Liszt Sonata B Minor or Dante Sonata

[shubertimproviz]

Hi. I want to start a Liszt's Sonata. Which of these sonatas is less challenging(they are both difficult)?

[pianoman53]

The dante is not near as technically difficult as the Liszt. As far as I know, it's not very challenging at all, for being Liszt - it you count in the different numbers of technical difficulties. The Dante has got loads and loads of octaves and repeated chords. So you get tired. Like "I just cam from the gym"-tired. But more than that, it's not like your fingers are running all the way up and down the keyboard.

I don't really know anything about the b minor. But it's considered very difficult.

[danhuyle]

You'll experience a set of challenges in both regardless of which one you start with.

Play the B minor sonata.

[fftransform]

Apers un Lecture du Dante is more difficult.  Lazar Berman claimed it to be Liszt's most difficult piece.

[imbetter]

i performed the dante recently it's an amazing experience as long as you have the stamina for it

[pianoman53]

Apers un Lecture du Dante is more difficult.  Lazar Berman claimed it to be Liszt's most difficult piece.

And Schnabel claimed that Mozart is easy for children, and difficult for adults. And Horowitz said "Perfection is in itself imperfection". Point is, one has to take what they say with a pinch of salt.

[lostinidlewonder]

I've seen children play the Sonata in B, but never the Dante. Maybe that is an indication. Personally I think the Dante is much more difficult.

[marik1]

My take on that is if one is ready to tackle either piece then that person is not asking that kind of questions on the public discussion boards.

Best, M

[alhimia]

My take on that is if one is ready to tackle either piece then that person is not asking that kind of questions on the public discussion boards.

Best, M

I tend to disagree. Maybe the person who post this question simply would like to hear opinions or experiences from people who played both pieces?

However, the answer to the original question depends of course on many things. No definite ranking of those pieces is possible. Personally, I only played Dante and thought it was very uncomfortable (both physically and musically) to play and heard from many other people that the B minor Sonata is technically not that challenging.
The only way to really figure out is to study them both!