I’ve been working on the Liszt B minor Sonata for the first time since about 2000 or 2001. I wanted to demonstrate vaguely to my girlfriend that I used to be able to play the majority of it up to the hectic fugato section; when I did, so little of it was left readily-available in my fingers that I could barely struggle through the first few pages.

“This won’t do,” thought I.

So: the Schumann Symphonic Etudes have been put to bed for a while, along with Carter’s 90+, while I get the Liszt going again. Interestingly, getting it up and running again – in an albeit slightly shaky fashion – took me just four days. It just goes to show how long a piece can stay ingrained in your subconscious if you spend long enough learning it to start with.