Chopin and Liszt pieces

[hjorturi]

Hello everybody.

I am new to this forum, found in me the urge to sign up after following its enthusiastically for a while. I come from Reykjavik, Iceland, and am a semi-professional pianist, still a student though; in varius pop and jazz acts. You could say that I make a living out of it, although I am only 20 years old and miles away from reaching my artistic goals (but of course these are not meant to be reached but rather approached trough a lifetime of playing). Although I am very much aware of the fact that I will never be a concert pianist (there are so many exellent ones out there anyway ) - I have found a new desire in the last years, namely playing and listening to classical music. I have grown to be quite a nerd (is there any nicer word?) on all things pianistic, hunting down favorite versions of pieces and reading accounts like Schonberg's "The great pianists" like a devoted christian cherishes his Bible. Needless to say I have the same passion for jazz pianists, especially those who have studied and/or are influenced by classical music, which is much more common than the average listener might think. But enough of this nonsense about me, here comes the topic of this thread.

This might be a chliché, but I come up with it anyway, and please notify me if something rather similar exists. Chopin and Liszt are, of course, among the most-discussed composers on this forum. I myself tend to love Chopin's music more because of it's infinite amount of poetry and beuty, but I tend to explore Liszt a bit more, not only because of the trancendental aura of difficulty and excitement that surrounds much of his compositions, but also because of the eventful life that he lived and the vast variety of the type of works he composed.

As probably everyone knows, their pieces have the individual character one can identify with, but given that they were contemporaries and friends my argument is: Were they, and if yes, to what extent, influenced by each other in their piano writings? What piece/s by Chopin is the most Lisztian and vice versa.

I am not a musicologist or a specialist on this matter as probably many here are but my thoughts would be: Yes indeed, although Liszt was probably more influenced by Chopin than Chopin by Liszt because his style of composing relied more on outside influences and were often even directly based on them (opera paraphrases etc.). Chopin had one of the most original talents in the history of music, and he claimed to have no contemporary influences (I read that somewhere, at least), except Italian bel canto opera, and especially those of his friend, Bellini (Of which he is buried next to). Aside from that his influences were primarily based on the classicism of Mozart and the mighty sweep of J.S. Bach. Liszt, however was like a sponge that inherited a wide variety of styles, from Hungarian folk music to gregorian chant to bel canto etc.

That sums it up for now, but I would be extremely satisfied if I would hear any options on the subject and certain pices that may come to mind.