Short pieces (1-4 minutes) that require virtuoso skills

[presto agitato]

Chopin: Preludes num 8, 16, 24 and many of his Etudes.
Liszt:  Transcendental Etudes nums 2, 5  and 7
Brahms: Many of his Caprices.
Mendelssohn: Many of his Etudes.
Rachmaninov: Many of his Preludes and Etudes

Do you agree?

[Goldberg]

Yes...

There are also many transcriptions that fit the bill: look into some by Volodos (I just heard his version of the Italienne Polka and if you can find the music to that, well...it'd be awesome to play; his Alla Turca is quite humorous), Horowitz (Carmen Variations, Stars and Stripes, etc), Cziffra (Bumblebee, Valse Triste, Brahms Hungarian Dances, and a few others are around 4 minutes), and Hamelin (Black Key Etude, Bumblebee, etc.)---those are all the popular ones but there are a lot of other transcriptions as well. Obviously they were written as encores (or etudes, in some instances) and are mostly pure entertainment, but they sure require virtuoso technique.

There's also the Grand Galop Chromatique...

And no doubt hundreds of others, none of which I seem to be drawing up...

[DarkWind]

Ravel and Prokofiev Toccatas. 'Nuff said.

[donjuan]

Yes...

There are also many transcriptions that fit the bill: look into some by Volodos (I just heard his version of the Italienne Polka and if you can find the music to that, well...it'd be awesome to play; his Alla Turca is quite humorous), Horowitz (Carmen Variations, Stars and Stripes, etc), Cziffra (Bumblebee, Valse Triste, Brahms Hungarian Dances, and a few others are around 4 minutes), and Hamelin (Black Key Etude, Bumblebee, etc.)---those are all the popular ones but there are a lot of other transcriptions as well. Obviously they were written as encores (or etudes, in some instances) and are mostly pure entertainment, but they sure require virtuoso technique.

There's also the Grand Galop Chromatique...

And no doubt hundreds of others, none of which I seem to be drawing up...

Yeah!!! Now were talking! There is not a word in here I do not strongly agree with!
Hell yeah

[liszmaninopin]

The most virtuosic short pieces I have come across are Ligeti etudes, by far.  #'s 1,3,6,7,8,9,10,12,13 (this one is around 5 minutes, though), and 14 all require lots of virtuosity.

Perhaps Bartok's studies, op. 18

A number of the Chopin/Godowsky etudes.

[BoliverAllmon]

yes, i agree. There are tons of pieces that fit this bill.

boliver

[stefano]

try the prokofiev toccata, dont even attempt the volodos or horowitz transcriptions.  its just to hard.

[BoliverAllmon]

maybe that is what he is looking for?

[presto agitato]

Waht about Prokofiev´"Suggestion Diabolique" and Bartok´s  "Allegro Barbaro"?