is one of his finest.
11:00 - Grande Fantaisie sur des thèmes de Paganini - La clochette et Le carnaval de Venise, S700a/i (Kim Minkyu)
When I saw this performance live, I was dumbstruck at what could be the most effective coda Liszt wrote. What a pity that this work was left unpublished!
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