Claudio Arrau - Liszt: 12 Etudes d'execution transcendante

The Etudes d'execution transcendante presented in this interpretation by Claudio Arrau are their third and final version from 1851. Liszt was already busy with this work as a 15-year-old boy. At the time he had planned 48 etudes in all major and minor keys. A second version was dedicated to Czerny and in another edition to his friend Chopin. It was published in 1839. Here highly virtuoso elements are already noticeable. The final version focused even more on a musical value. In the Etudes d'execution transcendante one can study Liszt's "mania for revision" which, similar to Bruckner, didn't only have a biographical background. It also had to do with the artistic development of the composer. In the end Liszt wanted to open up new musical directions.