Liszt: Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139

Featuring

Dinara Klinton
Franz Liszt

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Performer Biography

Dinara Klinton, the pianist on this recording, began piano lessons at age five and won the Vladimir Krainev Competition at age eight.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Dinara Klinton finds Liszt's music fascinating for its "bracing sense of freedom, its supreme confidence and complete lack of inhibition," feeling that anything is possible when playing it.

Compositional Technique

The Études d'exécution transcendante were not given their individual programmatic titles until the third edition was published in 1851, with the exception of Mazeppa and two untitled pieces.

Critical Reception

Robert Schumann, a German composer and critic, commented that Liszt's Grande Études were "true tempest and horror etudes" suitable for only ten or twelve pianists worldwide.

Composition History

Liszt originally planned a compendium of 48 studies in every major and minor key, inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier.

Interpretation

Dinara Klinton approaches the Transcendental Études like a director staging twelve independent theatre pieces, with each actor (étude) playing out its scenario according to her vision.