Liszt- 12 Grand Etudes

[thorn]

I just wanted to ask: just because these Etudes are never performed (arent there something like only two recordings ever made of them?), does that mean they should never be performed?

I spoke to a music teacher about it and he said that there is no point in putting such effort into the Grand Etudes, where you can put the same amount into the Transcendentals which are technically easier and more appreciated.

Has anyone else learned any of the Grand Etudes? Which of them are worth learning as well as their counterpart in the Transcendentals?

[maxy]

The thing with the Grandes Études is that they are harder and less effective than the TEs.  It may be interesting to look at Grande Etude 10 since it got cut quite a bit before becoming TE10.

[thalbergmad]

The only one i have played or should i say tried to was the number 10.

Number 8 is interesting as well.

I guess one has to decide for oneself if the effort is worth it, for indeed the Trannys are easier.

Thal

[moi_not_toi]

Try every version of Mazeppa there is 

No, it's not a sin to play them, it's just that because they're virtually the same as the TEs, everyone will assume that you're playing it wrong.

[stevie]

the ones that are different enough from the TEs are definetly worth playing

in particular, etude no 2 is ALOT ALOT harder than the TE, and with some wikid musical additions.

GE 8, as mentioned, has a completely different figuration for the opening phrase, and has some rather wikid furious parts that were cut.

GE 10 is surely the most wikid GE and is a masterpiece, the march section in particular is a wikid addition.
its extremely difficult too...but worth it.

the ones i mentioned are definetly AS worth playing as their TE versions, but what about the rest?

i think that someone who plays all the TEs very fluently, like berezovsky, should perhaps  attempt the whole set, because no recordings so far are completely satisfactory.

[thorn]

what about GE 11? i think the same thing that maxy said about GE 10 can be applied to that, and what stevie said about GE 2 also.

i really like this etude, but maybe its better to just stick with harmonies du soir because it's pretty well known in comparison to the rest of the etudes? i think with this one people would think that the pianist was just murdering harmonies du soir?