the best and most difficult octave passages/pieces?

[stevie]

left hand octaves - heroic polonais eand funerailles

right hand octaves - HR6 , erkdong(sp)


and then theres the tchaikovsky 1 , like quite a few other concertos, that have key 'show-off' sections with insane octaves.

yep

[orlandopiano]

left hand octaves - heroic polonais eand funerailles

right hand octaves - HR6 , erkdong(sp)


and then theres the tchaikovsky 1 , like quite a few other concertos, that have key 'show-off' sections with insane octaves.

yep

A lot of Liszt. TE #4 and #8, and Piano Conerto #1 quickly come to mind.

[musicsdarkangel]

Rachmaninoff - Rhapsody on a theme by Pagannini has it's share of octaves, as well as the Rach 3 of course.

How about the Tchaik 1?  That's loaded with em'.


HR's 6, 9 come to mind.

Chopin's etude of course, Barber sonata, La Campanella, many things by Liszt really.

[apion]

Liszt HR 6

[da jake]

erkdong(sp)

Hahahaha, so close. 

[liszt1022]

hey I've played both HR6 and erlkoenig, and even did them well once or twice.

but Godowsky's study on Chopin's op. 25 no. 2, in which plays the right hand in octaves is pretty *** tough. Carlo Grante plays it like nothing.


also Cziffra's Bumblebee.

[brewtality]

The heroic octaves aren't that difficult, provided you've got the stamina. I find scaler octave runs to be much harder.

[mlsmithz]

The octave passages at the tail end of HR4 are also rather nasty, particularly in the left hand, though perhaps that's just me. (I wonder why Liszt was so fascinated by parallel octave passages anyway?)

[larse]

I think Orage from Années de Pélérinage looks like an Octave Hell

[thierry13]

The heroic octaves aren't that difficult, provided you've got the stamina. I find scaler octave runs to be much harder.

Depends what speed you play them.

[stevie]

Depends what speed you play them.

very true, playing them at cziffra speed for example would be impossible for almost all pianists.

[practicingnow]

Erlking

[etudes]

some LH from don juan is quite horrible difficult too. (from it sounds)

[nanabush]

Would TE eroica match up against any of these?  I saw the sheets for it and it looks nasty for both hand for a while..

[mozoot]

Orage by Liszt

[pies]

Playing the ending of HR15 at the same speed as Cziffra is impossible.

[Waldszenen]

Brahms PC No. 2

[m]

Brahms PC No. 2

Agree. Many pianists play breathtaking 6th rhapsody or EarlKonig. Only one plays that little solo place in the second movement right (i.e. on pp and ABSOLUTELY evenly).

[lisztwasgod]

the tchaik one piano parts are rife with difficult and fast octave passages

[mlsmithz]

Agree. Many pianists play breathtaking 6th rhapsody or EarlKonig. Only one plays that little solo place in the second movement right (i.e. on pp and ABSOLUTELY evenly).

That entire passage in the middle of the second movement is one of the most difficult in the entire concerto, since he follows up quadruple octaves meant to be performed pianissimo and perfectly evently with a variable 'parallel intervals' passage straight out of 'Feux-follets'.  Honestly, I consider that passage alone a strong argument in the 'Brahms PC2 vs. Rachmaninov PC3' difficulty debate (along with the almost glissando-like double thirds D major scale 7-against-6 passage two-thirds of the way through the finale - my teacher, who had performed the concerto on a number of occasions, once cited those two passages as particularly frustrating).  Leaving that aside, there are plenty of octave passages in the first two movements especially which are not only fast but rife with unpredictable flying leaps.  They are, however, certainly effective at either creating a stormy atmosphere or, in the case of the one in the centre section of the second movement, a storm quietly brewing below the surface (answering the 'best' octave passage part of this thread title).

[etudes]

Agree. Many pianists play breathtaking 6th rhapsody or EarlKonig. Only one plays that little solo place in the second movement right (i.e. on pp and ABSOLUTELY evenly).

who is the only one?

[Kassaa]

who is the only one?

Koji, Pollini, Gilels, Katchen, Richter. They are the same person, didn't you know?

[ronde_des_sylphes]

I agree with the poster who mentioned the Don Juan lh octaves as tough.

Plenty tough/interesting octave passages in Alkan too; Allegro barbaro, last movement of the Symphonie, op 35 no 12 etude (which I rather like).

[g_s_223]

Towards the end of the development section in the first movement of Brahms' 1st PC, there a passage in F# minor of ascending octaves alternating between the hands; I've always found it an absolute stinker. Brahms writes some of the octave notes in small print to indicate they are optional as a quasi-ossia. 

[lau]

at the end of volodos rulsan and ludmilla transcription is a sick octave run

[dnephi]

Orage has octave cadenza.

I personally love playing chopet #12 in octaves.  Matches Tchaiik i think. 

Mazeppa is decent but really it's not very hard at all, unless you want to play unmusically afap.

[lung7793]

I would say Erlking for the sheer endurance needed in the RH (I've played the schubert song accompaniment, but I've never seen, played, or heard liszt's arrangement...is it more difficult??), and brahms PC 2 for that 2nd movement passage. 

[letters]

Im having difficulty with a page in shostakovich PC2 where there are both hands playing octaves (although they are playing the same thing in each hand). It bounces around at quite a speed and i have little hands so im practising each jump very slowly!!

[nanabush]

Liszt Etude, Eroica, no one mentioned yet so there... Also look at his Grande Etudes, the harder versions of the ones we know today, and look Eroica in there... It's #9 I think, not sure the number but it's Eb major... That's gotta be one of the toughest octave passages.

[dnephi]

Liszt Etude, Eroica, no one mentioned yet so there... Also look at his Grande Etudes, the harder versions of the ones we know today, and look Eroica in there... It's #9 I think, not sure the number but it's Eb major... That's gotta be one of the toughest octave passages.

#7

[beanman]

octaves are piss, i havent come across any that are a challenge yet - do point out harder ones , but this is what ive come across:

cziffra bumblebee

volodos allaturca

chopin etude

campanella- the end chromatic run

hungarian rhapsody no.2

volodos hr no. 13


They are comfortable to play for me

(my hands will reach a 10th over the top ov keys)

[thierry13]

octaves are piss, i havent come across any that are a challenge yet - do point out harder ones , but this is what ive come across:

cziffra bumblebee

volodos allaturca

chopin etude

campanella- the end chromatic run

hungarian rhapsody no.2

volodos hr no. 13


They are comfortable to play for me

(my hands will reach a 10th over the top ov keys)

Same here.

[ted]

I don't know about difficulty, but I think that one of the most unusual and attractive is the Alkan study in E major, the one in groups of five.

[arensky]

The ending of d'Albert's 2nd Concerto in E major is an extraordinary cascade of octaves.

[thaicheow]

Watch this!