Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 04/05/2017, uploaded on 12/04/2017

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Liszt was Hungary’s first internationally renowned composer.  He catapulted to fame as a virtuoso pianist, possibly the greatest the world has ever known.  His solo piano compositions are primarily display pieces for strength and technique. They do afford plenty of opportunity for good musicianship, and they memorialize his bravura playing style. Between 1840 and 1847 he published two sets of pieces based on Hungarian themes under the titles Magyar Dallok and Magyar Rhapsodiak. Although these works were revised extensively in subsequent years, they are the origins of the collection we know as the Hungarian Rhapsodies. The Twelfth is one of those that he later orchestrated, which has added to its familiarity.  Like the other Hungarian Rhapsodies, it is important for its expansion of keyboard technique, admirably imitating the sounds of the Gypsy band in a quasi-orchestral extravaganza that is quite remarkable on solo piano.         Notes by Laurie Shulman

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.