Studies II (I/2)

The second volume of the New Liszt Edition, published in 1971, continues the publication of the études. The first volume contained the Transcendental Etudes, while this volume contains several smaller series of études and one independent étude. The widely used subtitles of Trois Études de Concert (1. Il lamento, 2. La leggerezza, and 3. Un sospiro) are now thought not to originate from Liszt. They were probably invented by a Paris publisher. The Ab irato is a virtuoso concert étude arrangement of Morceau de salon, made ten years later. The Two Concert Studies, which Liszt composed in 1863 for the Grand Theoretical and Practical Piano School by Sigmund Lebert and Ludwig Stark, became rather popular already in his lifetime. Today they are among the most often played works by Liszt. Finally, one of the fruits of the encounter between Liszt and Paganini in 1832 was Liszt's series of studies composed after Paganini's Caprices, the Grandes études de Paganini.

This edition includes footnotes highlighting common performance difficulties as well as English and German prefaces, one facsimile, and (in the clothbound version) critical notes in English.