Grande Fantaisie symphonique über Themen aus Berlioz's 'Lélio', S.120
Romantic Fantasia Piano solo ~11 min
In brief

This Fantasy projects a theatrical, dramatic mood, alternating between heroic episodes and shadowy recitative-like passages, as if orchestral scenes were being narrated at the piano. You will need to focus on tempo rubato (3.1/5) — here it means shaping flexible pulse so phrases breathe while keeping both hands aligned — and sustain pedal (3.1/5), which requires precise, partial changes to preserve harmonic clarity in dense textures. Placed in the Romantic period, it belongs to Liszt's large-scale transcriptions and fantasies after dramatic and orchestral works, reflecting his habit of translating orchestral color to the piano. I am not providing a recommended recording because I prefer not to cite an interpretation unless I am certain of its attribution.

MusicCoach difficulty
89/100
Master repertoire
Likely range : 77–100/100
Confidence : 42% · to confirm
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
Beyond grade 8

The grade scale stops at 8; this work belongs to concert or diploma repertoire.

Difficulty estimate by MusicCoach on a scale of 1 to 100.

Where this work sits
050100

Most works cluster between 45 and 65: a small score gap often marks a real step. The highlighted bar shows this work among those for the same instrument.

The MusicCoach difficulty measures a work's overall demands (technique, reading, stamina) on a shared 0-100 scale, consolidated from editorial and pedagogical reference points (Henle, exam syllabuses, curation) and our own analyses. It measures neither musical value nor the practice time YOU will need: two musicians of the same level can experience the same work very differently depending on their strengths (hands used to octaves, quick sight-reading…). The confidence reflects how many reference points sit behind the score and how well they agree — a lightly documented score is flagged “to validate”. For a truly personal bearing, the diagnostic and your space compare each work to YOUR estimated level, which the score alone cannot do.

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Relative difficulty
89%
Among Franz Liszt
98%
Era Romantic
98%
Genre
Estimated skills
Pedaling
Sustain pedal
1
Style
Romantic style
1
Rhythm
Tempo rubato
1
Technique
Fast passages
1
Technique
Three-or-more-voice polyphony
1
Technique
General technique
1
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