The hardest piece you can play

[evryali]

I'm very interested at the skill here and how many of you are so talented and I just want to here your opinion on what is difficult to you all so what are the hardest piece You can play.

[thalbergmad]

The old bullshitometer is going to be required i feel.

Thal

[ahinton]

The old bullshitometer is going to be required i feel.

I would have thought - and indeed had hoped - that it had died long before now, along with the things for which it was once pressed into service.

Best,

Alistair

[dogperson]

I'm very interested at the skill here and how many of you are so talented and I just want to here your opinion on what is difficult to you all so what are the hardest piece You can play.

IMHO
This question is not indicative of real skill as the hardest piece I can play (which will remain unnamed) is about three skill levels about what I really would consider my REAL ability...

 If you want some idea of the skill level here, look for a recent thread in the audition room for memorable postings.  In addition, the 'hardest' is truly subjective among members based on their strengths.

If you want to hear contributions by individual members, you can sort the entire audition room  forum for 'started by'..  

[vansh]

I don't like to brag but I can sight-read through just about any piano piece effortlessly.

















...provided the metronome is set slow enough.

[stevensk]

I'm very interested at the skill here and how many of you are so talented and I just want to here your opinion on what is difficult to you all so what are the hardest piece You can play.

-Go to the audition room in this forum and listen

[kevonthegreatpianist]

I don't like to brag but I can sight-read through just about any piano piece effortlessly.

















...provided the metronome is set slow enough.

ha. you'll be like *5 BPM AT MOST!!!

The old bullshitometer is going to be required i feel.

Thal

true

[schumaniac]

The old bullshitometer is going to be required i feel.

Thal

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

- in terms of scale, the Beethoven 4th concerto I'm learning.
- in terms of technique... it's not possible to answer. all the pieces I'm learning present their own challenges
- in terms of understanding, I learned a Scriabin sonata that was fairly hard to grasp, but again, all the pieces I learn present their own challenges, and you can't really say if one is definitively more difficult than the other

[vansh]

ha. you'll be like *5 BPM AT MOST!!!

I think you overestimate my abilities.

[kevonthegreatpianist]

I think you overestimate my abilities.

lol. how every 128th note=5 BPM

[evryali]

I knew I shouldn't have started this post.

[casioman]

La Campanella

Simplified simplifed simplified version in G

[ahinton]

I knew I shouldn't have started this post.

Bit late to realise this now, n'est-ce pas?(!)...

Best,

Alistair

[tritone_player]

I once played an eight-hour long recital. The first half consisted of the complete Chopin Etudes (op. 12 and 25) and the complete Liszt Transcendental Etudes. After a short 5 minute intermission I performed the complete Opus Clavicembalisticum from memory in the second half. The encore was Rach 3.

[pencilart3]

I once played an eight-hour long recital. The first half consisted of the complete Chopin Etudes (op. 12 and 25) and the complete Liszt Transcendental Etudes. After a short 5 minute intermission I performed the complete Opus Clavicembalisticum from memory in the second half. The encore was Rach 3.

You're joking, of course. Right? Yes. Of course you're joking.

For me it's Chopin 25/6 or 28/16, I can't play 28/16 too well yet, as you can tell from my post in the audition room. Actually I found Chopin 10/5 as well as Bach's Italian concerto to be just about as hard as either of those pieces.

Edit: wait a minute I forgot, I played ballade 3 last year I think that was harder than those ones.

[kevonthegreatpianist]

You're joking, of course. Right? Yes. Of course you're joking.

For me it's Chopin 25/6 or 28/16, I can't play 28/16 too well yet, as you can tell from my post in the audition room. Actually I found Chopin 10/5 as well as Bach's Italian concerto to be just about as hard as either of those pieces.

Edit: wait a minute I forgot, I played ballade 3 last year I think that was harder than those ones.

No I think 25/6 is harder than the third ballade. The 28/16 is about the same as the third ballade.

Hardest songs I've played:

-Beethoven Op.27 No.2 Third Movement
-Beethoven Op.57 First Movement
-Beethoven Op.81a First Movement
-Beethoven Op.106 Third Movement (too long!)
-Beethoven Op.110 Third and Fourth Movement
-Beethoven Op.111 First Movement
-Chopin Op.1
-Chopin Op.10 No.4
-Chopin Op.25 No.3
-Chopin Op.28 No.8
-Chopin Op.28 No.24
-Chopin Op.35 First and Third Movement
-Chopin Op.47
-Chopin Op.48 No.1
-Chopin Op.56 No.3
-Chopin Op.60
-Debussy Clair de Lune
-Debussy The Sunken Cathedral
-Mozart K 310
-Mozart K 457
-Mozart K 475
-Cyril Scott Lotus Land Op.47 No.1
-Schumann Toccata Op.7


I'm really into Chopin, so yeah.

[kevonthegreatpianist]

I knew I shouldn't have started this post.

too late

[pencilart3]

No I think 25/6 is harder than the third ballade. The 28/16 is about the same as the third ballade.

Not for me. The 3rd ballade trumped them with that dang c sharp minor section, and that terrifying descent down the keyboard after it.... flubbed it up twice in concert and when I played it for Vadym Kholodenko... he was NOT happy haha! He was like

"You no play this piece good. You play one thing, this say another" pointing at the book. Then he was like "I - no - you - no - LET ME PLAY!" And then he would sit down at the piano and he played it perfectly at a tremendous speed, sight reading...    

[birba]

No I think 25/6 is harder than the third ballade. The 28/16 is about the same as the third ballade.

Hardest songs I've played:

-Beethoven Op.27 No.2 Third Movement
-Beethoven Op.57 First Movement
-Beethoven Op.81a First Movement
-Beethoven Op.106 Third Movement (too long!)
-Beethoven Op.110 Third and Fourth Movement
-Beethoven Op.111 First Movement
-Chopin Op.1
-Chopin Op.10 No.4
-Chopin Op.25 No.3
-Chopin Op.28 No.8
-Chopin Op.28 No.24
-Chopin Op.35 First and Third Movement
-Chopin Op.47
-Chopin Op.48 No.1
-Chopin Op.56 No.3
-Chopin Op.60
-Debussy Clair de Lune
-Debussy The Sunken Cathedral
-Mozart K 310
-Mozart K 457
-Mozart K 475
-Cyril Scott Lotus Land Op.47 No.1
-Schumann Toccata Op.7


I'm really into Chopin, so yeah.

Songs?!  Songs?!?!?!?  Can't believe it....

[pencilart3]

Songs?!  Songs?!?!?!?  Can't believe it....

Didn't he say he was 12? If so that's not bad.

[tritone_player]

You're joking, of course. Right? Yes. Of course you're joking.

I assure you, it happened. I would upload the recording to the Audition Room but it's like 10 gigabytes.

[pencilart3]

I assure you, it happened. I would upload the recording to the Audition Room but it's like 10 gigabytes.

M-hm. Let's just hear feux follets and winterwind, that will suffice.

[themeandvariation]

@tritone…
This is quite a feat..  
I am sure you know that there are only a handful of recorded performances  (for sale) of the Sorabji… Is yours one of them?  

[tritone_player]

@tritone…
This is quite a feat.. 
I am sure you know that there are only a handful of recorded performances  (for sale) of the Sorabji… Is yours one of them? 

Yes, and as a matter of fact, I gave that concert when I was 3 years old.

[pencilart3]

Yes, and as a matter of fact, I gave that concert when I was 3 years old.

And you did it blindfolded, I presume?

[rubinsteinmad]

Not for me. The 3rd ballade trumped them with that dang c sharp minor section, and that terrifying descent down the keyboard after it.... flubbed it up twice in concert and when I played it for Vadym Kholodenko... he was NOT happy haha! He was like

"You no play this piece good. You play one thing, this say another" pointing at the book. Then he was like "I - no - you - no - LET ME PLAY!" And then he would sit down at the piano and he played it perfectly at a tremendous speed, sight reading...    

Ouch. Must've hurt.

[tritone_player]

And you did it blindfolded, I presume?

Yes. I also learned the pieces blindfolded.

[kevonthegreatpianist]

Songs?!  Songs?!?!?!?  Can't believe it....

ok pieces

Didn't he say he was 12? If so that's not bad.

I just turned 13, but yeah, I'm all swag.

Happy birthday to me.

Yes. I also learned the pieces blindfolded.

i also assume that you used your feet while driving a car doing a headstand to learn the pieces?

igo way too hardcore....

[schumaniac]

damn. We should have a "Directory of (Pre)Teen Pianists" thread on PianoStreet. There's me, PencilArt, you, Rubinsteinmad... who else?

[pencilart3]

damn. We should have a "Directory of (Pre)Teen Pianists" thread on PianoStreet. There's me, PencilArt, you, Rubinsteinmad... who else?

Make it. I'll be the first entry.

[rubinsteinmad]

...

[dcstudio]

well when I was 10 I played Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung--the entire cycle.. by ear...  Maria Callas was Brunhilde --I had to transpose it down a whole step for her.

  whew... that was tough

what?  don't believe me...  here ya go---

[chopinlover01]

Most of the people here I don't believe a single word of..
Except Noah, he's posted recordings so he gets a pass.
Kevon, until you post all this sh*t I call BS.
Anyways, the hardest thing I've played? Liebestraum, perhaps? I don't know.. I'm learning the 21st Mozart concerto right now and that's pretty hard to get how I want it.

[pencilart3]

@Chopinlover01 thank you for the pass

BTW, kevonthegreatpianist will probably laugh at you for "thinking my name is kevon". I PM'ed him a while ago (the last time I will ever make that mistake ) and he was like "ha ha ha it's so funny all you idiots think my name is kevon". Well when your name is kevon the great pianist, and you're not exactly the most humble member on this site, we naturally think you are referring to yourself as the great pianist.

[kypiano]

damn. We should have a "Directory of (Pre)Teen Pianists" thread on PianoStreet. There's me, PencilArt, you, Rubinsteinmad... who else?

I'm a (Pre)Teen pianist. Actually,  I'm not a pianist. I was just joking. I'm a forteist.

[dcstudio]

the hardest piece I can play...  that's kind of vague---I understand you probably mean--"piece by a recognized composer within the classical standard piano repertoire"  but...  that's not what you said

=13s    --this is pretty hard

            and I know plenty of people who find this impossible

[pencilart3]

Now there's some good rep!!

[kypiano]

The hardest piece I've played in public is Liszt's Rigoletto Paraphrase.
The hardest piece I'm learning is Liszt's Chasse-neige
The hardest piece I plan on playing before I die is Liszt's Chasse-neige

[lhb_]

Bach Invention I.

[dcstudio]

Now there's some good rep!!

thanks      bullshitometer level= 0

[chopinlover01]

thanks      bullshitometer level= 0

This, on the other hand..

Hardest songs I've played:

-Beethoven Op.27 No.2 Third Movement
-Beethoven Op.57 First Movement
-Beethoven Op.81a First Movement
-Beethoven Op.106 Third Movement (too long!)
-Beethoven Op.110 Third and Fourth Movement
-Beethoven Op.111 First Movement
-Chopin Op.1
-Chopin Op.10 No.4
-Chopin Op.25 No.3
-Chopin Op.28 No.8
-Chopin Op.28 No.24
-Chopin Op.35 First and Third Movement
-Chopin Op.47
-Chopin Op.48 No.1
-Chopin Op.56 No.3
-Chopin Op.60
-Debussy Clair de Lune
-Debussy The Sunken Cathedral
-Mozart K 310
-Mozart K 457
-Mozart K 475
-Cyril Scott Lotus Land Op.47 No.1
-Schumann Toccata Op.7

You're probably either playing everything god awfully, or just not playing it at all. Methinks it's the latter.

[schumaniac]

j

[kevonthegreatpianist]

This, on the other hand..You're probably either playing everything god awfully, or just not playing it at all. Methinks it's the latter.

somewhere in between. and my sh!t is hot sh!t

@Chopinlover01 thank you for the pass

BTW, kevonthegreatpianist will probably laugh at you for "thinking my name is kevon". I PM'ed him a while ago (the last time I will ever make that mistake ) and he was like "ha ha ha it's so funny all you idiots think my name is kevon". Well when your name is kevon the great pianist, and you're not exactly the most humble member on this site, we naturally think you are referring to yourself as the great pianist.

oh screw you

[lephantome92]

I'm currently working on learning the Nakajima arrangement of Holst's Planets suite, and they all are tricky in their own respects, but I think the overall hardest is Jupiter. Capturing the emotions inherent in all of the themes gets blurry sometimes, then also switching the melody between hands sometimes...

[visitor]

does the piece need tostay under your hands? all my hardest pieces, take forever to learn and i quickly unlearn them and move on, so if we include pieces from the past, that broadens the net some.

[pencilart3]

does the piece need tostay under your hands? all my hardest pieces, take forever to learn and i quickly unlearn them and move on, so if we include pieces from the past, that broadens the net some.

Good point. Ballade 3 left me faster than a bullet, 25/6 is sticking around for a quite a while. The hardest one I can play now is probably prelude 16 as it's the only one I of these three I would be OK with performing. Oh wait I did perform ballade 3 (bad memories )

[goldentone]

does the piece need tostay under your hands? all my hardest pieces, take forever to learn and i quickly unlearn them and move on, so if we include pieces from the past, that broadens the net some.

I take it you would never venture your hardest pieces into boutiques and salons, and I concur, since not being ready for such a performance can produce those butterflies of anxiety.

  

[kevonthegreatpianist]

Good point. Ballade 3 left me faster than a bullet, 25/6 is sticking around for a quite a while. The hardest one I can play now is probably prelude 16 as it's the only one I of these three I would be OK with performing. Oh wait I did perform ballade 3 (bad memories )

ballade 3 isn't too difficult. the c# minor and the coda are kinda demanding tho.

[pencilart3]

ballade 3 isn't too difficult.

Play the dang thing in front of 100 people and tell me that again!

[kevonthegreatpianist]

Play the dang thing in front of 100 people and tell me that again!

ok i go to a graveyard and will play it on Youtube

that burn tho