Mephisto Waltz and Other Works for Solo Piano

Choice selection includes Mephisto Waltz No. 1, Rapsodie Espagnole, Valse Oubliee, Polonaises Nos. 1 & 2, more from authoritative editions.

Composer, conductor, and teacher Franz Liszt (1811–86) was renowned throughout Europe for his skills as a concert pianist. The quintessential romantic, he created an extensive and diverse oeuvre that ranges from influential experiments in musical form to more conventional pieces as well as transcriptions of works by other composers.

Mephisto Waltz No. 1
  "[Composed for orchestra as "The Dance in the Village Inn" ("Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke"), the second of Two Episodes from Lenau's "Faust"; Dedicated to Carl Tausig, the most famous of the first generation of Liszt pupils.]"
"Liebesträume, 3 Notturnos (Dreams of Love, 3 Nocturnes)"
  No. 1 in A-flat Major
  No. 2 in E Major
  No. 3 in A-flat Major
  [Piano transcriptions o three Liszt songs, published as a set: No. 1? Hohe Liebe (Lofty Love); No. 2 ? Seliger Tod (Blissful Death), also known by its first line of text: "Gestorben war ich" ("I had died"); No. 3 ? O Lieb (O, Love). Full texts with English translations]
Two Polonaises
  No. 1 in C Minor
  No. 2 in E Major
Fantasia and Fugue on the Theme BACH
  "[Originally written for organ as Prelude and Fugue on the name BACH. Revised, ca. 1870, and transcribed for piano under the alternate title Fantasia and Fugue on the Theme BACH.]"
Valse Oubliée No. 1 (Forgotten Waltz No. 1)
  [The first of Trois Valses Oubliées. A fourth waltz was discovered in the United States and published there.]
"Unstern: Sinistre, Disastro (Unlucky Star: Disaster)"
  "[Exclamations of adversity of disaster, repeated in the title in German, French and Italian. Also published as Unstern!.]"
Nuages Gris (Somber Clouds)
Grand Galop Chromatique (Grand Chromatic Galop)
Valse-Impromptu in A-flat major (Waltz-Impromptu)
La Lugubre Gondola I & II (The Mournful Gondola I & II)
  1st version
  2nd version
  "[Impressions of funeral processions by gondola, Venice.]"
Czárdás Macabre
  [a longer version was published in 1954]
Gretchen (from A Faust Symphony)
  [The second of "Three Character Pictures after Goethe" that make up Liszt's A Faust Symphony. (The first is "Faust;" the thrid, "Mephistopheles.") Orchestral score, dedicated to Hector Berlioz, composed in 1854; expanded, 1857. Piano transcription of "Gretchen,".]
Rhapsodie Espagnole (Spanish Rhapsody)
  "[Subtitle: "Folies d'Espagne et Jota Aragonesa." Opening based on "La Folia," a traditional 17th-century air used for continuous variation. The jota is a rapid, triple-time folk dance of northern Spain.]"