Franz Liszt, Transcendental Etudes, No 4 - "Mazeppa"

Franz Liszt's commitment to composing a cycle of twelve studies for piano took him a long time, about 26 years. It is true that he began quite young since his first approach dates from the time when he had as a pupil the Countess Carolyne de Saint-Cricq, his first and failed love. Liszt was then 15 years old, and decided to imitate the serial studies that were common in those days. In them, despite their simplicity, we can see the seed of his later production.

A second version
A revision of the original twelve etudes dates from 1837. Liszt was at the height of his fame as a piano virtuoso, and as such, the pieces show a significant intensification of technical difficulties, to the extent that his colleague Robert Schumann noted that only a handful of pianists would be able to perform them in a satisfactory manner.

A third version
The third and last version was published in Paris as Études d'Exécution Transcendante, in 1852, and dedicated to his teacher Carl Czerny. Perhaps moved by Schumann's perception, in this version the maestro decided to lighten the virtuosic demands a little, freeing the Études from the excessive pyrotechnics of the 1837 version, and adding, to his advantage, more musical values.
This is the version that is performed today and, of course, the twelve pieces continue to be an enormous challenge for the performers. 

Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886)

Étude No. 4 in D minor, "Mazeppa"
Étude No. 4, one of the most demanding, is inspired by a poem by Victor Hugo, Mazeppa. The poem tells the story of Ivan Mazeppa, a Cossack nobleman who seduces a noblewoman, also noble, but Polish. As punishment, he is tied naked to a wild horse that takes him to Ukraine, where he miraculously arrives alive. After being freed by his Cossack peers, he is named their monarch, in recognition of such a feat.

The work, which attempts to musically reflect the horse's unbridled gallop and the ensuing suffering of the daring Mazeppa, adds to its technical demands an unusual fingering proposed by Liszt, with the pointed purpose of achieving either the required staccato or precise legato.
Later, in 1851, Liszt will recreate the story again, with the same title, but this time as part of his cycle of thirteen tone poems, composed during his stay in Weimar.

The rendition is by the brilliant French pianist Emmanuel Despax.