Vallée d'Obermann, early versions

[liug_2012]

One of Liszt's greatest works, La Vallée d'Obermann, went through several revisions before Liszt actually published it.

One of the early versions is published in the Appendix of the Henle Edition of Annees de Pelerinage, Vol. 1, and I know there is a "version #3 (Trista)" recording on Youtube.

Could someone tell me more about all of these early versions? I have looked everywhere and cannot find much info about them.

[edwardweiss]

I have an early version published by the Liszt Society in the sixties. There is recording I found where Ray Lewenthal plays a conflation of the later version with the original version ending. The piano more or less runs up a white flag at the end-Lewenthal was a big fellow. It works well for me because I like unconventional stuff, but purists of today would have a hissy-fit. It goes without saying that I prefer the original version in the same way I prefer the 1838 Transcendentals to the later version.

[j_menz]

It goes without saying that I prefer the original version in the same way I prefer the 1838 Transcendentals to the later version.

So as a matter of principle rather than of taste?