Liszt must have been particularly fond of six of the original fifteen, because he treated them differently from the others. What ultimately distinguishes these pieces is their uniquely successful balance of keyboard wizardry and lyrical beauty, and the variety and depth of their musical thoughts. An understanding of keyboard color and (always with Liszt) its relationship to orchestral color is key in performing these works, as is an understanding of the architecture of each one. But flair and technique alone will not suffice. They are virtuoso showpieces music that cannot succeed if the performer lacks flair. The Rhapsodies are marked by their variety of moods, within each work, and from piece to piece in the set. At the same time, they speak to the sensual side of our nature with their exceptional melodic invention, unique harmonic language, and shimmering colors. They appeal to the visceral in all of us with the athletic demands they place on the performers. These Rhapsodies are remarkable for many reasons.
He returned to the form in his later years, publishing four more in the 1870s. Between 18, Liszt wrote and published the first fifteen of his Rhapsodies. What Liszt actually transformed in his Rhapsodies were commercial, composed Hungarian light music that the gypsies had transformed into their own unique performing style a style we have come to know in its slow-fast alternating dance pattern exemplified by the cs rd s. The real truth became clear in 1906, when Bart and Kodly published the results of their trips collecting genuine Hungarian folk music. When Franz Liszt composed the first of his nineteen Hungarian Rhapsodies (for solo piano) in 1846, he was convinced that he was basing them on authentic Hungarian folk material as played to him by gypsies located in Hungary. Based on an episode of the Faust legend, where the Devil interrupts a village wedding celebration to play a macabre tune on a violin, the piece is both menacing and sultry. 1 is quintessential Liszt, treating the division between the beautiful and the diabolic. For record collectors wanting to compare the duets to piano solo and orchestral performances, the Liszt for Two CD booklet contains a chart showing how the duet numbering corresponds to the other versions. 6, entitled “Carnival at Pest,” is the most compositionally complex and provides “a test of any pair of pianists’ abilities to get around the keyboard without hurting each other,” Henry Fogel writes in the CD notes. 5 recalls Chopin themes many consider it a tribute to Chopin. 2 in the solo and orchestral versions), with its attention-grabbing opening, is the most popular of the Rhapsodies. 3 contains four Hungarian popular songs of Liszt’s time. 2 finds an intermingling of a serious mesto beginning, a wild gypsy central section, and an energetic march. 1 (using the piano duet numbering) must have contained material Liszt deeply loved, for this fourteenth solo rhapsody became the first for orchestra and piano duet, and also formed the basis for his Hungarian Fantasia. The Mangos sisters felt the duo-piano version provided “a more glorious score, a more explosive presentation of the musical idea,” making it a better companion for the Rhapsodies. To round out the program, the Mangos sisters chose Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz for Two Pianos, rather than Liszt’s four-hand arrangement. To those who sniff at piano transcriptions as “reductions,” recording producer Jim Ginsburg points out that these Rhapsodies are actually “enlargements” of Liszt’s original solo piano versions. Pianists Georgia & Louise Mangos, two “first-rate Lisztians” (Fanfare), perform Liszt’s rarely heard duet versions (one piano, four-hands), possible the only CD ever of the duets. Franz Liszt’s most familiar works - six of his Hungarian Rhapsodies - are best known in their original solo piano versions and Liszt’s orchestrations.
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