Busoni is preparing a complete edition of Liszt's compositions, to be
published by Breitkopf & Haertel. Concerning the studies, which are to
appear in three volumes, he says:
"These etudes, a work which occupied Franz Liszt from childhood on up to
manhood, we believe should be put at the head of his piano compositions.
There are three reasons for this: the first is the fact that the etudes
were the first of his works to be published; the second is that in
Liszt's own catalogue of his works (Themat. Verz. Br. H. 1855), he puts
the etudes at the very beginning; and the third and most patent is that
these works in their entirety reflect as do no others Liszt's pianistic
personality in the bud, shoot, and flower.
"These fifty-eight piano pieces alone would serve to place Liszt in the
ranks of the greatest piano composers since Beethoven--Chopin, Schumann,
Alkan, and Brahms; but proof of his superiority over these is found in
his complete works, of which the etudes are only a small part.
"They afford a picture of him in manifold lights and poses, giving us an
opportunity to know and observe him in the different phases of his
character: the diabolic as well as the religious--those who acknowledge
God do not make light of the devil--the refined and the animated; now as
an illustrative interpreter of every style and again as a marvellous
transformation artist who can with convincing mimicry don the costume
of any country. This collection consists of a work for piano which
contains within its circumference every phase, nation, and epoch of
musical expression from Palestrina to Parsifal, whereby Liszt shows
himself as a creator of twofold character--both subjective and
objective."