Hungarian Rhapsody no. 9 The Carnival at Pest
Rhapsody Piano solo
In brief

This Hungarian Rhapsody projects an urban carnival mood that alternates between jaunty bravado and sly lyricism, with fanfare-like outbursts and returning melodic episodes evoking Pest’s festive streets. You will specifically face Ornaments romantiques (2.5/5) — here those small Romantic embellishments require a flexible wrist and precise placement so they sing without interrupting the line — and Passages rapides (2.5/5), which call for relaxed finger substitution and coordinated arm movement to keep rapid runs even and brilliant. The piece is part of Liszt’s set of Hungarian Rhapsodies, a virtuosic exploration of Hungarian-inspired themes within his Romantic output. I do not give a reference interpretation here, as I am not fully certain of a single recording to recommend for this exact work.

MusicCoach difficulty
87/100
Master repertoire
Likely range : 81–92/100
Confidence : 55% · fair confidence
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
Beyond grade 8

The grade scale stops at 8; this work belongs to concert or diploma repertoire.

Difficulty estimate by MusicCoach on a scale of 1 to 100.

Where this work sits
050100

Most works cluster between 45 and 65: a small score gap often marks a real step. The highlighted bar shows this work among those for the same instrument.

The MusicCoach difficulty measures a work's overall demands (technique, reading, stamina) on a shared 0-100 scale, consolidated from editorial and pedagogical reference points (Henle, exam syllabuses, curation) and our own analyses. It measures neither musical value nor the practice time YOU will need: two musicians of the same level can experience the same work very differently depending on their strengths (hands used to octaves, quick sight-reading…). The confidence reflects how many reference points sit behind the score and how well they agree — a lightly documented score is flagged “to validate”. For a truly personal bearing, the diagnostic and your space compare each work to YOUR estimated level, which the score alone cannot do.

Does this rating look right to you?

This rating is computed automatically from heterogeneous sources. It gets things wrong, sometimes badly. If you know this work, your answer is worth more than our computation: it tells us which ratings to review.

Add a note (optional)

Your note is not published on the site: it is read in review.

Difficulty sources
Henle Verlag
8
85/100 normalised
Relative difficulty
82%
Among Franz Liszt
99%
Era
70%
Genre
Estimated skills
Technique
Double notes
1
Ornaments
Romantic ornaments
1
Technique
Fast passages
1
What to play next?

Each suggestion combines difficulty gap, risk, confidence and skill overlap. The first two cards in each column are the most useful pedagogically.

Ambitious challenge

A useful leap with guided practice.

No suggestion yet.

See the whole progression