Favorite Transcendental Étude

[humanoidxyz]

Most of this poll is close so I decided to make one forever lasting poll (so that I can still know their popularity after some decades) 

My personal favorites are Chasse-Neige and Wilde Jagd 

[lelle]

I would personally be interested in seeing posting their motivation for their choices in the thread! I chose Wilde Jagd for now. I'm not crazy about the Transcendental Etudes (I feel they are a bit too grandiose and overwrought for my taste) but I like that one. Possibly because it's the only one I have played So seeing what appeals to others in these piece would be interesting.

[roncesvalles]

This was a hard decision for me.  Hearing Liszt for the first time changed what I thought was possible with music, both in soundscape and emotional expression.  I consider myself to be kind of ethereal, so my fascination for Liszt has always perplexed me.  I'm a fan of his lyricism, with many of his melodies being ear worms for me (the only piece I've learned by him is one of his lieder).   There are several etudes that I love.  Ricordanza and Chasse-Neige with their memorable melodies, Feux-Follets as an extraordinarily inventive piece, Vision as one of the more successful arpeggio-pieces I've heard until Ravel.  But it's number two for me that holds a special magic for me.  I've always associated it with some kind of nocturnal magic--playing with something dark, but also stressing a kind of impish fun, balancing dark and light, menace and excitement.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

I've a definite preference for the final third, and Chasse-Neige stands apart from the rest imo in being a very real expansion in the expressive powers of the piano.

[ted]

I used to play Mazeppa and Wilde Jagd in my youth because my teacher had a penchant for giving me anything loud and flashy but the charm of the set has now completely worn off. I heard Ogdon play them here in 1967 and the extraordinary sound he drew from the instrument in Chasse-Neige remains in my memory to this day. So I answered those three but my musical taste has changed out of sight over the last twenty years.

[humanoidxyz]

I used to play Mazeppa and Wilde Jagd in my youth

Wow seriously... I'm so old and I can't even play Preludio... 

[ted]

Wow seriously... I'm so old and I can't even play Preludio... 

Plenty of time, if you really like them and want to play them you will.

[ranjit]

I'm not sure why people haven't selected Feux Follets. Maybe it's more trouble than it's worth? Regardless, I love the color that you can produce on the piano with that piece. It has always been a favorite with audiences.

[getsiegs]

While I've heard the whole set, I don't really "know" some of the etudes particularly well yet (like Ricordanza, Harmonies du Soir, Mazeppa). My two current favorites, though, are Wilde Jagd and Chasse-Neige - Wilde Jagd is such a fan piece and there's a pleasant balance between the lyrical sections and the "presto furioso" parts. Chasse-Neige is incredible for obvious reasons: beautiful, haunting melody; rich texture; the use of chromatic scales to mimic howling wind; etc.

I'm not sure why people haven't selected Feux Follets. Maybe it's more trouble than it's worth? Regardless, I love the color that you can produce on the piano with that piece. It has always been a favorite with audiences.

I like Feux Follets a lot, just not quite as much as the other two. I also find with Feux Follets in particular, given its physical and musical difficulty, that it's hard to find performances that I actually like. My favorite performance for awhile has been Kristina Miller - a brisk tempo without feeling rushed, a light touch, it's not overpedaled, and she makes an effort to "romanticize" certain sections by emphasizing the melody and taking some rubato. I'm not usually one for much rubato, but I think it's more than welcome given how easy it is to make this piece sound robotic and melody-less.

[ranjit]

I personally like this recording:

[anacrusis]

Feux Follets is one of those pieces I want to learn, but every time I take a stab at it I just feel it will be too much work and then I drop it again

Good choice with Cziffra!

[humanoidxyz]

there's a pleasant balance between the lyrical sections and the "presto furioso" parts. Chasse-Neige is incredible for obvious reasons: beautiful, haunting melody; rich texture; the use of chromatic scales to mimic howling wind

The same reason I like them! 

[obbligato]

Pretty interesting to compare with the results for previous polls on the same question.

[anacrusis]

Pretty interesting to compare with the results for previous polls on the same question.

Now you have me curious, can you link to some of the polls you had in mind? What did you find interesting?

[humanoidxyz]

Now you have me curious, can you link to some of the polls you had in mind? What did you find interesting?

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=56218.0
I'm quite surprised that only 3 here voted for Harmonies du Soir.
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=12373.0
Wait, I somehow found a not-dead poll. Everybody there loves Mazeppa.
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=44908.0
Wow! They love Chasse-Neige!
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=44786.0
Humans are so unpredictable sometimes. (Well I like Preludio too)
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=60503.0
Oops, they are ranking difficulty not likedness.