Franz Liszt - Consolation no. 3 (1850)

At the forefront of Liszt's otherwise uncelebrated "non-virtuosic" repertoire, the 3rd Consolation is among the most recognizable Liszt pieces. Liszt decorates a very basic harmony (main melody: V/V - V - I) in the left-hand ostinato with an expressive melody with directions "Lento placido". I am always most impressed with how Liszt is able to come up with a unique style using only such a simplistic foundation.
The Consolations are a set of 6 pieces written in either E major or D flat major. True to their namesake all of the pieces are gentle and expressive, obviously never meant to be played imposingly. Liszt commonly used these keys to suggest religious/spiritual contexts. The entire set could've been meant to be cyclic because #6 flows back into #1 tonally. The original version (written between 1844-49) of the set was much more technically challenging than the final version (1850) that ended up getting published in Leipzig with the familiar 6 Consolations.