Gnomenreigen difficulty

[polaricecap]

Is Gnomenreigen one of Liszt's difficult pieces, or easy? Also, is it a good piece to play for a competetion?

[rachmaninoff_forever]

I think it's one of his mid range easier pieces, but it's still a pretty nasty piece.

[ianw]

According to the Piano Syllabus app this piece appears in the AMEB's Licentiate program (its hardest level) while the RCM puts it in its Associate syllabus (it's second hardest level).

[thalbergmad]

It fits under the hand nicely. Well, under my hand it does.

One of the easier Liszt pieces I have played.

Thal

[thalbergmad]

I think it's one of his mid range easier pieces, but it's still a pretty nasty piece.

Since you can already play La Campanella, you would piss all over Gnomenreigen.

Thal

[cabbynum]

Since you can already play La Campanella, you would piss all over Gnomenreigen.

Thal

That made me laugh really hard actually! It's not often la Campanella and piss are used together

[4greatkeyboards]

I think it is a most difficult piece and Liszt's tempi markings seem like a joke on we players, to me. It's like he starts out by saying 'really fast' then every 16 measures or so he says 'faster'. It's like a mad race to the end. But it doesn't have to be that way. I point to Murray Pariah's recording of it as the best and with sane tempi (see it on youtube).


I play it such that the begining is at 120 and the ending run is at 140 bpm.

[nanabush]

Detail-wise, it's a beast.  A lot of performers just play the figures as a solid 2-note interval... they kind of miss the grace note feel to it.

I played this a while back (when I was in high school and was obsessed with just playing fast pieces for the sake of it), and I came back to it a few weeks ago... it's not in Liszt's more difficult group of etudes, but it has enough to really bug you.  It also kind of shreds at the end...

It's such an appealing piece though, very accessible for the audience's ears (it's got a catchy hook to it!), and it's fun as hell to play.

I'd probably compare it to Chopin's mid-level etudes (probably around the same as the Revolutionary, Op 10 #8, Op 25 #1 & 2, kinda thing).  It doesn't hold a candle to La Campanella or any of the Transcendental etudes though haha! I would say that it is slightly more difficult than Un Sospiro (which everyone around here seems to be familiar with...)

[maxy]

It fits under the hand nicely. Well, under my hand it does.

One of the easier Liszt pieces I have played.

Thal

Same here! It was my first Liszt piece.

Since you can already play La Campanella, you would piss all over Gnomenreigen.

Thal

Correct!

  It also kind of shreds at the end...

 and it's fun as hell to play.

Agreed!

Now is it a competition piece? Depends on what type of beast you'll go against. Once heard a 12-year-old kid rip through the piece at Cziffra speed...