shostakovich is deceptively hard

[swagmaster420x]

discuss?

[JCarey]

...and sometimes not so deceptively:
 

[nanabush]

His Preludes and Fugues are ridiculous.  There are some of them that are just absurd.  Look at the Db major Fugue, or the Fugue from the G major... How the hell!

There is a recording of Hamelin playing the Db major, and it sounds a bit like he's stumbling through it.  The notes don't look to bad, but the subject is just so bizarre that it probably crushes a lot of people who try to play it haha!

Db major:

G major: 

[yale_music]

Ah, yes...good ol' DSCH. His music is tough to play, there's no doubt. He was, of course, a wonderful pianist.

https://www.dschjournal.com/media/EDITED_2PF.mp3

[swagmaster420x]

im playing one of his easier concertos i guess, im not sure how it compares relative to his others, but anyways my initial impression upon glancing at the notes would that it would be quite easy, but it actually requires a surprising amount of dexterity/concentration to produce clean sounding single notes.

[tdawe]

His Preludes and Fugues are ridiculous.  There are some of them that are just absurd.  Look at the Db major Fugue, or the Fugue from the G major... How the hell!

There is a recording of Hamelin playing the Db major, and it sounds a bit like he's stumbling through it.  The notes don't look to bad, but the subject is just so bizarre that it probably crushes a lot of people who try to play it haha!

Db major:

G major: 

The G major is really one of the easiest in that opus! Not too hard at all, just fast. Check out the 12th fugue (G sharp minor), played by the composer himself. Amazing writing, but so hard to play well, with that complex meter.

However I do think fugues are just hard to play in general...