Before mp3's, before CD's, before cassettes, before 8-tracks, before LP's, before 45's, before 78's, before wax cylinders, there was the piano. And there was Franz Liszt working like crazy to arrange other people's stuff for the piano so people in parlors could hear it. Settle back, pretend it's, oh, say, 1870, and choose from the selections below to hear what was hot on the music front then. It's all piano, some for two hands, some for four. Overwrought? You bet, and try to keep your laughter to a minimum, please.

For a deeper, near-pornographic understanding
of what was going on with old Franz,
you might want to take a look at Lisztomania,
Ken Russell's phantasmagorical take on the world's first pop star
(as played by Roger Daltry).

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