Tröstungen

Liszt’s Consolation No. 3 is one of his most popular pieces, especially among amateur pianists who enjoy its relatively modest technical demands. Its beautifully yearning melody over a gently undulating accompaniment, in the style of a Chopin nocturne, helps make it a perennial favourite of piano compilation albums and playlists, while in the concert hall it is most frequently heard as an encore. There are six Consolations in all, published as a set in 1850, although they are rarely heard together. They share a contemplative lyricism, two key centres (E major and D flat), predominantly slow tempos and quiet dynamics, the climaxes firmly in keeping with the gently poetic mood. Within these confined parameters, No. 2 is the most harmonically adventurous, No. 4 has quasi-religious overtones with its hymnlike chordal progressions, while No. 6 introduces a lighter texture, with gently pulsing spread chords shared between the hands.