Pieces that don't look hard but are

[alpacinator1]

Well, I just had a few experiences and I thought I'd make a topic on it.

With some pieces, when you first look at the notes, they don't look particularly challenging. But then, when you actually try to play them, you find that they are.

For example, Saltarelle op. 23 by Alkan. I am an intermediate-level pianist, and when I saw the notes, I thought "I can play this". Then, I tried it and realized the notes literally force your fingers to jump on top of eachother, and they practically fell off.

Another song like this is Chopin's Minute Waltz. The notes don't look all that difficult, but the song is played extremely fast, and it is actually VERY hard (too much so for me to play, anyway)

So, what are some other pieces that look easy to play but aren't?

[leonidas]

Every piece looks relatively easy before you see the metronome marking.

[clhiospzitn]

Believe it or not, I thought Liszt's Transcendental Etude no. 7 (Eroica) looked somewhat manageable when I first saw it (at least compared to the other etudes), but it turned out to be a lot more challenging than I expected.  The octaves section is a killer.

Some of Beethoven's, Haydn's, and Mozart's sonatas look pretty easy, but are actually just the opposite.  For some reason I tend to have more problems playing these three composers' works than with other ones.

[gyzzzmo]

Many of the Chopin Nocturnes. Often they have technical peaks in them wich makes them difficult to really get them ready to performance level.

[invictious]

Every piece looks relatively easy before you see the metronome marking.

Another random al pacino pic in a thread AGAIN/


Well, true. Even Scriabin's 7thor 8th sonata can look really easy until you realize the speed.

[chopininov]

I'd have to say Alkan's Grand Sonate "Les Quatre Ages" Op. 33. When I saw the first movement, looked pretty easy. But of course it wasn't.

[pianovirus]

Schubert. I think this would apply to most of his piano works.

[klavierkonzerte]

most of schumanns piano music are WAY harder than they look or sounds and not because of the speed but because of his awkward writing
i find his music, somtimes, more difficult to pull off convincingly than some of liszt flashy pieces.

[prongated]

Schumann's Toccata op. 7 is apparently really hard. Having never sight-read the score, a quick peek reveals nothing more than a behemoth octavian-plus Feux Follets look-alike. Which doesn't look that hard

[cloches_de_geneve]

Schubert. I think this would apply to most of his piano works.

I second that. Especially his last six sonatas, not just because they are difficult, but also because you need to keep up the stamina for close to 40 minutes 

[gyzzzmo]

I second that. Especially his last six sonatas, not just because they are difficult, but also because you need to keep up the stamina for close to 40 minutes 

I cant third that, somehow schubert is for me typically a composer with no unsuspected technical difficulties :S

[hodi]

I cant third that, somehow schubert is for me typically a composer with no unsuspected technical difficulties :S

try his wanderer fantasy 

[thalberg]

Goldberg Variations.  Fiercely difficult, yet you look at the page and it doesn't look bad at all. 

[gyzzzmo]

try his wanderer fantasy 

Ill have a (long) look lol, havent played it yet :p. Btw, cant say either that i thought that 'der wanderer' would be easy :p

[soliloquy]

La Campanella I think is the most famous for this

[pianogeek_cz]

Quite some Brahms would fall in this category... notably the recently mentioned Scherzo op. 4.

[verywellmister]

Suggestion Diabolique, while not as hard as it sounds, looks fairly manageble on paper, is actually quite tough.

[thaicheow]

Some may not agree, but I think any pieces by Mozart applicalble to this catergory. Most work by JS Bach too.

[soderlund]

I think the mazurkas by Chopin are really hard to play well. I am struggling with one of the easiest, I think. Op. 17 no. 2 in E minor. It's really hard to play well, obviously not because of technical difficulties. It's either too blurry or too harsh. 

[dnephi]

Brahms

[Nightscape]

Anything by John Adams or Steve Reich looks a lot harder than it appears and requires a lot of concentration to play.

[retrouvailles]

Anything by John Adams or Steve Reich looks a lot harder than it appears and requires a lot of concentration to play.

I'll second that. It is sooo easy to get lost in a long and complicated piece like Phrygian Gates, which doesn't really look bad until you sit down at the piano.

[pianogeek_cz]

Suggestion Diabolique, while not as hard as it sounds, looks fairly manageble on paper, is actually quite tough.

As is the case with almost all Prokofiev.

[bob3.1415926]

As is the case with almost all Prokofiev.

I'll second that. It doesn't half sound great though.

[slobone]

Schubert. I think this would apply to most of his piano works.

I'll agree with that. Even the Moments Musicaux, which sound like children's pieces until you try to play them...

BTW, Schubert wasn't that great a piano player. He couldn't even play his own Wanderer Fantasy. So why did he feel he had to torture accompanists with the Erlkoenig?

[chopininov]

I'll agree with that. Even the Moments Musicaux, which sound like children's pieces until you try to play them...

BTW, Schubert wasn't that great a piano player. He couldn't even play his own Wanderer Fantasy. So why did he feel he had to torture accompanists with the Erlkoenig?

The Earl King is easy--the accompaniment part is, at least. I can understand if you meant this about Liszt's transcription of it, though.

[stringoverstrung]

definitely brahms

[mike_lang]

The Earl King is easy--the accompaniment part is, at least. I can understand if you meant this about Liszt's transcription of it, though.

Yes - Gerald Moore split the octaves between the hands whenever possible, which significantly facilitates it.

[slobone]

The Earl King is easy--the accompaniment part is, at least. I can understand if you meant this about Liszt's transcription of it, though.

Ow, my right hand hurts. Especially if the singer wants to do it over and over.

Course the voice part's no picnic either.

[slobone]

Some may not agree, but I think any pieces by Mozart applicalble to this catergory. Most work by JS Bach too.

I certainly agree with Bach. Many of his pieces do sound easy till you try to play them.

But the key to Bach is fingering. Once you've mastered that, it's not too bad.

[fnork]

How about Brahms op 119 which I'm learning now. Not so hard to sightread but once you start really working on them, you notice that you need very good control over your instrument to bring out all of the different textures. the first intermezzo is sightreadable but NOT easy to perform well....

[gerry]

A great deal of Schumann appears on the surface to be playable until you realize that he engages every finger playing inner melodies, ascending an descending lines, sustained inner notes, not to mention the intellectual games, i.e. playing with letters of the alphabet, his imaginary Eusebius and Florestan, etc.