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Transcriptions by Liszt and
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Franz Liszt: Transcriptions
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.
In orchestral transcriptions Liszt strived to create a sound that would reflect the colour of the various instruments, while the song transcriptions show remarkable inventiveness in preserving both the vocal line and the full richness of the accompaniment.
In the Opera paraphrases, based on small fragments of the original work, he uses the most memorable moments to try to capture the essence of the Opera’s characters and ideas.
