Customer Reviews

Liszt : Very Best for Piano (The Classical Composer Series)

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I have gotten many hours of joy out of this book. I have memorized most of the songs from it, but I still always carry the book with me on campus in my bookbag. (I'm a college student.) An excellent compliment to this book is Misha Dichter's 2 CD set of Liszt's works. I disagree with the previous review in that the fingerings are adequate. The editors provide enough fingerings that the other notes will fall into place as you are left with few logical possibilities. In Liebestraum No. 3 for example you are given a finger notation on finger 2 and 4. Obviously a note given below finger 2 will be played on 1 and the note above 4 on finger 5. Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 does have sparse fingerings given, but since you're playing over octaves through much of it the fingering intended is severely implied. I'm saying this and I can't even properly finger a scale! Liszt does write some intimidating stuff but this is the book to get if you want a challenge as the pieces are very well selected. This is the book that made me a Liszt fanatic!

I bought this book because I have always found piano pieces by Liszt to be very challenging yet extremely rewarding. I thought that the number of pieces by him in the book was worth the price. However, I found that this book has crammed so many pieces in here that clarity is sacrificed too much. Many of the pieces are even more difficult to read than they already are. And, the worst part is that some of the pieces do not have fingering guides. An example of this is "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2." There are a few number guides for fingering scattered here and there, but none of them are essential. Now, if I remember my history correctly, Liszt wanted his pieces to be so difficult to play that only he really knew the best way to finger them (it goes something like that; believe me, I'm not that much of an expert on Liszt). I have a version of "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" elsewhere that has fingering to just about every note by Rafael Joseffy (and was published by G. Shirmer in 1902 originally). So I'm not sure if his fingering notations are themselves copyrighted (which would explain why they are not included in this book), but they are essential for playing the piece. "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" is itself what I consider to be one of the hardest piano pieces in the world to play. I myself have worked on it for well over 10 years (off an on). I can't imagine playing it without fingering notations.

I would only recommend this book for advanced piano players. And even for advanced players, I would recommend skipping "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" as presented here because it will likely lead to frustration (unless you're a flat-out genius).

[This book includes: By the Lake of Wallenstadt, Consolation No.'s 1-5, Dance of the Gnomes, Erl King, Etude No. 11, Etude in E, Farewell, Funeral Procession of Gondolas No.'s 1-2, Hungarian Rhapsody No.'s 2 and 6, La Regatta Venetiana, Liebestraum No.'s 1-3, Mephisto Waltz, Nocturne in B, Nuages Gris, Valse Melancolique, Valse Oubliee No. 1, and Waldesrauschen]

This is a wonderful book for any Liszt-enthusiast, music lover, or anyone who simply enjoys playing the piano. There is plenty of variety; there are slow, fast, pretty, and dissonant pieces ranging from the beautiful Transcendental Etude No. 11 to the exciting Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6. However, although one reviewer put down the Mephisto Waltz as an included piece, the "Mephisto Waltz" in this book is actually just a TWO-PAGE THEME taken from the real Mephisto Waltz. If you want the actual Mephisto Waltz, sorry, it's not in this book.