Hungarian Rhapsodies virtuoso pianist as well as a composer). Liszt incorporated many themes he had heard in his native western Hungary and which he believed to be folk music, though many were in fact tunes written by members of the Hungarian upper middle class, or by composers such as József Kossovits, often played by Roma (Gypsy) bands. The large scale structure of each was influenced by the verbunkos, a Hungarian dance in several parts, each with a different tempo. Within this structure, Liszt preserved the two main structural elements of typical Gypsy improvisation—the "lassan" ("slow") and the "friska" ("fast"). At the same
Rhapsodies for Orchestra about the words "rhapsody" and "rhapsodic"—words I would never have chosen to describe my music—the more I realized that boundaries are meant to be pushed, and that an external, even foreign stimulus like 'rhapsodic' could be just the ticket to push mine." Stucky further described the composition in the score program notes, writing: Reviewing the December 2011 Chicago premiere, music critic John von Rhein praised "Rhapsodies for Orchestra", writing, "In a series of interlocking episodes, the solo flute, English horn, horn and trumpet found themselves echoed and mimicked by other instruments and groups. Swirls of orchestral color were infused with