Hungarian rhapsodies

[soderlund]

I haven't played any of the Hungarian rhapsodies yet, but I might start one very soon. I just looked through the sheet music on all of them, and the ones that seemed playable were no.3, no.5 no. 17, no.18. Does anyone have any suggestions which one to start with, if those four even are the most simple? Any suggestion on the next after these ones?

Thank you

Jonathan

[faulty_damper]

Why not play one in which you find musically enjoyable instead of pianistically playable?  I'm particularly fond of No.1 in C# minor - there is much room for recreating it with an imaginative and emotional touch.

If you haven't heard them performed at all or only be lesser musicians, you should probably look elsewhere as there are many pieces of music that are musically superior to these etudes.

[mikey6]

All of them are pianistic - Liszt knows how to write for the piano.  There musical worth is less, but they're crowd pleases and show pieces.
No.12 I don't think is as hard as it sounds, it was the first one given to me which I actually never finished.

[invictious]

Try no.11, a bit tricky to start with, but will give you a great hang of it.
Then you can try no.6.


No.6 at Cziffra Speed = Mission Impossible

[jabbz]

No.6 at Cziffra Speed = Mission Impossible

Hopefully not for much longer....

[soderlund]

Thank you for all the answers!

Why not play one in which you find musically enjoyable instead of pianistically playable? I'm particularly fond of No.1 in C# minor - there is much room for recreating it with an imaginative and emotional touch.

If you haven't heard them performed at all or only be lesser musicians, you should probably look elsewhere as there are many pieces of music that are musically superior to these etudes.

I don't think I could manage the first one, but it did seem like a lot of fun. I'll look into it again. And I wonder, which pianists do you count as not "lesser musicians" playing these pieces? The best interpretations? Cziffra I know, do you like someone else?

Thank you mikey6 and invictious, I'll check no.11 and no.12 again as well. I doubt I'm technically ready for them though. And by the way, wouldn't no.4 be a good preparation for the sixth rhapsody? I could never manage the octaves in neither of them, but I think the four in Eb major seemed a bit easier.

[soderlund]

No, I just looked at no.1, no.11 and no.12. I doubt I could play any of them, for technical reasons... I have learnt from experience that you don't attempt a piece longer than two pages that you're unsure if you can handle hehe, so I think those will just have to wait.

[imbetter]

no.6 is one of the more popular ones, and its not as hard as people take it to be. I mean, the B-flat section is almost sight readable (until you get to the part were the left hand takes the melody). Theres a slow section in the middle. Anybody that can handle a chopin nocturne can handle that.


I've played no.5. Its very slow throughout. It has a beautiful "B"  theme. Its not one of his harder rhapsody's but it's not exactly easy. It's also quite easy to butcher. 

[soderlund]

Okay, yes, I listened to the fifth one, a bad recording, but it still sounded beautiful. I do think it's a lot musically harder than the third one, like you say. Despite all the suggestions I think I'm going to start with the third one and then move on to one of the others. The rest seems so technically difficult and such a lot of work. And I would like to play Chopin's octave etude before attempting the sixth, although it's a lot simpler than it seems.

[faulty_damper]

Okay, yes, I listened to the fifth one, a bad recording, but it still sounded beautiful. I do think it's a lot musically harder than the third one, like you say. Despite all the suggestions I think I'm going to start with the third one and then move on to one of the others. The rest seems so technically difficult and such a lot of work. And I would like to play Chopin's octave etude before attempting the sixth, although it's a lot simpler than it seems.

If you really must use these rhapsodies as stepping stones, be warned that the technique required is unusually unique to these pieces in the patterns that are used.

No.6 requires an entirely different set of coordination and conditioning than Chopin's 8ve study so learning this study will not help you very much in the rhapsody.

[thaicheow]

Try no.11, a bit tricky to start with, but will give you a great hang of it.
Then you can try no.6.


No.6 at Cziffra Speed = Mission Impossible

Martha Argerich plays the No. 6 much better. Though Cziffra is good too.