Transcriptions and paraphrases played an important part in shaping Liszt’s role as leading musical figure of his generation.
The first pianist to play the entire range of the keyboard repertory from Bach to Chopin, his historical curiosity and ambitions did not stop there. He transcribed both famous and less well known vocal and orchestral works of others in order to promote the music, and in order to challenge himself to enrich the field of piano techniques.
Schubert-Liszt: Ave Maria performed by Sandro Russo on Liszt’s 1862 Bechstein Piano: