Search - Franz Liszt, Matyas Antal, Michael Halasz :: The Best of Liszt

Hungarian Rhapsody Number 2 - awfully orchestrated

M. J MUIR | 01/19/1999

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Liszt, as one may well know, wrote some extremely beautiful music. Therefore, any bad review which I give must be due to the performance of his work. Hungarian Rhapsody no 2 is one of the most beautiful pieces of music in existance. It is originally a piano piece, but the piece on this CD has been orchestrated - with an absolutely disastrous effect. One not only does one not get the wonderful strong rhythm that the hungarian rhapsody should provide, but the choice of instruments of whoever orchestrated this piece actually makes this work sound bad. The other tracks on this CD are played well enough, but if you are looking for the best of Liszt, you will not be satisfied as Hungarian R. no. 2 is a monumental work of Liszt."

Hungarian Rhapsody was written for both piano and orchestra!

M. J MUIR | United Kingdom | 02/11/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sorry to the last reviewer, but Hungarian Rhapsody no.2 is both an orchestral and a piano solo piece, and always has been!Nobody has orchestrated it apart from Liszt himself. On this CD it is played rather well, too.Jeno Jando, incidentally, does give a solo piano recital on Naxos "Hungarian Rhapsodies Vol. 1" no. 8.554480.The rendition he gives is very good too, although it does require extreme virtuosity, the type of skills very few pianists in the history of recording have possesed. Some would say Jeno Jando comes close, but just misses on that count. It is a breathtaking piece of music on the piano, but played by an orchestra it isn't bad either!Incidentally, some think you have to go back to the earlier part of this century, to the so called "golden age" of pianists, to find a really good rendition of Hungarian Rhapsody no 2, because it is, even for a concert poianist, such a formidably difficult piece to play. I've never hard a Jorg Bolet recording, but as a seminal Liszt specialist I'm sure he would do it well, and I've heard the Cziffra recording is good too. I do own a historical recording of Benno Moiseiwitsch (no apologies if I've misspelt that one!), again courtesy of Naxos (no.8.110669). Like many romantic pianistrs, he hits alot of wrong notes, but the flamboyance and timing he displays really capture the breathtaking folly of the piece. Although as the recording was made in 1938, expect a bit of a crackle on the sound quality.This is a good introduction to Liszt's music, and is inexpensive too. Naxos are incredibly reliable for a budget label, and the quality of their recordings and performances is uniformly good. This compilation, taken from a range of CDs, is no exception. Plus, in Jeno Jando and Joseph Banowetz in particular, you get the opportunity to listen to two of the best pianists never to have been really famous."