After touring Europe from Lisbon to St. Petersburg in the 1840s, Ferenc Liszt settled in Weimar. He abandoned his position as a celebrated virtuoso and took up the post of court Kapellmeister there.

Ballade No. 2 is also from the output of this period. Composed together with the Sonata in B Minor and in the same key, to the discerning listener this work reveals the influence of Schubert and Chopin. Intriguingly, the work seems to have progressed along the same path as the composer himself: initially, it concluded with a sensational and thunderous finale, while the definitive version ends with quiet lyricism. This duality can easily be studied in this edition, which includes both versions. This revised (2018) edition is raised to the level of academic thoroughness by a new editor’s preface, a facsimile, and full critical notes.