The shortest most virtuosistic and musically demanding piece

[cloches_de_geneve]

The jury waits impatiently. Pollini looks tired and scratches his forehead while Brendel is grimassing with no apparent reason. Unnerved, Hélène Grimaud writes down a sketch to a new poem about woolfs on a competition evaluation sheet.

Now you enter the stage. You have less than a minute to exhibit all your virtuosity and musical intelligence. What piece would you pick? It has to be a complete piece and cannot be an excerpt or an isolated passage.

Also, and obviously, the tempo has to be the correct one and cannot be accelerated at will in order meet the < 1 minute requirement.

My vote goes to: Chopin, Prélude 16, in b-flat minor.
(With an honorable mention for the fugue to prelude 9 in E major from WTC1)

Yours?

[term]

How about scriabin prelude op11 24?

[Petter]

Lenny Kravitz "Are you gonna go my way"

[opus10no2]

<<

in 50 seconds.

[m]

Play Chopin Waltz or Mazurka beautifully, and you are the winner.

Best, M

[gyzzzmo]

Chopin etude op 10/2, probably about a minute. It's a funny piece but i dont know if it might be harder than it sounds...

gyzzzmo

[opus10no2]

Every pro should know its difficulty.

[gyzzzmo]

Every pro should know its difficulty.

I didnt realise it was for a jury, i should read intro posts better... somewhere in future

[tanman]

Chopin etude op. 25 no. 9 played well.

[franzliszt2]

A Grieg Lyric piece

[opus10no2]

Hilarious.

[rob47]

Little Indian Brave or something similar

[mad_max2024]

The C major scale 

[db05]

The C major scale 

How about a little variation? Hanon #1, then throw in #2, #3 and so on for kicks. 

[javacisnotrecognized]

Opus Clavicembalisticum

[cloches_de_geneve]

As good as your ideas are, unfortunately, most of them are not less than a minute long. Please only list pieces that are truly less than a minute long. Thanks!

[pies]

Antheil's Jazz Sonata if you play it really really really fast

[communist]

A Prokofiev vision fugitive maybe

[feddera]

How about the first transcendental etude by Liszt? That's what I would play if I could.

[general disarray]

My vote goes to: Chopin, Prélude 16, in b-flat minor.
(With an honorable mention for the fugue to prelude 9 in E major from WTC1)

Yours?

I think you've already picked the winner here with the Chopin.  There is NOTHING harder than this prelude.  Period.  Five years working on it, and I still can't play it before an audience of any size -- including one.  ARRGH

[cloches_de_geneve]

I guess you could also consider etude op. 25/8, which is harder than 25/9, but still easier than prelude 16 both musically and technically IMO. As Chopin was working on op. 28 (preludes) and op. 25 (etudes) at about the same time, I would not be surprised if prelude 16 was originally conceived as an etude, not a prelude.

[mhorwitz]

Hey check out this article!

https://www.musicouch.com/Genres/Classical/Showing-Virtuosity-in-60-Seconds.357351

It pretty much answers this question flat out hahaha
Hope you enjoy it- leave comments and tell me what you think!

[minor9th]

Try the 2nd or 22nd movement of Michael Hersch's "The Vanishing Pavilions".

[craig137]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Schumann's Hasche-Mann.  People have told me it's definitely more difficult than Liszt's Transcendental Etude #1.  Maybe this could be the answer to the VERY shortest (most difficult) one as I've timed one recording of it at 32 seconds!

[zyschqual]

Skrjabin Etude Op. 42 No. 2 or No. 3
No. 2 is not played often. It's a very calm piece with an extremely fast and short episode at the end (possible an homage to Chopin's 2nd sonata, last mvt.).
No. 3 lasts only about 40 secs.

Chopin Prelude No. 19 or. No 23 (don't underestimate that one!)

A. S.

[thijsu]

Chopin etude op. 25 no. 9 played well.

This was also the first piece that came to my mind when I saw the question. Has to be played very clean though..

[cloches_de_geneve]

Chopin Prelude No. 19 or. No 23 (don't underestimate that one!)
A. S.

19 is horrendously difficult, more difficult than half of his etudes, possibily more difficult than 16, but it lasts longer than a minute.

[cloches_de_geneve]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Schumann's Hasche-Mann.  People have told me it's definitely more difficult than Liszt's Transcendental Etude #1. 

Well, for one thing Liszt's first Transcendental is not really an Etude like the other ones; it was conceived as a warm-up and is manageable even with a mediocre technique. And Hasche-Mann is also feasible with relatively modest technical skills. But you have a point in pointing to Schumann: Some of his pieces from Carnival, Symphonic etudes and perhaps even from the Davidsbündlertänze could come close to Chopin prélude 16 in terms of technical challenge.

[mike_lang]

You have less than a minute to exhibit ALL your virtuosity and musical intelligence. What piece would you pick?

You present an impossible problem.  You believe that there is something of truly deep musical value, much less, something that displays hundreds of emotions and characters from a lifetime in experience, that is sub-60 seconds in length?   

ML

[healdie]

you suffer by Napalm death is a whole 3 seconds long
https://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=S_Bqt9uzKDY&feature=related

[tanman]

you suffer by Napalm death is a whole 3 seconds long
https://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=S_Bqt9uzKDY&feature=related

LOL

[antichrist]

i'd like to vote for

Opus Clavicembalisticum

too