All 57 Liszt Etudes from Easy to Impossible

Here it is, every single Liszt Étude ever written. Except for the S.146 technical exercises, which are meant to be played by robots and not human beings with emotions. This might be a little bit of a confusing video because there's so many different iterations of the different pieces Liszt wrote that it may be sometimes difficult to keep track of all of them. So here is what you really need to know. S.136: These are the teenage Liszt etudes, "Étude en douze exercices." They are the baby versions of what would eventually become the legendary Transcendental Etudes, and range from intermediate difficulty to early advanced. While many of them will have the same familiar melodies as the Transcendentals, the texture will be totally different and really not Liszt-like at all. Since they were likely written under Czerny's instruction when Liszt was only 15, they are clearly very influenced by Czerny's technical exercises. But they do show a lot of potential in terms of melodic invention. S.137: This are "Grand Douze Etudes," the second iteration of what would become the Transcendental Etudes. He wrote these in 1837-1839 as a revision of S.136 and really, really beefed these babies up. Likely they were written for his own performance and to show off his capabilities to the public—they are of such ridiculous difficulty that you could probably count on one hand the number of pianists able to pull off this set back in the 1830s. S.139: These are the third and final version of S.136, now named the "Transcendental Etudes." Written in 1851, the older and wiser Liszt decided to simplify S.137, presumably so that pianist other than himself could buy and play these etudes. He also gave them programmatic names, which were almost all not present in the earlier version. So in essence, these are the marketable versions of the S.137 Etudes and the ones that most pianists play today. Honestly, they are less "transcendental" than S.137, but in general I would say that the revisions were a marked improvement that made them more pianistic while still sounding equally showy. S.140: These are also "Transcendental" Etudes, or more accurately, Transcendental Etudes written after Paganini ("Études d'exécution transcendante d'après Paganini"). Written in 1838-1840, these bad boys are based on Paganini caprices (except for La Campanella, which is based on Paganini's second violin concerto) and are on average horrific to play. Much like S.139, they went through a much needed revision in 1851 to make them simpler and more marketable. S.141: The second and easier version of S140 written in 1851 was called the "Grandes études de Paganini," which is a very confusing reversal of the naming scheme used for S.137 and S.139. They are simpler—at times way, way simpler. Still on average virtuosic though, especially number 3 and number 6. S.144: These are the "Trois Études de concert" (Three concert etudes) written in 1845-1849, which are probably some of the most artistic and accessible etudes by Liszt. All three of them—especially No.1 and No.3 (the famous "Un Sospiro")—are drop dead gorgeous. S.145: The Zwei Konzertetüden (Two concert etudes), written in 1862, are the last etudes Liszt ever wrote besides the godawful S.146 Technical Studies. They are quite programmatic, virtuosic, and depict fairy-like forest scenes. And there are also his scattered Études here and there, like the two versions of Ab Irato, and the extremely unknown and unplayed S.138 version of Mazeppa. 0:00 Intermediate/Early Advanced (5/6++) 0:18 S.136/3 1:00 S.136/9 2:19 S.136/7 2:56 S.139/3 “Paysage” 3:42 S.136/1 4:18 S.136/12 5:05 S.136/11 5:36 S.137/3 6:17 S.136/6 6:56 S.136/2 7:43 S.137/1 8:11 S.139/1 “Preludio” 9:05 S.136/5 9:57 S.141/4 10:39 S.136/4 11:10 S.136/10 12:02 S.141/5 “La Chasse” 13:11 S.136/8 13:44 S.139/11 “Harmonies du soir” 16:01 S.144/1 “Il Lamento” 17:21 Advanced/Very Advanced (Difficulty Level: 7/7+) 17:27 S.144/3 “Un sospiro” 19:02 S.145/2 “Gnomenreigen” 19:34 S.137/11 21:28 S.144/2 “La leggierezza” 22:11 S.140/5 “La Chasse” 23:09 S.139/6 “Vision” 24:34 S.143 “Ab irato” 25:40 S.139/2 “Fusees” 26:13 S.137/6 27:36 S.141/2 28:27 S.139/9 “Ricordanza” 29:35 S.142 “Morceau de salon” 30:14 S.137/9 31:06 S.141/1 32:04 S.140/1 33:01 S.139/7 “Eroica” 33:40 S.145/1 “Waldesrauschen" 34:22 Virtuoso (Difficulty Level: 7++/8) 34:28 S.140/2 (7++) 35:49 S.139/10 “Appassionata" 36:42 S.137/2 (7++) 37:39 S.141/6 (7++) 38:38 S.140/4a (7++) 39:32 S.141/3 “La Campanella” (8, arguably 7++) 39:51 S.139/8 “Wilde Jagd” (8, arguably 7++) 40:45 S.137/7 (8) 41:37 S.139/4 “Mazeppa” (8) 42:55 S.139/12 “Chasse-Neige” (8) 44:10 Borderline unplayable (8+ and up) 44:16 S.137/4 (8+) 45:09 S.138 “Mazeppa” (8+) 46:18 S.137/12 (8+) 47:29 S.137/8 “Pandaemonium” (8+) 48:57 S.140/3 “La Campanella” (8+) 50:03 S.137/10 (8+) 51:22 S.140/6 (8++) 52:13 S.139/5 “Feux Follets” (8++) 53:06 S.137/5 (8++) 53:38 S.140/4b (9)