Musical Difficulty

[Ecthelion]

Which are the most difficult pieces in relation to their musical aspects? (NOT technically )

Which pieces aren't very hard to tackle in technical difficulty, but demonstrate a big musical challange?

My favourite is the music of Mozart. For example the concertos or the sonatas...  I guess we could easy underestimate them!

Regards, Ecthelion

[xvimbi]

I find that slow pieces with few notes are very difficult to pull off in a convincing way. Pieces like Satie's Gymnopedies or even the Moonlight Sonata, 1. movement come to mind. Every note has to be perfect. The slightest uneveness or bad phrasing will show immediately.

[donjuan]

For Liszt,
definitely the late hungarian Rhapsodies (17,18,19) and Nuages Gris, as well as the Valse Oubliees.  Czardas Macabre is also tough..
donjuan  

[liszmaninopin]

In my opinion, the most difficult music to play in a logical, musical fashion is avant-garde.  It really takes skill to make sense out of the "random" nature of the music.

[teresa_b]

I've had a lot of experience with Mozart the past 5 years or so...I've become the unofficial "Mozart Specialist" with my local chamber players, and have done K488, K453, K459, and now K449.  

I agree with you, Ecthelion, even though these pieces  seem quite accessible technically, I think they are incredibly challenging to play!  The balance of crystalline clarity (and every tiny glitch is obvious--ouch  ) and fluidity of phrasing and dynamics to make Mozart "sing" is really hard.  

But when it works, what could be more glorious!  I hope you play much Mozart, and love it the way I do!

Teresa

[Rach3]

Mozart and Schumann come to mind. A specific example which has caused me no end of grief is the Bach Bb-minor fugue from book I, amazingly slow yet constant, unceasing, with an aura of 'inevitability'. As a five-part fugue, it feels less contrapuntal and more 'chordal' - very chordal. It's very easy to romanticize this fugue, listen to Glenn Gould (or myself for that matter!). Especially when it comes to the short escape into the major - absolutely sublime! Absolutely difficult!

[tomcc]

I am working on Schuberts Gflat impromptu and am finding it quite to difficult to play the melody as though I didn't have the other notes in the right hand. Even the triplets without the melody are hard to play by themselves (as I want to hear them). Then trying to combine them and add the pedal to make the base legato. Very difficult in my mind. BUt worth all the effort. The piece is sublime!!!
Cheers, Tom

[tomcc]

oops, you meant not technically. Well, all the technical aspects aside, the Schubert is still hard musically. All Schubert for that matter. Like Mozart, everything must be just right or else it is obvious to the listener. The fewer the notes, the more perfect each one has to be.
Tom

[Nightscape]

"Ondine" and especially "Le Gibet" from Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit.  Ondine has a LOT of notes in it, and they must be played very smoothly, very quietly.  And the melody must hover ever so gently on top of it.  The climax of Ondine also requires complete control of the masses of sound the piano is producing.

Le Gibet is an interpretation nightmare - you are constantly having to change the tone color, yet always trying to keep the Bbs as static as possible.  This piece can be very stressful to work out the delicacy of all the lines.

From Debussy, "Des pas sur la neige" comes to mind.  It's in some ways very similar to Le Gibet in it's musical demands.

Debussy and Ravel require the performer to have a prodigious control of tone color and texture, and thus is some of the most difficult music to perform well.  There are just too many people who butcher "Clair de lune" and Ravel's "Pavane"!