Liszt - Tarantella

[maul]

I just started this piece. Anyone else played it? What am I in for?

[donjuan]

I also played it- man, you are in for a roller coaster.  I never regretted learning it.  Now, if only I kept it in my repertoire.  I found this piece pretty comfortable for the hands, once you know the notes to play.  The hardest bit for me was actually everything from the start of the piece to the lyrical gondolier section.  This piece was very helpful in getting me used to 3 against 4 timing, and now it's no problem when I come across similar passages in music.  THe ending is an adrenaline rush, and for me, the trouble was trying to keep it under control.  In performance, I always ended up trying to play it faster than I could and as a result it turned out muddy and uneven in parts.  Make sure you hit the right chords at the end or everything you have been working for in the last 10 minutes would have gone to waste.  Remember that the first impression is the last impression in pieces like these. 

Best wishes, I am sure you will have a blast!!   
donjuan

[dedalus]

I am just starting this piece also and so far it has not been too incredibly difficult.  However, after listening to a couple of recordings, I believe it is going to be more aout making it sound good than just learning the notes.  The nice part is from what I have done so far is that everything kind of just makes sense.  All of the chords and phrasings fit together well and lead into one another.  Anyway, I am also interested in anything else I should know about this piece before going any further on it.

-Dedalus

[maul]

Yeah. From what I've played so far it's fairly easy, but it will get harder. Oh yes. The notes are pretty straight forward as you said. Getting it up to speed with clarity is going to take the longest for sure.

[DarkWind]

I have been learning this piece for quite a while. It isn't very easy to make the music sound as good as the recordings. That is the true challenge!