Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 11/24/2010, uploaded on 04/24/2011

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Taking shape as early as 1826, when Franz Liszt was only fifteen years of age, the twelve pieces of the Études d’exécution transcendante (Transcendental Etudes) took a quarter of a century to be crafted into their final form. The original twelve etudes, written by the youthful Hungarian, were titled Étude in douze exercices (Studies in Twelve Exercises) and were intended to be the first in a much larger set of 48 total etudes. However, the remaining pieces never materialized. Liszt then revisited the etudes and produced revised versions in 1837 under the title of Douze Grande Études (Twelve Great Studies). In 1851-52, he returned to the etudes once again and fashioned them into their final form. Liszt removed some of the difficulties, 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.

“Harmonies du Soir” (“Evening Harmonies”), the penultimate Transcendental Etude and a general study in chords, is perhaps not the most technically challenging of the set but one of the most artistically pleasing. It begins evocatively with lush harmonies over a resonant A-flat pedal point. Though not specifically marked, Liszt establishes a nocturnal feel to the etude, particularly with the arrival of the principal melody and its pentatonic tendencies. The melody is announced initially in the rich middle range of the piano over drone fifths, but is presented again in brilliant harp-like arpeggios spanning both hands. This latter statement effects a modulation into the key of E major and a brief transition passage leading to the next section of the etude. The drone fifths heard earlier are embellished into an undulating accompaniment underneath a variation of the melody based almost entirely in a pentatonic scale. This new transformation becomes the focus of the etude and grows in intensity, fueled by the appearance of powerful reiterated chords. Reaching a climatic statement of the melody in the tonic key of D-flat major, the music subsides quickly into the peaceful sounds of the beginning. With harp-like arpeggios the etude draws to a close ending serenely and simply.     Joseph DuBose

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Transcendental Etude no. 11, Harmonies du Soir in D Flat Major

Liszt's set of 12 Transcendental Etudes, reworked three times in three different editions, presents not just enormously difficult, technically demanding pieces, but challenges the performer to create distinct aural landscapes. Liszt assigned specific programmatic titles to all but two of these works. The D flat Major in particular exhibits impressionistic ideas and sound effects that reach far beyond the technical fireworks one expects to hear. This etude focuses on exploring harmonies, broken chords, arpeggios and octaves to create a serene and majestic landscape of evening colors.     Inna Faliks