The Liszt Sonata App is the third music app released by Touch Press, who have by now become known for their incredible apps for classical music. What’s interesting about this one is that it’s the first that doesn’t feature an orchestra, instead, just solo piano.

The piece in question is Liszt’s Sonata in B Minor, a wonderful piece played superbly by Stephen Hough. Like the previous apps released by Touch Press, you can watch the performance from several camera angles, including a new ‘Graphical Video’ which is vaguely reminiscent of the piano roll view in Logic Pro.

The ‘Graphical View’ shows just how complex this piece of music is.

The piece itself is a masterclass in writing for piano. There have been few classical composers who have written pieces of such complexity. They push the boundaries of practicality, ability and technique, yet at the same time, composing incredibly beautiful music, and this piece is no exception.

In an education setting, this is perhaps more suited to A-Level or degree students who wish to study virtuosic piano styles or the works of Liszt. At nearly half an hour and with an incredible amount of complex score to follow, it certainly requires some degree of musical knowledge if you wish to take full advantage of this app.

The commentary and interview videos are very insightful.

The extra commentary and interview videos are also of incredible value. Delivered with an infectious enthusiasm, they provide a wonderful insight into this work.

Touch Press music apps aren’t cheap. They usually cost £9.99 and for an app, that’s quite an investment for some. However, they do release apps quite often and update their existing ones to work with the current OS, so it looks like the apps will keep their value for a long time. I highly recommend this for both personal use and in the classroom. Seeing quality performances like this is quite rare outside of the concert hall and I’m sure you will enjoy it tremendously.