Pieces that are technically easy but musically 'hard' ?

[jas_sorian]

I have an awful technique so I just hope that I can improve on musicality.

[49410enrique]

technique is the vehicle to musicality. i want to give a good reply at what you are getting at but i have yet to find an example or situation where musical and expressive execution came out well without a need for technique. in fact as i am recently rediscovering, sometimes the 'easier' techically speaking, pieces require better and more refined technique or the music is harder to play as the ear is able to pick up on tone quality, projection, fullness, non hard 'attack', sustain, etc. and phrasing, voiceing and such much more easily so the musically part as you put it is much harder to achieve.

[keyboardclass]

All pieces are 'musically hard' on the piano that's why you need a good technique.

[sevencircles]

gaspard de la nuit-le gibet came to mind for some reason 

[drkilroy]

Perhaps it does count, as long as you have got big hands.

Best regards, Dr

[starstruck5]

Perhaps it does count, as long as you have got big hands.

Best regards, Dr

Don't quite understand this post???  What has the size of your hands got to do with playing technically easy pieces?  Anyway -I agree that the less notes there are means that the more exposed they are going to be -so perhaps there is no such thing as an easy piece -ie -that guarantees everyone will play it artistically and well.

[pianoplayjl]

Perhaps it does count, as long as you have got big hands.

Best regards, Dr

Perhaps Chopin etude op 10 no 11 fits your description. Made of nothing more than widely spaced arpeggiated ntoes yet requiring a large hand to play it comfortably. The melody is played by the pinky on the right hand.

JL

[drkilroy]

I meant that Le Gibet would not be particularly hard for me, except those gigantic descending ppp chords and other chords spanning over major ninth, which is the maximum stretch of my hands.

Another problematic piece is the Passepied from Debussy's Suite Bergamasque - it is very uncomfortable for me to play because of the arpeggios which span a tenth.

I just counted passages uncomfortable for small hands as technical problem.

Best regards, Dr

[j_menz]

I have an awful technique so I just hope that I can improve on musicality.

You can only improve your musicality by improving your technique.

Musicality requires the ability to implement technically the musical choices you wish to make.  If your performance is not a musical choice, but a reflection of the limitations of your technique, then it is not musicality.

[jas_sorian]

technique is the vehicle to musicality. i want to give a good reply at what you are getting at but i have yet to find an example or situation where musical and expressive execution came out well without a need for technique. in fact as i am recently rediscovering, sometimes the 'easier' techically speaking, pieces require better and more refined technique or the music is harder to play as the ear is able to pick up on tone quality, projection, fullness, non hard 'attack', sustain, etc. and phrasing, voiceing and such much more easily so the musically part as you put it is much harder to achieve.

Thanks for that. 

What pieces do you think can help?

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Omg omg omg Scriabian sonatas ESPECIALLY Black Mass (sonata 9).

Jesus Christ that's difficult musically!

[richterfan1]

Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu, or Schumann's papillions etc. i dont know your skills, if those are hard for you , take schumann's scenes from childhood or some of Chopin's Nocturnes, Good Luck

[symphonicdance]

Musical...  also depends on the experience (on life, not just piano & performance) and past of the pianist, his/her understanding of the piece and the composer, his/her exploration with the different ways to approach and play the piece, etc.  Just my amateur thoughts...

[williampiano]

I'd say Brahms' Intermezzo op. 116 no. 6 is quite musically challenging, but not real technically difficult.

[chopinlover96]

I would say Chopin Prelude Op 28 No.4 technically very easy but there are many bad performances of this on youtube.

[teccomin]

Mozart, Mozart and Mozart

[rachmaninoff_forever]

I'd like to add on to what I said earlier.

Basically any of Scriabins late works.

[virtuoso80]

I'd say get a copy of the 51 Chopin Mazurkas. Nothing terrifying technically, but VERY HARD to play musically. First, you have to understand the Mazurka, how it's supposed to be played, and it's role in Polish history/society. Then you have to be able to add on top of that the mature, subtle, but profound tweaks Chopin gives to the form. Many can play the notes, but doing these pieces really well musically is incredibly difficult.

[ajspiano]

chopsticks.

[j_menz]

Prelude in C major from WTC Book 1.

I was going to laugh at "chopstocks", but then realised I'd never heard it played well.  Incidentally, am I the only pianist on the planet who never learnt or played this piece?

[ajspiano]

I was going to laugh at "chopstocks", but then realised I'd never heard it played well.

probably doesnt count as technically easy..  don't know, didnt watch the whole thing. I'm still not convinced it was musically that great either..

[jas_sorian]

Some parts sound like Hungarian Rhapsody 2. 

I'd say get a copy of the 51 Chopin Mazurkas.

I guess I'll start there.

Basically any of Scriabins late works.

Thanks for all the suggestions and insights everyone! 

[music_doctor]

Some of beethoven's songs such as the moonlight sonata, which is fairly easy but hard in musicallity. If your the level 8,9,10, try out lebautraum, which would be the only piece by liszt that I would recomend

[p2u_]

Pieces that are technically easy but musically 'hard' ?

No such pieces around, unless you are talking about Hanon exercises.

Technique is the art of drawing the right quality of sounds out of the instrument in the right context. That can be very hard at times in mechanically easy pieces.
Mechanics on the other hand is the ability to press the right key at the right time, which in itself has nothing to do with music.
Strive for the first and you'll be OK.

Paul

[nanabush]

Movements of mozart sonatas... it's so easy to butcher them!!! And I didn't understand this until a few years into university; it's so easy to hear a mistake in a lot of his music (compared to a Liszt or Rach piece); it has to be delicate, and musical, and technically perfect!  If someone half-asses a mozart piece it just sounds terrible. 

I played Rach2 first movement this year; the most difficult part once I had all the notes down was the start of theme 2... it's SO MUCH different playing it when there's the second part backing you up.  The fast parts are more masked, but when you have the solo entry of theme 2 (which isn't difficult compared to the rest of the piece, technically speaking), it needs to speak!

I wouldn't say Le Gibet is remotely 'technically' easy... chords, cross rhythms, and keyboard facility are nightmares in this... it goes all over the place.  But ya... those Bb's that repeat, they can't just sound like someone relentlessly 'hitting' those keys without intention.

Maybe the easier Chopin pieces?  Some of his nocturnes and waltzes... if they are just 'played'... it could sound nice, but there are tons of expressive markings in his music, you can't just ignore it and expect to have conquered the piece.

[revanyoda777]

You cannot have good musicality without good technique. They must coexist to work properly