Transcendental Etude S. 139 No. 9 in Ab Major "Ricordanza"-F. Liszt

F. Liszt - Transcendental Etude S. 139 No. 9 in Ab Major "Ricordanza"

🎼 About the Piece

An intimate melodic voice emerges through delicate ornamental figures, creating the reflective atmosphere of a remembered song whose details continually change in colour and expression.

Elaborate decorations and cadenza-like passages expand the lyrical material, allowing the study to combine a searching, improvisatory surface with a sustained sense of poetic recollection.

✨ Sheet Music Highlights

The score develops refined cantabile and fluent ornamental playing, requiring the performer to hear the melodic framework clearly within intricate and freely unfolding figurations.

Flexible fingering and sensitive tonal balance help decorative passages retain direction, while carefully timed pedalling supports resonance without obscuring the music’s delicate harmonic changes.

🎹 Performance & Recommendation Points

This etude suits advanced pianists exploring an intimate kind of virtuosity, where expressive detail and a clear melodic thread are more important than the outward size of the gesture.

Practise the principal line as a continuous song before adding its ornamentation, then let each decorative passage grow toward a meaningful arrival within the work’s longer reflective arc.

Have a happy performance!