Where is Franz Liszt ranked as a composer and what has put him there?
Liszt is one of the most important pianists. For three reasons, 1) He was a beast at the piano. 2) He transcribed everything. 3) He revolutionized the way we perform. Everybody knows he spewed out some of the most difficult piano literature ever. He really raised the technique bar. Especially with his second version of the transcendental etudes, he really composed some most absurdly impossible pieces to play. He was also a ridiculously good sightreader. He sightread through Grieg’s piano concerto, a very difficult concerto indeed! He also transposed Bach’s entire Well-Tempered Clavier into every key on the spot. Pretty crazy. Liszt was a beast. If there was a telephone book in Liszt’s day, he would have transcribed that. Really, Liszt’s works S. 1-350 are original works and S. 351-999 are all transcriptions, arrangements, paraphrases, and fantasies off of other composers compositions. So wonderful that we have all this opera, song, chamber, and symphony literature transcribed for piano
