Liszt Hungarian Rhapsodies II

Author: Peter Laper
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-08-01
Features: Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies are often misinterpreted and poorly performed, leading to undeserved bad reputation and being mistakenly labeled as overly works. In fact, they are extremely rare adaptations of folk music into piano compositions, with highly infectious details and a unique, admirable style.
Liszt once vividly described the process of creating these works: "A vast amount of musical material surged within me, waiting for me to compare, select, eliminate, organize, and enhance. At that time, I firmly believed that these separate notes and scattered melodies would form a subtle but indispensable part of a grand whole. These perfect notes and melodies themselves would create a harmonious and complete musical work. Moreover, due to their inherent outstanding characteristics and extraordinary beauty, these works would be regarded as an epic—a Gypsy epic; an epic written in an unpopular language and through an uncommon form, as extraordinary as all those works born from the life of the people."