Liszt – Hungarian rhapsodies

https://www.discogs.com/release/8099273-Franz-Liszt-Rian-De-Waal-Hungarian-Rhapsodies

Rian de Waal was a South African-born Dutch pianist that studied in Amsterdam. He was very active in organising small festivals and concerts and was a specialist in transcriptions of piano pieces for different instruments. The Hungarian rhapsodies are a good example of that, I suppose.

Composed in two distinctive periods in Liszt long life, the rhapsodies were originally piano pieces, but were used in many forms, including orchestra and piano duet. All of them are quite famous, but probably number 2 is the best known.

They are also considered to be highly complicated to play. Liszt added some nice effects in the music that are supposed to sound like sounds of gypsy bands. Don’t try this at home kids!

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