HIT n' MISS - pieces that have very demanding leaps?

[stevie]

randomly, i need to work on my geographical command of the keyboard.

ive realised this is one of my tehcnical strengths, but it needs perfecting.

off the top of my head i can think of a few

chopin etude op25/4

liszt la campanella, mazeppa, mephisto no1


yeah theres more, but thats where you guys come in...

(also, good ragtime pieces might interest me, randomly)

[Etude]

prokofiev pc3 2nd movement
xenakis herma i think..
chopin etude op. 10 no. 11
liszt GGC
liszt totentanz
prokofiev toccata
chopin prelude no. 16/19
scriabin etude in d# minor
i think scriabin sonata no. 4
prokofiev sonata no. 7 3rd movement
Sorabji - many of the fugue sections from OC 

[ralessi]

The Scriabin etude in D# minor isnt that bad..it might look like crazy leaps but its very comfortable, same goes for la campanella, once its practiced, its very comfortable.  i would say that Prokofiev 6th sonata is probly pretty good on that list.  I would also say that Islamey.  They probly tie for my number one spot....like i was saying.  Many pieces have jumps but once you have practiced, they fit int he hands very well, but pieces like *SOME* prokofiev sonatas, and Islamey, are not only a warhorse to LEARN but performance is SO difficult.  I dont know if im making any sense but....oh well!

Cheers!
Ricky

[brewtality]

Horowitz's "scoring" of the Stars and Stripes forever. Many big leaps throughout.

[phil13]

Scriabin's Etude in G# minor Op.8 No.9. The leaps in the left hand are sometimes TWO OCTAVES APART. And the whole piece is played in OCTAVES. BOTH hands. And the leaps are two eighth notes in a triplet, going at a speed of quarter note= 128.

Dude, that is WICKED. O.O  O.O

Phil

[quantum]

Chopin Op.2 Variations on "La ci darem la mano", there is a variation with continuous simultaneous leaps in both hands of differeing distances. 

Scriabin Sonata No.5 the triadic leaps in the R.H.

[orlandopiano]

Horowitz's "scoring" of the Stars and Stripes forever. Many big leaps throughout.

I was gonna mention this.  I tried learning it a few months back, and gave up after about an hour.  Maybe one of these years I'll be stupid enough to try it again.

As for pieces more suited for my abilities, Liszt TE #11 has some contrary motion thick chordal jumps, although they aren't quite as difficult as Mazeppa.

[pita bread]

The leaps in Mephisto Waltz are hideous.

[pita bread]

Ravel Toccata from Le Tombeau
Scriabin Sonata #4

[Etude]

OMG, I can't believe I forgot about that MASSIVE leap in the FANTASIA of OC, at the top of page 37.

I think we have a winner... 

[ckprbnh]

Scriabin Sonata No. 1

[whostheboss]

chopin nocturne 27/1 has subtle but significant jumps and traveling that will aid your bass comfort

[etudes]

liszt fantasy on don juan
leap both hand cover almost all keyboard
liszt first concerto start piano part with jump

[thalbergmad]

Rubinsteins Valse Caprice.

[mozoot]

Second Movement of Schumann Fantasy....

[pianobil]

Last measure of Chopin Scherzo #2 in b-flat minor.  Asking for trouble.

[perfect_pitch]

The last bar of Chopins Scherzo No 2 in B flat minor

[jeremyjchilds]

To bring this difficulty down a few levels,  Chopin's waltz in E minor (Posth)

Then back up a few, Tatum or Peterson's stride.

[jehangircama]

the e minor waltz jumps aren't too bad, if you compare it with say Liszt HR 2 or 6

[musicsdarkangel]

How about the opening of the Hammerklavier?


There are some insane leap sections that don't end in the Rachmaninoff - Rhapsody on a theme by Pagannini

How about the octave leaps in Liszt concerto opening?

[danyal]

I can definitely agree with the last bar of the Chopin Bb minor Scherzo. But that doesnt help you as a whole piece.

One that is exceptionally fiendish alomost throughout in the leaps is Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody no 9- "Carnaval de Pesth"... Insane.

[AvoidedCadence]

Scriabin etude 8/5 - same demands as 8/9 - large leaps in octaves (and even larger LH chords) at high speed - 80 to the quarter, in eighths and triplets.

Prokofiev sonata nr. 2 - not as bad as 6 and 7 though.

Some of the Rachmaninoff concerto cadenzas

Various things in Schumann.

[sharon_f]

Last measure of Chopin Scherzo #2 in b-flat minor.  Asking for trouble.

Funny so many people should mention this. Many, many years ago a friend of mine played this Scherzo spectacularly all the way till the end where she missed that last note. Ouch! 

[thierry13]

The Bizet/Horowitz Carmen as some crazy chord jumps in the coda.

[ted]

While not super-virtuosic, the rags of James Scott do demand absolute accuracy with the constant jumping about in both hands. In some ways it's harder than the equivalent motion in classical music because precise rhythm is more critical to the effect. He also had a habit of using very full chords in the right hand, which makes things awkward. There is a particularly hard sequence of jumps in the repeat of the first strain of Quality Rag - well, not hard in the Lisztian sense, but very difficult to play while maintaining insouciance of rhythm.

Oh yes, Efficiency Rag - I find that a prize bugger of a piece to play well - really awkward skips throughout, especially in the third strain. I feel much more comfortable playing, say, the first variations of Mazeppa than I do that rag.

[stevie]

know where to get some sheets of that kind of music online?

i have some tatum transcripts with one of his tiger rag performances, looks quite daunting...

[larse]

I remember playing the Bm Scherzo (Chopin of course) on the audition for the conservatory and when I missed the last note my nowbeing teacher just laughed, as he has had some unpleasent surprises with that earlier.

Though I'm having an unpleasent A in the Dm Concerto bwv1052.
Heh, and you can find leaps like those you find in La Campanella in Grand Galop chromatique

[ted]

Stevie:

In fifteen minutes of searching I failed to find any James Scott scores on the net. Perhaps somebody has renewed copyright on them. The best edition of them by far is the Smithsonian Institute volume (De Veaux/Kenney) but many of the rags are included in several general collections by Dover and other publishers.

[dmk]

I know this would be pretty easy now, but remember way back when you were little.  Your teacher gives you your first Chopin piece and its the Prelude op 28 n4 in E minor.

There is a big leap in the LH in bar 17.  I remeber first learning this piece and that big fat chord was the 'hardest thing' ever, especially trying to make it sound light, unobtrusive and not like a herd of elephants had just crashed into my piano

Most of us here could carve this up no problem now.  But at the time and if you are playing this at level this was really hard.

[stevie]

Stevie:

In fifteen minutes of searching I failed to find any James Scott scores on the net. Perhaps somebody has renewed copyright on them. The best edition of them by far is the Smithsonian Institute volume (De Veaux/Kenney) but many of the rags are included in several general collections by Dover and other publishers.

thanks, aside from that, do you know were sheets are available of some of fats waller's music?
i especially love 'zonky' and the 'russian fantasy'

[pita bread]

Petrushka!

[ted]

I do not think free accurate transcriptions would be available for Waller. Scivales transcribed a few in the volume "Harlem Stride" and Paul Posnak transcribed a dozen or more of the big early solos in his excellent volume. Both are available on amazon and other places at reasonable cost. With Waller the problem for most people isn't the jumps but how to handle his enormous span and thick texture without losing the lightness and life inherent in his music.

You might also consider the transcription by Dapogny of all of Jelly Roll Morton's solo recordings. (Schirmer/Smithsonian) This very thick volume is a real treasure in its own right, although the music does not exploit jumps particularly.

[brewtality]

Rubinsteins Valse Caprice.

oooh I love this piece! I have Hofmann's recording. You wouldn't happen to have the score would you?

[mig]

Heh, and you can find leaps like those you find in La Campanella in Grand Galop chromatique

Cziffra cheated in the Grand Galope Chromatique's jumps.

[brewtality]

Cziffra cheated in the Grand Galope Chromatique's jumps.

If you're talking about the quasi-tremelo part marked brillante, then I think you're wrong. Its not cheating, he changed the notes to achieve that awesome effect. That jump is really small and I'm 100% sure that he could play it if he wanted to. Besides, there are much trickier jumps throughout the LH part and Ziff even adds extra jumps ( eg extending one down another octave) which he makes easily.

[maxy]

Petrushka!

hahahahaha, so true...  that series of los "E"s in third mvt is a true pregnant dog, and that is not even the hardest "jumping" section in the mvt  (IMO) 

Islamey also has some nasty jumps, in the left hand in the 3 against 2 passages.

Previously mentionned, the Schumann op 17 mvt 2 is quite notorious for its jumping passages.

How about the jumps in Brahms concerto #2...        

[liszt1022]

cziffra definitely cheated. but it's OK.


Webern's Variations op. 27, mvt II is pretty short, but has one of the most difficult leaps I've ever played - it's a low B to a high G in the left hand while you go from the high G to the low B with the right hand. It's right after the mid-way repeat sign. It is not fair at all.


Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody 6 has a part on the second to last page (depending on your score) that almost made me die every time I got to it - chords jumping from outside to inside of the keyboard in both hands, very fast.

and I must again mention Godowsky. Good old Study no. 1, the two-handed study on Chopin's Op. 10 No. 1 - unbelievable leaps in just about every measure or so, which have to be played unbelievably fast.

[brewtality]

cziffra definitely cheated. but it's OK.

Once again, I disagree (assuming we're talking about the same passage of the GGC). It sounds BETTER the way he plays it than written and its NOT a difficult passage to play.

[stevie]

Once again, I disagree (assuming we're talking about the same passage of the GGC). It sounds BETTER the way he plays it than written and its NOT a difficult passage to play.

brew is correct, cziffra changes some things in his GGC, easier or harder it doesnt matter, it just sounds much better.

and yep he makes it clear that the parts he does change could easily be handled.

[pianoden]

and I must again mention Godowsky. Good old Study no. 1, the two-handed study on Chopin's Op. 10 No. 1 - unbelievable leaps in just about every measure or so, which have to be played unbelievably fast.

Those are really hard, but its acceptable to use pauses too (Grante and Hamelin use them).



There are some absolutely crazy leaps near the end of Liszt's 2nd Grande Etude (not the paganini one).  Not only are both hands leaping like crazy at high speeds, but the left hand has to leap into some absolutely ackward chords that were not meant for small hands. 

[phil13]

Oh, I forgot about another one.

The first movement of the 'Pathetique' Sonata has that section in E-flat minor in the middle of the exposition when the right hand is darting over the left hand, jumping left and right and left and right...

That's most certainly 'Hit n' Miss.'

Phil

[Souza]

Debussy:  Étude n 5 - Pour les octaves and Étude n 12 -  Pour les accords...décidé (very hard leaps)

{}s Pedro

[mrchops10]

It's not solo, but I just played Brahms Piano Quartet no. 3. That second mov't starts with the most perilous octave leap, and then right before the recap starts is another pretty insane passage. Being Brahms, it doesn't sound all that difficult, though.