First "Big" work of Liszt.

[chopinlover01]

I know this has probably been asked a million times, but for some exams (date TBD, but I probably have about 6 months) my teacher suggested that I learn a Liszt work that's "fairly virtuosic", the only work I've actually studied all the way being the third Liebestraum.
That said, what would you all recommend?
I've been listening to a bunch of Hungarian Rhapsodies, and so far, I'm considering 6 and 10, but I'm not sure those are suitable for a 6 month period.
Your thoughts? I'd also prefer not to do an etude if possible (seeing as those are his biggest technical impossibilities, lol), but the world isn't perfect, lol.
Cheers!

[rubinsteinmad]

I've never actually played a "Big work" of Liszt, and I'm not planning to until 5 years from now  , but from listening, here are some of my favorite "moderately big-very big" works:


-Hungarian Rhapsody no. 11 (One of my teachers told me this is a good starting Hungarian Rhapsody. Looking at the scores, I think there are some easier ones, but I think they sound like crap. #11 is one of my favorites as a listener.)

-Concert Waltz on Themes from Lucia and Parisina (A long time ago, Thalbergmad said that this was a less demanding work than many other opera transcriptions. For now, Ill trust him. From the point of view of the listener, I LOVE it. It sounds so familiar! Thalbergmad seemed to like it too.)

- Erlkonig & Ave Maria ( OMG I LOVE TO LISTEN TO THOSE PIECES Some other pretty Schubert-Liszt song transcriptions for me are Die Forelle, Die Stadt, Serenade, Doppleganger, Barcarolle, Die Junge Nonne, and Gretchen. There is also a group called "Soirees de Vienne" that Liszt wrote. They are paraphrases on Schubert Waltzes. It can be tedioius to listen to them all, so if you don't hacve the sheet music at hand to make your own decisions, then I'd suggest these: nos. 6 and 9.)

-6 Polnische Lieder (A transcription of songs by Chopin. Honestly, I don't know how long it takes to play all these, but I'm pretty sure it's under 15 minutes.)

-Widmung (It's a great transcription. I think it can bring up many beauties that the Schumann original just doesn't have,)

-Funerailles (I don't know why I'm suggesting this, but I love the slow part and the heroic part.)

-Tarantella (IMNSHO, this is one of Liszt's not-to-demanding "virtuoso" works. It doesn't have really that many "riffs", for me the main technical difficulties  are repeated notes (not really too bad) and a few akward arppegios. I think it's really interesting, lively, impressive, yet beautiful & exquisite all packed in the same piece.)



Seriously though, I have no idea the difficulties of these pieces; I just found their approximate difficulties by looking at people's lists and recommendations (I. e. donjuan's rankings; Thalbergmad's recommendations, etc.)

[chopinlover01]

Many thanks, friend. Right now I'm floating between Tarantella and the HR8, as well as toying with some others.
Completely coincidentally, right now as I'm typing this (8:48 PM pacific time) it's the old master's birthday. Happy birthday Franz!

[visitor]

My recc is heavily inflyenced by the fact that i care ore most of the stuff Frank did prior to his chilling out later in life, ie joinng the clergy,  dealing w death if loved ones,  issues w not being able to marry his true love etc.

Basically his jiggiest stuff comes later i  his life. This is one of those "non early" works i simply adore and it also shows genius and innovation as it looms forward to impressionist style and l
Starts deviating from std romantic fare

This is deep, super cool

And one exception are the Schubert like op 1 variations these are very very early Frank and a sound i would loved.to have seen him continue to develop but he ends up getting all flashy and boring before he comes to his senses later in life when his priorities shift
This is really lovely

[ronde_des_sylphes]

HRs 8, 11 and 13 are clearly easier than 6, which requires a fair bit of stamina.

The 6th TE is quite easy imo, and qualifies as "fairly virtuosic".

The Lucia and Parisina is an ok suggestion. A little bit harder, but not dreadfully difficult, is the Rienzi paraphrase (cadenza is nasty though, if you're playing it at a fast tempo).

Funerailles is fairly straightforward, apart from the lh octaves, which are a harder version of Chopin op.53 (their back-and-forward motion is a pain).

Vallee d'Obermann is a fantastic piece, and not as hard as much virtuoso Liszt, clearly easier than Mephisto, for example.

The paraphrase on Handel's Almira would be something a little bit different, and it's not prohibitively difficult. I like his Miserere paraphrase, but whilst it's not super-difficult it's probably a bit harder than the others mentioned in my reply.

Tarantella from Annees de pelerinage is a lot of fun. Just don't mix it up with the Tarantella on Auber

Ave Maria is harder than it sounds. Never played Erlkonig, but I believe it has some rather nasty fifth finger stuff.

I've played the second Legende, and it probably fits the bill quite well; likewise the Ballades (no-one plays the first Ballade, and it's not without merit).