The Official Lisztomaniac Complete Transcendental Etudes Challenge!

Karen Sam 12, 4, 5 are probably the most played at the level

Adam Zhang Thanks, Adam! That helps. Do you have other programme suggestions?

Karen Sam 4, 5, 10, 12, 

Karen Sam i never did the ABRSM exam but i did something similar here in the US, and they typically really like a diverse repertoire. I would suggest choosing one or two pieces from each time period :)

Baroque: Bach. Italian Concerto, French/English Suites, or some of the Goldberg Variations if you're into that. Bach is the gold standard, but I'm sure you could find some other composers that are good for your level. Probably not any of the Scarlatti sonatas though

Classical: Most of the time Beethoven or Schubert. For Beethoven, people usually go through the sonata route. Waldstein, Hammerklavier, Appassionata, or Op.101 are the most popular and competitive. Schubert is a good blend of classical and romantic. I personally love the wanderer fantasy.

Romantic: a lot obviously. ones that come to find are Liszt's TEs, Schumann Toccata, Schumann Fantasy (may be too long for your purposes), Chopin Ballades (i love 4), Scherzos (i love 4 again), or really any of the very often played etudes. Barcarolle is awesome too. as a Lisztian I would recommend you look into some of the shorter but virtuosic Annees de Pelerinage (Les Cloches, Orage, villa d'este, Sposalizio, or petrarch sonnet 104), or the Paganini Etudes 3 or 6. 

Modern: i feel like the standard nowadays is Ravel Gaspard de la nuit, or Scriabin Sonata 2/5/whitemass/blackmass. 

Contemporary: this might be an optional section for a lot of music programmes. the most popular nowadays are Liebermann Gargoyles, or the works of Arvo Part.

Adam Zhang oh i would also recommend doing one long piece (15 minutes). Liszt: Dante sonata, vallee d'obermann, spanish rhapsody, don juan, norma. Chopin Fantasie, etc any of the longer pieces i mentioned above. it acts like a spike. it should show off your best technique (if you are good at Bach, do that. if you are good at chopin, do that. if you are good at mozart, do that.)

Adam Zhang 

Adam Zhang said:
i never did the ABRSM exam but i did something similar here in the US, and they typically really like a diverse repertoire.

 Which exam did you do? Also, ABRSM is sometimes used in the US. 

Maria Yeah, I don't know why I said in the US, since people also do it there. I did ASMTA once upon a time, a music theory and performance program for Arizona, back when I lived there. It's not as big, but it was quite rigorous. It's designed for secondary schoolers, not university students, so think of the earlier ABRSM levels. I passed Level 12 (the final level) in 6th grade of middle school with Bach French Suite No. 5 Allemande, Beethoven Sonata Op. 2 No. 1, Chopin Revolutionary, and Liszt Rhapsody 6. Obviously, for LRSM, you're gonna have to choose more technical pieces.

Adam Zhang 

Many thanks for your thoughtful suggestions! I’d love to do a Mozart, but my favourite is not on the syllabus. 

Maria Thanks!

Adam Zhang Sindre is already planning to play La Campanella as an “encore”; I can guarantee you that no one would mind hearing that piece twice. Sounds like you’ve played just about every major virtuoso piece out there, so S. 138 or anything from S. 139 should pose no problem for you - please do join us! This is such an exciting and worthwhile project… 😀

Alexander Weymann I would ask if I can also do an encore; however, we already have 2 encores, and I can't currently play any of his "virtuosic" pieces without relearning them, which I am currently too busy to do. It would be probably be odd for me to play something from Annees de Pelerinage or Soirees de Vienne as an encore. 

 I’m not in charge here, just offering comments from the peanut gallery. But I would imagine that Noel Nguyen and Maestro Dominic Cheli (and certainly me, too, for what it’s worth) would happily accept your submission, whatever it is, as long as it’s by Liszt (or Lyapunov 😉) and somehow in the general spirit of this challenge. Remember, Noel has already teased that there may be a Part 2, with a watch party on October 22, if the cornucopia of submissions doth indeed overflow. Alternatively, as you know, your submission would be more than welcome at any of this year’s Community Concerts if it’s not suitable for this particular Challenge. 

Alexander Weymann sounds good! im working on brahms 2 rn so i genuinely havent had that much time to practice S140 recently. this german guy is making me go nuts. maybe over the summer when i have a break? i would love to be a part of this.