Hardest Classical Piece?

[adieu to the piano]

The preludes of Debyssy.

[Etude]

o rly?

[ahinton]

o rly?

Does a fragmented French airport really have an indelible connection to the piano preludes of one of that country's great composers?...

Best,

Alistair

[retrouvailles]

That was an abbreviation (and internet meme) of "oh, really?".

And I would say that those preludes are definitely not the hardest piano pieces. Not by a longshot.

[Etude]

How many more "hardest piece" threads do there have to be before people realise that there isn't an answer to this question...  especially when there are pieces out there for solo piano that aren't even physically possible to play (like Cogluotobusisletmesi or Evryali).

[thierry13]

How many more "hardest piece" threads do there have to be before people realise that there isn't an answer to this question...  especially when there are pieces out there for solo piano that aren't even physically possible to play (like Cogluotobusisletmesi or Evryali).

Some people play Evryali, no?

[retrouvailles]

Yeah, many people do. I saw it performed once by Gloria Cheng, who basically is one of those pianists with a superhuman technique.

[Etude]

Some people play Evryali, no?

I meant impossible to play 100%.  eg. Henck played Cogluotobusisletmesi, but left out half the notes. 

[ahinton]

That was an abbreviation (and internet meme) of "oh, really?".

I knew that, actually. Oh, never mind...

Best,

Alistair

[mephisto]

Ahinton's sense of humour is obviously not understood by everyone

[dnephi]

I didn't actually know it was an airport.  I had merely known that it was a city.

[michel dvorsky]

[opus10no2]

Ahinton's sense of humour is obviously not understood by everyoneanyone

[dnephi]

Standard rep?  Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff and Bartok concerti make the highest physical demands, whereas Brahms 2 pushes difficulty in terms of awkwardness in addition to very high demands.

[mad_max2024]

Satie's "Vexations"

Can't think of anything harder than that...

[tanman]

grrrrr....
another one of these!
why is it never the most beautiful piece? or something like that...

[mad_max2024]

Because people are obsessed with competition.
It's an animal thing, being the alpha male and all...

"What is hardest?", "Who is fastest?", "Who has the largest middle finger?"

It's all pretty pointless if you ask me

But there actually is a "Most beautiful piece" thread
http://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,25297.0.html

[pianisten1989]

Everything is a competition these days isn't it?!
There are plenty of differences is the wird "hardest". There is Balakirev: Islamey, which is one of the hardest pieces techniqually... Uhm... Then there is Chopin's forth ballade, which is very difficult (maybe not THE most, but still very hard) musically, and techniqually. and so on...

[tanman]

stuff from xenakis and finnisy.

[ahinton]

Quote from: mephisto on June 30, 2008, 07:32:55 PM
Ahinton's sense of humour is obviously not understood by everyoneanyone

You speak for yourself (no one else is likely to do so).

Suffer me

Sadly, we do...

Best,

Alistair

[loonbohol]

Nobody wan'ts to play my compositions.

[retrouvailles]

Nobody wan'ts to play my compositions.

Maybe because they are bad.

[communist]

Nobody wan'ts to play my compositions.

if you give me the sheet music i will play them 


and i will give you suggestions so you will be a little bit better 

[healdie]

I don't know about Hardest but what about the Schoenberg concerto Mitsuko Uchida says that it is a different sort of hard from the Rachmaninov ones which she says are purly technical but she says this one is also a mental challenge as well and is very awkward to play (as Schoenberg was not a great pianist)

I can't play it but it sounds jolly hard

[communist]

the Circues Galop by Marc-Andre Hamelin

[thijsu]

'Reminiscences de Norma' by liszt

[giannalinda]

that one piece of music that mozart wrote thats so hard nobodys can play it.! Duh!1!

[communist]

that one piece of music that mozart wrote thats so hard nobodys can play it.! Duh!1!

which piece is this?

[db05]

that one piece of music that mozart wrote thats so hard nobodys can play it.! Duh!1!

which piece is this?

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star 

[communist]

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star 

I was unaware he composed that.

[giannalinda]

I was unaware he composed that.

o my gosh everybody knows that!!!!!

[giannalinda]

which piece is this?

Communist? we dont know!!! google it!!! its sum kindof concerto I think! but do the reasearch yourself. Dont just rely on other people to come and wait on you and tell you the answer!!!! maybe it should be served with a gold spoon too!!!  im just kidding btw

[communist]

Communist? we dont know!!! google it!!! its sum kindof concerto I think! but do the reasearch yourself. Dont just rely on other people to come and wait on you and tell you the answer!!!! maybe it should be served with a gold spoon too!!!  im just kidding btw

No Mozart piece is amazingly difficult (technically). Are you thinking of Liszt's fantasy on Don Jaun?

[ghchopin]

I've heard Rachmaninoff's 3rd Concerto was the most difficult piece to play, due to all the big octives.

[thalbergmad]

 

[pianowolfi]

I think that Bethofen's Fur Eliehse (or however you write this) is definitely the hardest song ever!!!!  

[gyzzzmo]

I think its Mozart's 'sonata ne facile pas'. I heard it was definitely not easy!

[pianowolfi]

I think its Mozart's 'sonata ne facile pas'. I heard it was definitely not easy!

Well this one is certainly hors catégorie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hors_Categorie

[littletune]

   funny !
hmm why is that Mozart sonata named in French? shouldnt it be maybe something like sonata nicht leicht?   

[pianowolfi]

  funny !
hmm why is that Mozart sonata named in French? shouldnt it be maybe something like sonata nicht leicht?   

It's actually not named at all, as far as I know. It's Mozart's sonata in C Major KV 545. It got the nick "Sonata facile" from somebody (But I guess not Mozart himself, since otherwise it would appear in serious editions) which means "easy sonata" in Italian.

[littletune]

oh ok thanks for explaining i didnt know that! but : "ne facile pas" is not Italian its French

[pianowolfi]

oh ok thanks for explaining i didnt know that! but : "ne facile pas" is not Italian its French

Yes I know and it's of course incorrect french. It was only a joke 

[littletune]

  i know  (i just didnt know about the "Sonata facile" thanks! )

[gyzzzmo]

Yes I know and it's of course incorrect french. It was only a joke 

I believe you immediately its incorrect french, but i'm also very proud it was my worst subject in highschool, moi je deteste parle francais

[john11inc]

God, reading back through this thread makes me lulz.

Anyway, just wanted to add that I've come across a new contender since this thread was ancient history and when it was revived just now.  Just to put "hardest" into perspective for some of you people that aren't familiar with contemporary music, here is an example of what is *actually* some of the hardest music:



I can certainly count Hammerklavier easier than I can count... actually, I can't even count how many nests that is, much less count the rhythm.

[thalbergmad]

What the bloody hell is a nest??

[weissenberg2]

What i

God, reading back through this thread makes me lulz.

Anyway, just wanted to add that I've come across a new contender since this thread was ancient history and when it was revived just now.  Just to put "hardest" into perspective for some of you people that aren't familiar with contemporary music, here is an example of what is *actually* some of the hardest music:



I can certainly count Hammerklavier easier than I can count... actually, I can't even count how many nests that is, much less count the rhythm.

Which piece is that?

[perfect_pitch]

One - that's not hard - it's just idiotic... two - I doubt it's actually a decent piece of music... and three - who the *** wants to play that crap???

[retrouvailles]

What the bloody hell is a nest??

A nest is short for a nested tuplet, which is when you have a tuplet inside a tuplet (inside a tuplet, etc). Seeing nested tuplets isn't that weird, but seeing multiple nestings like that is just ridiculous. It's probably a British New-Complexist composer's piece. Having that sort of difficulty better be justified in the musical context of that work, or else it's just too hard to be worth playing.

And that brings up yet another topic. Something by a 20th/21st century composer may have monstrous technical difficulties, but are the musical difficulties always that high also? I could certainly come up with some pieces with a monstrous technical difficulty, but a rather straightforward musical difficulty.

[ahinton]

It's Gordon Downie. There's a substantial interview between him and Ian Pace at http://www.musicalpointers.co.uk/articles/generaltopics/DowniePace.htm, for anyone interested in finding out more. He's a computer scientist as well. I heard a largeish ensemble piece of his - Forms something (can't remember now) - a while ago that sounded OK-ish but I really fail to see the point of the above, which inevitably looks a good deal more complex than it sounds. Sorry.

Best,

Alistair