Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 11/20/2008, uploaded on 10/03/2010

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Liszt is known for making often extensive revisions to his own works, producing multiple versions of them. Such is the case with the Études d’exécution transcendante (Transcendental Etudes), where a quarter of a century passed between their conception and final form. Liszt began the etudes as early as 1826, when he was only fifteen years of age. The original twelve etudes bore the title Étude in douze exercices (Studies in Twelve Exercises) and were intended to be the first in a much larger set of 48 total etudes. The remaining etudes, however, never materialized. Liszt returned to the twelve etudes in 1837 and produced revised versions and gave them a new title: Douze Grande Études (Twelve Great Studies). A little more than a decade later, in 1851-52, he returned once again to the etudes and fashioned them into their final form and rechristened them with the title by which they are known today. In this final version, Liszt removed some of the technical difficulties of the 1837 version, including stretches larger than a tenth, to accommodate pianists with smaller hands and less technical skill. This final set Liszt dedicated to his former teacher, Carl Czerny.

The ninth etude, “Ricordanza” (“Remembrance”), Ferruccio Busoni described as “faded love letters.” In the placid key of A-flat major, the piece is wistful, tinged with melancholy, yet at times bursts into the moments of intense emotions that accompanying such strong memories. It begins with a lengthy quasi-improvisatory passage announcing the principal melodic ideas—first, a gentle turn-like figure followed then by a poignant appoggiatura. The melody itself, marked dolce, con grazia, arrives later accompanied by gentle chords in the left hand. Two episodes interrupt the introspective melody. The first, marked Vivamente introduces a more capricious idea, suggesting a memory of happy times and the joy of life. The second descends into the key of the subdominant and presents an espressivo melody over an accompaniment of reiterated chords, creating a subtle sense of unease. The music here becomes passionate—a sharp pang to the heart of a bittersweet memory. Yet, like the first episode it subsides back into the wistful melody of the opening. Rounding out a rondo-like form, the final statement of the opening melody includes a brief return to that of the second episode, as if that memory holds a particularly strong power over the artist.       Joseph DuBose

Giorgi Latsabidze Playing Transcendental Etudes by F. Liszt.: Live recording from Newman Hall, Los angeles, November 20, 2008.