Liszt and difficult works go together like gravy and Thanksgiving. Here's a video that dives deep into the ten of the most impossible works written by Franz Liszt. Since the performer and piece descriptions were too long for the Youtube description, they have been moved to the comments where it will be pinned. Be sure to check out my other videos for lists like these!

*LISZT DIFFICULTIES*
Liszt's hardest works are excessive, full stop. Either the difficulty lies in techniques that are essentially musically useless (Paganini 4b, La Clochette), or they are essential to the conception of the work as an orchestral transcription (Beethoven Symphonies and Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique). In either case, the hardest Liszt works require all of the following without fail: superhuman endurance, octave technique, double note technique, and great passagework. No wonder that most of these works are hardly performed.

*TIMESTAMPS*
10. Transcendental Étude No.5 "Feux Follets" (8++)
0:00 Jeno Jando
0:34 Frederic Lamond
0:55 Evgeny Kissin

9. Réminiscences de Don Juan (8++)
1:43 Masaru Okada
1:53 MarcAndré Hamelin
2:05 MarcAndré Hamelin

8. Grande fantaisie de bravoure sur La clochette (8++)
3:06 John Ogdon
3:56 Minkyu Kim

7. Réminiscences de Lucrezia Borgia (8++)
4:59 William Wolfram

6. BeethovenLiszt Symphony No.7 (8++)
6:05 Cyprien Katsaris
6:41 Cyprien Katsaris

5. Études d'exécution transcendante d'après Paganini No.4B (8++)
7:16 Nikolai Petrov
8:04 Elisa Tomellini
8:51 Goran Filipec

4. Grosse Konzertfantasie über spanische Weisen (8++)
9:38 Alberto Cobo

3. BeethovenLiszt Symphony No.3 (8++)
10:03 Cyprien Katsaris

2. BerliozLiszt Symphonie Fantastique (9)
11:17 Roger Muraro
11:43 Roger Muraro

1. BeethovenLiszt Symphony No.9 (9)
12:36 Cyprien Katsaris
13:22 Cyprien Katsaris
15:33 Cyprien Katsaris
16:30 Cyprien Katsaris

*HONORABLE MENTIONS*

Too many to count. The Tannhauser transcription, Mazeppa, ChasseNeige, BMinor Sonata, Paganini Etude No.6 (S.140), Reminiscences de Puritains, Reminiscences de Huguenots, Reminiscences de Robert le diable, Fantasy on Don Giovanni and Figaro, Galop in A minor, Scherzo und Marsch, the other Beethoven Symphonies....

*PATREON LINK*
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