Description
A right-hand melody sings quietly over unbroken left-hand broken chords in the best known of Liszt's six Consolations, S. 172 — the third. Published in 1850, the set comes from a composer famous for transcendental difficulty, writing with almost no display at all. The title is generally traced to a collection of poems by the French writer Sainte-Beuve.
The texture is often compared with Chopin's nocturnes, and the parallels — the choice of D-flat major among them — are frequently noted. The accompaniment never stops, yet only around 1,000 notes fill about four minutes, exceptionally few for Liszt.
There is almost no fast motion, hence the intermediate classification. The task is keeping the left-hand figuration even while the right hand sings, and refining the quality of quiet tone. Change the pedal with each harmony so the resonance layers without blurring. Since nothing here displays technique, the tone itself is what the performance is judged by.
Six meditative piano pieces Liszt composed around 1849-50, calm and introspective in character.
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Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
About the Composer
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Franz Liszt was a Hungarian-born virtuoso pianist and composer whose legendary performances earned him fame across Europe as the "wizard of the piano." Beyond his transcendent technique, he was also an innovative composer who created the symphonic poem as a genre, and he is equally remembered for meditative miniatures like the Consolations and dramatic works like the Ballades. This site includes 4 of his works, including Ballade No. 2 and Consolations No. 1, 3, and 4.
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