This attractive dance work is usually programmed as a dazzling showpiece on disc or as an encore in the concert hall, and while it is the kind of fare that helped stereotype Liszt as the Romantic school's chief exponent of virtuoso piano music, it is a well-crafted, worthwhile piece. It is light and jovial, in no way pretentious, and conveys a festive sense amid much colorful and difficult writing for the piano. The work begins with a lively fanfare-like announcement, quite the same as that which opens Chopin's Valse Brilliante. The energetic main theme follows—an amusing, busy creation that playfully rises into the upper register—then yields a second subject whose emphatic chords at the outset serve to underscore the fun and celebration. The thematic material deftly takes on different guises without breaking the merriment and then later on, the second subject turns utterly rollicking. The ending is pure Lisztian virtuosity, but in its showmanship still manages to capture the ear as notes fly, fingers and wrists blur, and tempos turn manic. The piece lasts about four minutes and will appeal to those who have a special fondness for Liszt's operatic transcriptions and paraphrases.

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