Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, S. 244/2

1. 0:00
   Opening of the Lassan

   The piano opens on a C♯ major chord, although C♯ minor is the home key of the slow section. By bar 6 the music has moved to C♯ minor. This is the Lassan, the slow first half of the rhapsody.

2. 1:54
   Sketchbook entry, 1846

   In 1846 Liszt wrote down the opening tune after hearing someone play it. Five years later it appeared at the head of this rhapsody, which Bartholf Senff published, with a dedication to Count László Teleki.

3. 2:54
   Lassan, keys and contrasts

   The Lassan moves from C♯ minor towards C♯ major and E major. Grave phrases alternate with bright, capricious passages. Liszt keeps the steady dance pulse for the second half.

4. 5:04
   Songs played by Romani bands

   Liszt’s rhapsodies brought the songs and dances played by Romani bands to the concert piano. The musicians improvised on melodies that included published popular songs. Liszt intended his book about Romani music in Hungary as a preface to the rhapsodies.

5. 6:12
   Opening of the Friska

   The Friska begins quietly in F♯ minor, on a C♯ major chord. A theme from the Lassan returns in dance rhythm. Tonic and dominant chords alternate beneath it, and the tempo increases towards the main tune in F♯ major.

6. 8:52
   Additions for pupils, last years

   In his last years Liszt wrote a cadenza and a new coda for his pupil Toni Raab. For Lina Schmalhausen he supplied further additions.

7. 10:26
   Cadenza ad libitum

   Near the end, F♯ minor returns and the dance stops for a recollection of the Lassan. Liszt marks the passage Cadenza ad libitum, so the pianist may add a cadenza here. Rachmaninoff and d’Albert both wrote their own.

8. 12:14
   Final Prestissimo in F♯ major

   The final Prestissimo is in F♯ major. Octaves ascend and descend across nearly the whole keyboard, with a crescendo towards the closing chords. The C♯ of the slow opening is the dominant of F♯ major.

Joins

1. 6:12
   C♯ becomes the dance’s dominant

   The Lassan is in C♯ minor, and the music moves from there into F♯ minor. The Friska begins on a C♯ major chord, which now acts as the dominant, and takes up a tune from the slow section. Repeated figures in the piano set up the dance as tonic and dominant alternate underneath.

2. 10:26
   Return of the Lassan before Prestissimo

   Before the final Prestissimo the piano returns to F♯ minor and recalls another tune from the Lassan. The dance slows for this recollection. Liszt then leaves room for a cadenza, marked Cadenza ad libitum.

3. 12:14
   Prestissimo in F♯ major

   After the space for a cadenza, Liszt returns to F♯ major and marks the piano Prestissimo. The piano plays rising and falling octaves across the keyboard. The crescendo continues into the final chords in F♯ major.

1. 0:00
   Opening chord and Lassan

   Liszt begins on a C♯ major chord, then moves to C♯ minor for the slow Lassan. The fast Friska comes in the later part of the complete rhapsody.

2. 1:02
   Lassan, C♯ major and E major

   Within the Lassan, Liszt turns repeatedly to C♯ major, the tonic major, and to E major, the relative major. Lighter, capricious passages alternate with the piano’s grave opening.

3. 2:18
   Edison recordings, 1919

   In 1919 Rachmaninoff began recording for Edison. The contract allowed ten released sides, and he played a Lauter concert grand made in Newark. He asked to approve his performances before release, but Edison issued different takes of the same pieces.

4. 3:02
   Rachmaninoff with Stokowski, 1924 and 1929

   Rachmaninoff later recorded his own Second Piano Concerto with Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra, in 1924 and again in 1929.

1. 0:00
   Lassan, introduction

   The Lassan, the slow first half of Liszt’s rhapsody, opens with a brief introduction and then moves into its minor key. Grave phrases alternate with lighter ones. In this arrangement the orchestra plays the contrasting sections of the piano original.

2. 1:30
   Keys of the three versions

   The piano original is in C♯ minor. Liszt’s orchestral version, made with Franz Doppler, is in D minor; Müller-⁠Berghaus takes it down to C minor.

3. 2:34
   Stokowski without a baton, 1929–⁠30

   Late in the 1929–⁠30 season Stokowski began conducting without a baton. In Philadelphia he experimented with seating, bowing and the lighting. At one concert the hall was darkened and only his head and hands were lit.

1. 0:00
   Lassan, slow opening section

   Liszt begins with the Lassan, the rhapsody’s slow half. Grave phrases stand beside capricious short turns before the fast dance takes over. Liszt wrote the original for one pianist; in this recording Goehr directs an orchestra.

2. 1:12
   Walter Goehr, Berlin and London

   Goehr studied with Schoenberg in Berlin and worked for Berlin Radio. As a Jewish musician he was forced to seek work outside Germany, and he moved to London to conduct for His Master’s Voice. His record labels sometimes called him George Walter.

3. 2:30
   Sketchbook and publication, 1846–⁠1851

   The rhapsody’s opening melody appears in Liszt’s sketchbook of 1846, written down after he heard it played. He published the piano work in 1851. Later, with Franz Doppler, he made an orchestral version in D minor.