Liszt made his first sketches for the E flat major piano concerto around 1830 while still a teenager. He only began to refine the full details while living in Weimar in the 1850’s. His work was characterised by immense care and self-criticism, and in all, he produced five versions.

It was premiered finally in Weimar on February 17th 1855: Liszt was the soloist while the visiting Berlioz conducted. Although the work is in four movements, they are forged together into a single immense unit. The opening section begins with the energetic, heroic theme played by the orchestra, which is then followed by the piano in a bravura cadenza, marked by Liszt “grandioso.” The principal orchestral theme undergoes various transformations but returns again and again in such a way as to be instantly recognisable – except in the tender slow movement. This is in B major, marked Quasi Adagio, and a beautiful cantabile melody emerges, played first by the muted strings to a chordal piano accompaniment. The solo cello receives an important role, but towards the end of this section, the flute suddenly interjects the playful anapaestic theme. Beats on the triangle indicate the Scherzo has begun. In the final movement, there is no new theme. We hear what has already been presented, but utterly transformed in character. The melody that is at the centre of the dreamy slow movement has now become an abrasive march theme.