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Xah's Favorite Liszt Music

Xah Lee, 1997, 2008-04

This page is a random note of Liszt's songs i like. It is intended to be a list of all my fav Liszt's pieces, but is far from complete.

Transcendental Etudes

If i could only listen to 2 sets of classical work in my life, that would be Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, and Liszt's Transcendental Etudes.

If i could listen to only 10 songs in my life, then the #6, #12 of Liszt's Transcendental Etudes would be in it. See: Liszt ＆ Bach, 4 Songs to Die For.

1, Prelude ★
2, (Molto vivace)
3, Paysage
4, Mazeppa ♪
5, Feux follets ☆ ♪
6, Vision ♥ | Similar to number 12. A basic theme is repeated over and over with dark overtones. Extremely cold and depressing.
7, Eroica ♪
8, Wilde Jagd
9, Ricordanza
10, (Allegro agitato molto) ♪
11, Harmonies du soir ♪
12, Chasse neige ♥ ♪: Cold and dismal. Waves after waves of poniard stabbing the heart.

If you like Chopin's nocturn type of music, Liszt's Dream Of Love kicks Chopin's asses.

Dreams of Love (Liebesträume): 3 nocturnes
- 1, Hohe Liebe, 7:30 ☆
- 2, Seliger Tod, 4:07 ☆ ♪
- 3, A♭M (O lieb, so lang du lieben kannst), 4:40 ★ ♪

Concert Etudes

1, Lamento ♪
2, la Leggierezza ♪
3, Un Sospiro ★ ♪

YouTube video: un sospiro.

S.412, Réminiscences des Huguenots - Grande fantaisie dramatique [first/second version] (1836, 1842)

19 minutes. Extreme, painstaking, beauty.

Paraphrases
- Schubert (oh, the languor, the linger of death, the sway of pain, the grandeur of darkness, the sweetness of scenery, the drilling of agony.)
  - (G/S558#1/R243#1) Sei mirgegrüsst from 12 Lieder, 6:03 ★
  - (G/S558#2/R243#2/(D774)) Auf dem Wasser zu singen (To be sung on the water), 4:58 ♥
  - (G/S558#3/R243#3) Du bist die Ruh from 12 Lieder, 6:06 ♥ (creeping death)
  - (G/S558#7/R243#7) Frühlingsglaube from 12 Lieder, 5:00 ★
  - (G/S558#8/R243#8/(D118)) Gretchen am Spinnarad from 12 Lieder, 4:25. ♥ ♪
  - (G/S558#9/R243#9/(D889)) Ständchen (Shakespeare) from 12 Lieder; Hark, Hark, the Lark; 2:39 |☆+|
  - (G/S558#11/R243#11) Der Wanderer from 12 Lieder , 7:14♥ (nerve racking somberness)
  - (G/S560#3/R245#3): Aufenthalt from 'Schwanengesang', 3:51 ♥ (no nonsense nerve racking somberness)
  - (G/S560#7/R245#7/(D957)): Ständchen from 'Schwanengesang' (Leise flehen meine Lieder), 7:06 ♥ (delicate echo) ♪
  - (G/S560#8/R245#8): Ihr Bild from 'Schwanengesang', 2:33 ★ (indifferent)
  - (G/S560#12, R245#12): Der Doppelgänger from 'Schwanengesang', 4:39 ♥ (boiling somber)
  - (G/S561#6, R246#6): Wasserflut from 'Winterreise', 2:30 ★ (CD#2)
  - (G/S563#4, R248#4): Trockne Blumen from 'Sechs Melodien', 4:13 ★ (CD#8)
  - (G/S565#2/R249#2/(D795#19)) Der Müller und der Bach from 6 Müllerlieder, 7:07 ♥
  - Die Forelle, 3:37 ★ ♪
  - Soirées de Vienne:
  - ? Schubert: ave maria ☆ ♪
  - ? Schubert: Witch King ♥ ♪
- Valse-Caprice #6 7:08, #7 6:24 ☆
- Chopin: Meine Freunden, 4:08 ☆
- Chopin: The Maiden's Wish, 3:59 ☆ ♪
- Schumann: Widmung, 3:49 ♥
- Schumann: Frühlingsnacht, 2:36 ★
- (7) Donizetti: Reminiscences of Lucia di Lammermoor, 6:17
- (8) Wagner: Spinning Chorus from “The Flying Dutchman”, 5:28
- Wagner: Isoldes Liebestod (Mort d'Isolde; from Tristan und Isolde.), 6:56. ♥
- (9) Verdi: Concert Paraphrase on Rigoletto
- Sacred music transcriptions
  - Two Pieces from the Hungarian Coronation Mass (S501/R192)
    - I. Benedictus ,4:26|
    - II. Offertorium, 3:51
  - Urbi et orbi (S184/R69), 6:35|
  - Ave maris stella (S506/R195), 6:20|
  - Stabat Mater , 5:32|♥

Six Grand Etudes after Paganini
- 1, Gm ★ ♪
- 2, E♭ |☆?|
- 3, La Campanella, 5:07 ★ ♪
- 4, E |☆?|
- 5, La Chasse ★
- 6, Am ➂ ♪
Concert Etudes
- 1, (Forest Murmurs; murmures de la foret; Waldesrauschen), 4:01 ➂ ♪
- 2, (Dance of the Gnomes; Ronde des lutins ;Gnomenreigen), 2:53 ➂ ♪
Hugarian Rhapsodies
- 2, ★ ♪
- 3, Andante |♺|
- 6, 7:12, D♭M |★|
- 8, Lento a capricco ☆
- 9, E♭M, “Carnaval de Pesth”, 11:26 ☆
- 12, 9:28,➂ ♪
- 13, Am, Adante sostenuto |➂?| ♪
- 15, “Racoczy March” ☆ ♪
- 17, Lento |♺|
- Spanish Rhapsody, 13:43 ☆
Sonata in Bm |➂?|
- I 12:45, II 7:51, III 8:23, IV 3:04
? Au Lac De Wallenstadt
? Csárdás Obstiné ➂
Consolations
- #3, D♭M, Lento placido., 4:27. (nocturne-like) ☆
- ? Consolations, 16:10 ➂
- ?Harmonies poetiques et religieu ♥ ♪
- ? consolation 3 D♭, 4 min. ♪
Mephisto Waltz #1, 12:39, ➂
Valse oubliée #1, 3:06 ➂
Valse oubliée #2, 5:15 ➂

Years of Pilgrimage (1835-36). Comment: Liszt's Years of Pilgrimage are pieces depicting scenery. They are without structure in the classical sense, and without modality. In laymen terms, these pieces felt like wandering notes, with pieces of beautiful melody flowing here and there.
- Book I: Switzerland
  - 1, William Tell's Chapel (La Chapelle de Guillaume Tell), 6:17 ♥. Comment: Grand and grave. The scenery of high mountains and valley. Lento - Piulento - allegro vivace.
  - 2, By the lake of Wallenstadt (Au lac de Wallenstadt), 3:11 ★ Comment: Serene.
  - 3, Pastorale, 2:08 ➂ ♪
  - 4, By the sid of a spring. (Au bord d'une source), 3:51 ➂ ♪
  - 5, Orage, 4:41 ☆ Comment: Grandiose on the whole, but very sharp and pushy with a sense of urgency.
  - 6, Vallée d'Obermann, 13:55 ★ ♪
  - 7, Eglogue (Hirtengesang), 3:48 ☆
  - 8, Le mal du pays, 5:43 ➂
  - 9, Les cloches de Genéve, 6:26 ☆
- Book II: Italy
  - 1, The Marriage of the Virgin (Sposalizio), 7:37 ★ Comment: Lyrical.
  - 2, The Thinker (Il Penseroso), 4:08 ➂
  - 3, Canzonetta del Salvator rosa, 3:03 ➂
  - 4, Sonetto 47 del Petrarca, 5:41 |➂+|
  - 5, Sonetto 104 del Petrarca, 6:56 |➂+| ♪
  - 6, Sonetto 123 del Petrarca, 6:51 ☆
  - 7, Aprés une lecture du Dante (Fantasia quasi Sonata), 16:13 ★ ♪
- Venezia e Napoli
  - 1, Gondoliera, 5:27 ☆ ♪
  - 2, Canzone, 3:09 ♥ ♪ Comment: somber and sadistic. Similar to that of book III 6 and 7.
  - 3, Tarantella, 8:50 ☆ ♪
- Book III. (1867-77) Comment: Number 6 and 7 are a pair. Dense and intense as a dreary fog. The two pieces uses thundering low pitch notes and moves very slowly throughout. The fog stifles you with unmoving intensity. At the end of number 6, a beam of revelation shines through to collect your soul. In number 7, the pain is overt from the beginning. Every beat is a sharp needle prodding your sensitive nerve. You are bound by the still air, unable to avert it. At the end, the needle becomes a thick nail, driven by a thundering hammer.
  - 1, Angelus (A prayer to the Guardian Angels), 10:14
  - 2, The Cypresses of the Villa d'Este (Aux Cyprès de la Villa d'Este) 1 (threnody), 7:20
  - 3, The Cypresses of the Villa d'Este 2 (threnody), 10:55
  - 4, The Fountains of the Villa d'Este (Les Jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este) ★ ♪ Comment: Sweet and serene. A quiet country scene. Scenic. Wandering freely and peacefully. A dream world of happiness.
  - 5, Sunt lacrymae rerum (in the Hungarian mode), 7:56
  - 6, Funeral march in memory of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, 8:12 ♥
  - 7, Sursum corda (Erhebet eure Herzen) (Lift up your hearts), 4:15 ♥