Hi to all,
My teacher just gave me this insanely complicated virtuoso piece by liszt called Mephisto Waltz No 1.

Has anyone ever heard of it or has any help to offer?

THanks!

Well this is actually a piece I can play! In fact I was thinking of polishing it up as my entry in the next Yamaha competition. It is my show-off piece, but in reality it is another that sounds and looks more difficult than it really is.

I actually have (much) more difficulty giving a convincing rendition of an apparently easier Haydn or Mozart sonata. With their fewer notes and greater subtlety they demand far more precise control over tempo, touch, and the relative weight of each note. Even small errors (that would be un-noticed in the Mephisto Waltz) render them un-listenable.

A lot of pianists play this piece at an insanely fast tempo - which might impress small children and beginners, but ruins it as a piece of music. What is more I do not see where Liszt prescribed "Prestissimo". I am incapable of taking it at that kind of speed, but fortunately it actually sounds a lot better when it is taken at a speed where you can hear what is going on and saving it.

For someone that can already play the Rigoletto transcription the 1st Mephisto Waltz should have no insuperable difficulties.

Musically it is quite simple, even crude! so there should be no diffficulties understanding the themes, the harmonies and the overall structure. Also, it does not get difficult into well into the piece. Anyone that has the ability to master the handful of difficult sections later in this piece should find the first eight pages to be sight-readable at a modest tempo (apart from the double glissando, which needs practice, and maybe a few bits of fast right hand passagework).

The tougher technical difficulties that I encountered were as follows:

Beginning of the Presto. I still struggle to play the semiquaver trill/vibrato figures with sufficient speed/brilliance

A couple of pages on from there, the long section with the doleful melody in the middle voice. There is nothing especially difficult, but it took a lot of repetition to get the figures with the repeated notes and skip up one octave fluent enough to play themselves while I concentrated on the melody, bass, and harmonic filling (and it is easily lost if not regularly practiced).

Five pages in from the end, marked p staccatissimo/leggiero molto -?? Whatever that means! (page 24 in my edition). There are big skips in both hands, and it is Presto. For me this is by far the toughest part. Over 20 years since I first approached this piece and I still cannott play this section particularly well. If I am going to come unstuck, this is where it happens.

Once you are safely past the skips it is comparatively plain sailing. The arpeggios, even with some thirds thrown in amongst them, fall nicely under the fingers, the little cadenza is rather routine, the trill like figures have been met and dealt with earlier, The slow una corda section is ... well ... slow, and the final fireworks are spectacular, but musically uncomplicated, and fall easily under the fingers.

Thank you, Mad Tom! You have truly helped me....... insanely well! You've even given an analysis! I can't tell you how grateful I am! I heard a few recordings on YouTube and I have to say, the first time I heard it I wasn't sure that I liked it, but then I listened again and again, and it became stuck in my head. Now I am working on it very well. I guess this really IS a showpiece! Over 10 minutes long! By the way, Rigoletto is now complete and coming on fine!