A couple years ago, someone asked me to make a top 10 list of my favorite Liszt pieces. That post got really popular, but tastes change over time and Iāve changed up my list a bit, so consider this a little update:
I prefer the solo piano version to the piano concerto original, but overall itās a really fun piece. One of the few classical pieces that give off aĀ āgothicā vibe and itās a mix of fun,Ā ādarkā drama, and makes me think of the ephemeral quality of October.
9. Les cloches de Geneva; Nocturne
This piece closes the first Year of Pilgrimage, and it is a gorgeous nocturne with little bell chimes. A pretty melody that feels nostalgic. Feels like a daydream.
From the first Year of Pilgrimage, a meditation on loneliness. It has one main melody that is transformed form angst to acceptance. Liszt uses this technique in multiple works, and I think this one is underrated.
There are two versions for this, a short one that is in strophic form, and a longer one that has an introduction, and it builds up into a symphonic climax. Either way it is a bleak work that is like a precursor to German Expressionism.
6. Transcendental Etude no. 4, Mazeppa
Itās really interesting, and a little funny, to see LisztāsĀ āop. 1ā³, which is a set of etudes he wrote when he was a teenager. The etudes arenāt super difficult, they seem easier than Chopinās for reference, but he later elaborates them into the insanity of the Transcendental Etudes. Technicality aside, this work is a tour dāforce of pianism, and the intensity of the sound world is something else. Imagine you lived in the 19th century and didnāt have access to videos and recordings, and you went to a Liszt concert and heard that live, unlike anything else youād ever heard before. No wonder people thought he was possessed.
The Liszt ballades donāt really hold a candle to Chopinās in my opinion, but this Ballade is a better exploration of the ideas he worked with in Vallee; one melody, melancholic and dark with chromatic waves underneath, worked into aĀ āredemption through loveā type transformation.Ā
I really love the Mephisto waltzes now, and the second and third are both eerie in how experimental they are. Both use harmonies that wouldnāt be used more until the likes of Debussy and Scriabin. The third is gorgeous with its opening passage of parallel fourths.
A more catchy name than its published original, but that doesnāt matter. From the second Year of Pilgrimage, we get the really cool imagery of hell, along with a gorgeous transfiguration of thematic material.
2. Benediction de Dieu dans la solitude
Benediction to God in solitude, it was written in the late 1840s and yet already shows harmonies that Debussy will write with. Itās also one of the best expressions of spirituality in music that I have heard, better than all those overwritten masses and requiems for giant orchestras. It has none of Lisztās expected theatrics. The passionate parts carry authenticity. People comment on how remarkable it is that Liszt went from flamboyant/extroverted womanizer to a member of the priesthood in his life, but this earlier work ofĀ āseriousā composition shows the importance of God in his life,
This is my favorite piano sonata of all time, and I feel like words arenāt good enough to talk about it. It has transcendental beauty.
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