Sonata in b, Religious Pieces, Var. on Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen

I'm not a big Liszt fan, but I definitely enjoyed both Funerailles and Benediction de Dieu dans la Solitude. The sonata and variations are impressive as well. It is interesting to note with this entire set just how different this Liszt sounds from the Liszt of the transcendental etudes and opera reductions that were his staples. In these pieces I hear the kind of maturity that a man that has given up on the 'rockstar' life might later develop: a kind of intensity and virtuosity honed through years of playing, but now complimented by a new, more thinking-man's approach to composition. Funerailles and the variations are both far more adventurous harmonically than earlier Liszt, although this entire set seems to point to a level of chromaticism not employed in his earlier works.

It is also quite a switch to hear such religious influence, but this again can be explained by Liszt's life to that point. The end of the Variations, for instance, for a moment, anyway, plays like a very virtuosic hymn, and the fact that it is a tribute to Bach can't be overlooked either - as he was the original church keyboardist... all in all, I think I would like more of Liszt's output from this period, if these works are any evidence.