Liszt – Mazeppa (Transcendental Étude No. 4)

MAZEPPA!!! The story of the Hetman and the Horse, and one of Liszt's most daunting Etudes. For those of you who don't know, the galloping-like figures of this piece aren't just for difficulties sake – this Etude was inspired by the story of the Ukrainian military commander Mazeppa, specifically Lord Byron's poem about his youth, in where Mazeppa was tied to a horse and dragged around Europe as punishment for having an affair with a Polish Countess. There is obviously a lot more to the story, the summary and poem is available online for you to read, though even with this small piece of information the piece begins to make a lot more sense. This galloping motion is captured by Liszt in the use of his consecutive 24 -> 24 fingerings for the thirds (often disregarded by pianists for easier playing), but the feeling of the motion and physical look created by this movement is very reminiscent of a wild horse, it's amazing how many layers there are to the inspiration. I hope you enjoy the effects on this one, experimented more with the effects than usual and spent wayyyy too much time on designing them, though I think the result is pretty cool! All the best and wishing you all a beautiful weekend ♥

That “I paid for the whole piano, so I’m gonna use the whole piano” moment.

Imagine Soyeon learn this with just a months

Is everything Liszt did just absolutely mental? Holy cow

Cheon Seojin: ARGHHHHHHHHHHH!!
Me: woo wooo😭😭😭

a master once said: "If it's not hard, It's not Liszt"

1.25 speed, thank me later

Love the piano version which was insane to play, but I prefer his symphonic poem for orchestra better 🙂