Liszt, Franz: Trois Etudes de Concert

In March 1848 Liszt took up residence in Weimar with his new partner Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein, thus entering a more settled period. Not least encouraged by his partner, he turned his back on his career as a virtuoso and started concentrating on composing; in summer 1848 he finished work on the studies known today as Il lamento, La leggierezza and Un sospiro. Unlike Liszt’s early studies that concentrated more on piano technique, the new concert studies are dominated by poetic ideas and tonal concept. They are often played in recitals and number amongst the compulsory pieces at music conservatories and piano competitions.