I'd like to second (or third) the recommendations of Nojima Plays Liszt and Nojima Plays Ravel on Reference Recordings, and add one more: Claudio Arrau playing the Liszt Transcendental Etudes on Philips. These are analog recordings (made 1974-76), very close up, exceptionally vivid and immediate. You feel like your head is about three feet away from the piano's sounding board. The first item, Prelude, only 1:05 long, is quite spectacular and wide-ranging and will tell you right away whether or not you like this kind of very close up piano sound. I do.
