Berceuse in D‑Flat Major

After Chopin’s death in 1849, whether with a sense of liberation or as a conscious tribute, Liszt wrote a number of pieces in genres unavoidably associated with the Polish composer, including ballades, polonaise and a Berceuse (“Lullaby”). None is so indebted to Chopin as the last of these, transparently modelled on Chopin’s own groundbreaking Berceuse (1843), in the same key of D flat major and likewise unfolding over a sustained tonic pedal point. In fact, as so often with Liszt’s music, this piece exists in two versions. The first (1854) lasts under five minutes and is largely free from the florid decoration that is so distinctive in Chopin’s work, conveying an unruffled tranquillity. The second (1862) effectively amounts to a different piece. It is around twice as long, and although it builds on the same material, it soon becomes saturated with filigree ornamentation. This is a more substantial, darker work, where the melodic fragments play hide-and-seek within the surrounding embroidery, giving the piece a rather wistful character.