Liszt - Grandes Etudes S137 no 4 (Mazeppa)

Liszt Grandes Etudes (S137) no 4 (difficulty rating 8.5/10) So this is maybe the only etude in the Grandes set where it's arguable between the difficulty of this version or the Transcendental (I find them about similar). Personally I think the Transcendental is better overall musically, but this version has a pretty nice middle section as well. The other thing about Mazeppa is the difficulty and technique depend a lot on whether or not you want to use Liszt's suggested 2-4 fingering (sometimes I use 2-3 but that's a disgression). With the 2-4 fingering, you can't play it as fast and it becomes more of a study in agility and wrist looseness. If you play it with the standard thirds fingering, it can be faster and becomes a study in jumps. I think the 2-4 finger is a lot harder personally and since Liszt has plenty of jumps etudes, I chose to use that for this recording, which I now regret doing...