Consolation No. 1 in E major, S. 172

Liszt's Consolations (1849) are six short lyrical pieces that stand apart from his bravura virtuoso writing. The first of the set is the gentlest — a quiet, hymn-like piece in E major that introduces the cycle and sets its register of intimate Romantic devotion. Liszt revised the Consolations twice; the version most often played is the second (1849).

The piece tests sustained legato playing and sensitive pedal work. The right hand carries a long lyrical melody that needs cantabile shaping over wide-arcing phrases; the left hand provides a quiet broken-chord accompaniment that must support without blurring the harmonic line. Hand position expands beyond a five-finger frame; the chord voicings need careful pedalling to clarify the harmonic shifts.

Two pitfalls. First, students often pedal continuously, which blurs the harmonic shifts; aim for a clean pedal change on each chord change, with deliberate moments of half-pedal at the harmonic pivots. Second, the dynamic plan is restrained but real — the piece has a small lift in the middle and a quiet return, and ignoring it flattens the piece into a uniform reading.

The complete Consolations are on IMSLP in clean public-domain editions. Hearing the surrounding pieces — particularly the famous third Consolation in D♭ — calibrates the right intimate Romantic register.