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Liszt

Franz Liszt
Dates
1811–1886
Era
Early Romantic (1820–1860)
Recognition
essential popular
Wikipedia

Where to start with Liszt

Essential works to know this composer by — spread across their styles
  1. Orchestral
    Les Préludes, S.97
  2. Keyboard
    Liebesträume
  3. Chamber
    2 Waltzes, S.208a, for violin and piano
  4. Orchestral
    Piano Concerto no. 1 in E flat major, S.124
  5. Orchestral
    6 Hungarian Rhapsodies, S.359
  6. Keyboard
    Mephisto Waltz no. 1, S.514
  7. Keyboard
    19 Hungarian Rhapsodies, S.244, R.106
  8. Orchestral
    2 Episodes from Lenau's Faust, S.110
  9. Keyboard
    Années de pèlerinage, S.160-163, R.10a-e
  10. Keyboard
    Aprés une lecture du Dante I, fantasia quasi sonata, S.158c
  11. Orchestral
    Faust Symphony, S.108, R.425
  12. Orchestral
    Mazeppa, S.100
  13. Orchestral
    Piano Concerto no. 2 in A major, S.125
  14. Keyboard
    Piano Sonata in B minor, S.178
  15. Orchestral
    Tasso: Lamento e Trionfo, S.96

Listening guide

Hand-curated paths into Liszt's catalogue
  1. Piano Sonata in B minor
    30 min, one movement
  2. Transcendental Études (complete)
    especially Mazeppa, Feux follets, Wilde Jagd
  3. Mephisto Waltz No. 1
  4. Années de pèlerinage Year 1 — Au bord d\’une source
  5. Liebesträume No. 3

Most Acclaimed

  1. Piano Sonata in B minor
    consensus masterpiece
  2. Années de pèlerinage Year 3
    dark, spare late set
  3. Transcendental Études as a complete cycle
  4. Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, S.173
  5. Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major

Most Weird

  1. Nuages gris
    1881 — 3 minutes, no key center, sounds like 1920
  2. La lugubre gondola Nos. 1 & 2
    written before Wagner died, as if Liszt knew
  3. Unstern! sinistre, disastro
    one of the darkest piano pieces of the 19th century
  4. Bagatelle sans tonalité
    the title is the review
  5. Csárdás macabre
    a death-dance that mocks its own form

Similar composers

Same era, overlapping styles — by genre & period affinity

Works 453