Works that sound much harder or easier then they actually are.

[sevencircles]

There are many works that sound easier or harder then they actually are.

3 examples of works that sound much harder then they are, are the Minute Waltz, Flight of the Bumble Bee (Rach transcription) and Weber´s Perpetual Mobile

Examples of works that sound easier then they are, are Mendelsohn´s Dream Scherzo by rachmaninov and Ligeti´s Musica ricercata: VII. Cantabile, molto legato

Fugue´s in general do often sound easier then they are as well.


Any votes for THE hardest work that sound easy for an untrained ear or THE easiest that sound hard?

[stevie]

the most obvious broad factor in this is in the type of figurations used in the pieces.

pieces with double notes, and runs that demand advanced dexterity of the 4/5 fingers are harder than they sound to the layman's ear.

and pieces that are pianistically written to facilitate ease of rapidity are easier than they sound.

its the speed that dazzles the ears, but how it is achieved is equally important in determining the technical ability of a performer...

show a non-pianist a technically average recording of that flight of the bumblebee, and then rudenko's chopin 10/2.

similar sounding pieces to the untrained ear, and undoubtedly they will be more impressed by the bumblebee recording.

[maxy]

Generally speaking, Liszt is easier than it sounds,  Mozart, Bach and Schubert are harder than they sound.

[sevencircles]

Liszt is easier than it sounds

Not the Beethoven Symphony transcriptions at least.

A recording that didn´t impress me half as much as for instance Barere playing Weber´s Perpetual mobile the first time I heard it was Libetta playing Godowsky´s Igniis Fatus

Then I heard that Libetta didn´t edit or steprecorded it then I said to myself.
How many fingers have Libetta got?

Anybody know where I can find a video of him playing Igniis Fatus?

[jamie_liszt]

La Campanella sounds easy, you just hear a nice melody and soft, but its actualy hard. All the jumping around and accents. But IMO the scales sound harder then they actually are (the chromatics).

I agree chopin etude 10/2 sounds easy but is really really hard. Alot of chopin etudes are hard but sound easy.

[stevie]

i have a video of libetta's ignited farter

you can get it on e-mule

[sevencircles]

i have a video of libetta's ignited farter

you can get it on e-mule

E-mule is a "creditcard" site, right?

Is there no other place where I can find it?

[stevie]

no, its free p2p software.

[sevencircles]

no, its free p2p software.

What´s the URL?

[Dazzer]

Khatchaturian's toccata is probably one of the easiest pieces that sounds hard.

[princessdecadence]

3 examples of works that sound much harder then they are, are the Minute Waltz, Flight of the Bumble Bee (Rach transcription)

I disagree on the Bumble Bee.  That piece sounds really hard when I heard it and obviously it is absolutely true. 

[invictus]

Bumble Bee
It sounds difficult, but the fingering repeats itself. Its not too difficult, it just sounds so because of the speed and chromatics.

[Dazzer]

then again it all boils down to what is hard and what is easy for different people , ain it/..

[sevencircles]

Code: [Select]

then again it all boils down to what is hard and what is easy for different people , ain it/
True. There are certian pieces that most people find harder then they sound like Ligeti´s Musica ricercata: VII. Cantabile, molto legato and easier like "Rach" Bumblebee transcription

For a lefthanded person with very good handindepence Bumble Bee may be harder then the Ligeti piece.

By the way, has anyone here tried to play Ligeti´s Musica ricercata: VII. Cantabile, molto legato?

[I Love Xenakis]

La Campanella, Albeniz Triana, Ondine/Le Gibet, Beethoven Sonata No. 30 Op. 109, Scriabin Sonata Nos. 6/8/10, Schumann Toccata Op. 7, Debussy Images II, Debussy Ballade are all MUCH more difficult than they sound.

[burstroman]

One work that I like very much is the transcription by Rachmaninov of Mendelssohn's "Scherzo" from "A Midsummer Night's Dream".  It is much harder to play than it sounds.

[I Love Xenakis]

One work that I like very much is the transcription by Rachmaninov of Mendelssohn's "Scherzo" from "A Midsummer Night's Dream".  It is much harder to play than it sounds.

Definitely!   Those doublenotes are murder!

[prometheus]

How can you hear how hard a piece may be?

[I Love Xenakis]

How can you hear how hard a piece may be?

With your ears.  Does Prokofiev Toccata Op. 11 sound hard?  Of course o.o  Can you really not tell that from hearing it?

[princessdecadence]

Scarlatti Sonata K27 - sounds easier than K141 but it's the other way around.

[panic]

The Allegro molto movement from Rach Sonata No. 1 looks a good bit easier than it sounds. It sounds brutal and colossal but the texture looks little harder than the hardest of the Chopin Ballades. Even the opening section, which sounds ridiculously intense on recording, doesn't seem that hard because a lot of notes are repeated without having to move your hand. Getting the piece as a whole up to tempo appears to be by far the hardest part. The first movement, meanwhile, is every bit as mean as it sounds.

[invictus]

WEll i love this thread because i love hard sounding but easy songs, good for encore pieces.