Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2

As most of you are more than probably aware, Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (HR2) is quite certainly the greatest piece of piano music ever written. Unfortunately, as you are also likely aware, this statement is extremely difficult to prove due to its inherently subjective nature.*

As some of you are also possibly aware, I have not updated my blog in about a billion years.**

And here we are. We seem to have arrived at the crossroads of two quite serious*** problems, with only one obvious solution: I should create the best possible arrangement of HR2 and post it on my blog!

Turns out I can't actually play the whole thing, so I went a different route. I have listened to literally**** thousands of midi transcriptions of HR2, and figuratively***** dozens of YouTube and other recordings of HR2, and they all suck for any number of reasons including audio quality (for audio recordings) and interpretation (for midis). Except one. This one. This is my own arrangement of HR2 assembled from a broad scope of midis (two in total) from across the internet.

In order to seem pretentious I have split this recording of Au Comte Ladislas Teleky, Rhapsodie Hongroise No.2, into two sections: 1) intro/Lassan and 2) Friska.

To somewhat counteract that pretention I have also posted the complete recording as well. To completely counteract that pretention I shall mention: Donald and Daffy played it (Kleinmichel or Acme arrangement?) as a duet in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" (Albeit to a lack of critical acclaim for their interpretation, possibly due to the unfortunate and unnecessary use of a cannon, which Liszt did not originally include.) Also, Tom & Jerry had a nuanced interpretation as well.

Note: This recording still has a number of very minor mistakes in it, but who doesn't? If you would like a perfectly clean recording at a higher bit rate please send a self-addressed stamped-envelope (SASE) and a blank DVD-R to my address care of "Liszt Roolz."
___________________
* It is important as a culture that we not take these things too terribly seriously. Life is after all quite short.
** Hyperbole. Read about it at your local library.
*** Yet unimportant
**** Figuratively
***** Literally