Liszt was an inveterate reviser throughout his career, turning out many versions of the same work. Morceau de salon is Liszt's first rendition of Ab irato, hardly a better-known piece, but perhaps a somewhat stronger one. Some listeners may prefer this earlier take on the music, both for its greater sense of abandon and for its slightly more compact structure.

Like its sibling, Morceau de salon opens with the same menacing theme, played in the lower register. Here, however, the demonic elements are a bit less threatening than in the later version, even if there is a more pronounced vehemence in the chords in this early version. Moreover, there is a greater sense of youth permeating the music, as well as an almost improvisatory feel. Indeed, what served as a brief but substantive and lovely middle section in Ab irato appears as a fleeting romantic episode here just before the ending, thereby offering little sense of contrast to the darker elements dominating the piece. Still, this two-minute nugget is a colorful and in the end worthwhile composition, exuding much that is characteristic of the best early Liszt.

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