What pieces did you most overestimate and underestimate the difficulty of?

[virtuoso80]

What pieces, before actually trying them, did you most overestimate and underestimate the difficulty of? What piece made you say, "Hey, this isn't actually so bad," and what made you say, "God, what did I get myself into?"

[piulento]

Piece I overestimated - rach's op. 3 no. 2. Before I started I thought that at some point I'm just gonna give up on it, but it was actually really comfortable to play.
Piece I underestimated - Beethoven's sonata no. 27 op. 90. It has so many hidden musical difficulties!!! Eventually I got it right, but without a good teacher I think I'd be lost.
What about you?

[malabdal]

"Hey, this isn't actually so bad," : Liszt's Rigoletto Paraphrase (it turns out to be a work that fits very well under the hands) ... Beethoven's 32 Variations WoO80 in C minor ... Bach Toccata in E minor BWV 914.

"God, what did I get myself into?" : Mozart Sonata No. 8 (A minor) ... Le Gibet (from Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit) ... Beethoven Sonata Op. 7 ... Bach Partita No. 6 (E minor) ...

[ansgarpiano]

Underestimated: - Chopin op 10 no 4 - Proper clarity took me almost 2 years working on and off
- Bach prelude and fugue no 15 in g major from WTC II - The prelude again tough to obtain clarity and eveness.
- Listz trancendental etude 8 Wilde Jagd - Okay, it is more simple and primitivly written, but these massive groups of chords pulls out a few teeth.

Overestimated: - Mendelssohn etude op 104 no 1 Bb minor - What beauty and such light and soft arpeggies
- Tchaikovsky "Seasons" op 37a - Surely not the most pianistic composition, but all the interesting melodies and harmonies makes up for it, as well as the relativly east technical level 
 

[briansaddleback]

Underestimated 25-9 butterfly. You try properly getting the figurines come out correctly technically and then perform at near suggested speed. This is a beast as much as the other difficult ones as 10-4, 10-2, 25-4 etc

[j_tour]

I agree with the above about the e-minor partita of Bach -- it happens I'm dusting this one off with my teacher's pencil marks still on it from when I was...a young teenager, not sure what age...and am trying valiantly to keep some worthy pieces in memory before I turn forty in a few months.  I've been playing almost exclusively jazz and other improvised music for most of my adult life, and am still struggling to keep in memory just the Toccata and the (very long) fugue.

Another piece, much more incidental, that I'm finding is surprisingly challenging to play WITHOUT CHEATING is the good old B-minor Rhapsody of Brahms.  To respect every mark, and not be satisfied to just "get the effect," is more difficult than I recall.

On the good side of the board, I'm finding it much less challenging to make a good effort to commit to memory the whole of Beethoven's Op. 126.  As a kid I was satisfied with just tackling a few of them (nos. 4 and 6), and thought it would be too much work to do them all.  They're kind of sing-songy pieces that are pretty easy to recall, IMO.  I don't have them all yet, but it's a much more reasonable set to keep in mind than the intimidation I felt as a kid -- the only danger is getting sick of them.

[crusader13]

Underestimated:

Faure's Nocturne in E Flat Minor (at this point I have mastered it though)
Scriabin's Black Mass
Every Rachmaninoff piece I've attempted to learn
Schubert's Fantasie in F Minor
Chopin's 16th Prelude
Beethoven's Piano Sonata in E Minor
Faure's Pavane in F Sharp Minor
Bach's BWV542
Clementi's Piano Sonata in B Minor
Schumann's Piano Sonata in F Sharp Minor
Schubert's Piano Sonata in E Major
There's more but that's what immeadiately pops in my head

Overestimated:
Schubert's Piano Sonata in E Minor
Mozart's Fantasie in C Minor
Mozart's Adagio in B Minor
Bach's BWV922 and BWV561
A couple of Mendelssohn pieces I can't remember the names of but they were in F Sharp Minor and F Minor respectively

[virtuoso80]

Underestimated:

Every Rachmaninoff piece I've attempted to learn

Really, that's interesting because I usually find Rach to look incredibly daunting and turn out easier.

[crusader13]

Really, that's interesting because I usually find Rach to look incredibly daunting and turn out easier.

When I started out everything I tried by him was difficult. I could barely play his Prelude in G Minor before but I learned that and its taken me all my time as a pianist (6 years) to learn the first part of his Prelude in C Sharp Minor before it gets fast.

But I'm slowly starting to get used to him but there was a time when anything Rach related was impossible for me.

[crusader13]

I'm gonna add Clementi's Piano Sonata in F Minor to my list of overestimated piano pieces as well.

[virtuoso80]

What about you?

Underestimated:

Any Ligeti Etude. Fanfares is the one people often go to first, and it's not as bad as some others, but...yeah it's crazy. I can't do it yet.

Most Beethoven Sonatas - As other pieces fell into my ability, I got more and more respect for how hard it is to get a Beethoven Sonata really solid.

Chopin C minor Nocturne - It's almost a cliche of elusive hardness, but that last section...ugh.

Overestimated:

Alkan/Liszt in general - I'm not saying they don't write hard pieces, but the difficulties are direct and flashy. Not nearly as many secret difficulties lying underneath like with some other composers.

Prokofiev Suggestion Diabolique - I might eat my words here, but I just started this, thinking it was just a novelty try of an insane piece for fun, and now I'm working on it seriously because I think it's doable.

[briansaddleback]

Overestimated:

Alkan/Liszt in general - I'm not saying they don't write hard pieces, but the difficulties are direct and flashy. Not nearly as many secret difficulties lying underneath like with some other composers.

This seems true. I also heard somewhere that Liszt is hard because he composes things that are difficult to do but you will only find in a Liszt piece. 
Other composers' difficulties arise hidden in foundational pianistic technique or the transition between certain measures and other difficulties that arise universally.

[xdjuicebox]

Overestimated:

La Campanella
Chopin Op. 10 Nos. 1, 4, 5
Appassionata

Underestimated:

Chopin Op. 10 Nos. 3, 6
Beethoven 27-2 Mov. 2 (pedaling that one)
Chopin Ballade 4 coda
Debussy Etude X

[handz]

Rachmaninov C# minor is definitely overestimated - it is very comfortable to play.

[chopinawesome]

I underestimated Chopin Fantasie Impromptu and overestimated Black Key etude.

[briansaddleback]

I overestimated Czerny. Fortunate for those who find great treasure in Czerny and a tragedy for the bigots who don't. (It is suggestive more on their own attitude towards hard  work than anything really about Czerny).

[mjames]

i underestimated scriabin's op. 53. after befriending a piano beast i asked him to play the op. 53 and HOLY CRAP

I knew it was hard
BUT NO THAT HARD
THE JUMPS ARE CRAZYYY

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO PLAY THAT!

Overestimated chopin's op. 44. 8+ diploma piece my asss, The Rach prelude op. 3 no. 2 is way harder than it.

[virtuoso80]

Overestimated:

La Campanella
Chopin Op. 10 Nos. 1, 4, 5
Appassionata

Underestimated:

Chopin Op. 10 Nos. 3, 6
Beethoven 27-2 Mov. 2 (pedaling that one)
Chopin Ballade 4 coda
Debussy Etude X

Well that's an interesting list. You named some very hard pieces you overestimated and some not-so-hard ones you underestimated. At least IMO.

[visitor]

definately David Amram's awesome but ridiculously difficult piano sonata. I was familiar enough w jazz idiom and had a great teacher while working on it, but holy katz, by far the most difficult to read piece of music i have every dealt with. It chewed me up and spit me back out, i only got it to about 65% completion before I decided to come back to it some time years in the future. Still love the piece, and i was way way WAY batter a reading that style of music and got a good deal of technical /virtuosic type tools w/ the deal , but man, i was knackered.

[visitor]

definately David Amram's awesome but ridiculously difficult piano sonata. I was familiar enough w jazz idiom and had a great teacher while working on it, but holy katz, by far the most difficult to read piece of music i have every dealt with. It chewed me up and spit me back out, i only got it to about 65% completion before I decided to come back to it some time years in the future. Still love the piece, and i was way way WAY batter a reading that style of music and got a good deal of technical /virtuosic type tools w/ the deal , but man, i was knackered.

fyi really great paper on the work that i used when learning /working on it to better understand its construction and influences. highly recc read
https://documents.mx/documents/david-amram-sonata-for-solo-piano-a-merger-of-contemporary-classical-and-jazz-styles.html

[larrys]

To the Unknown Man, Vangelis. Sounds easy. It isn't.

[xdjuicebox]

Well that's an interesting list. You named some very hard pieces you overestimated and some not-so-hard ones you underestimated. At least IMO.

Difficulty is in terms of execution. If you practice La Campanella enough, it's not very musically complicated, so it's easy to pull off.

I thought those Chopin Etudes were WAY harder than they actually were, but I learned the proper motions and it wasn't THAT bad. Still pretty bad though.

Beethoven wrote Appassionata to be way easier than it sounds haha. Though some parts are kind of obnoxious.

Chopin Etudes No. 3 and 6 is so difficult to voice everything properly...SO difficult omg
I am lost at how to pedal Beethoven 27-2, it sounds bad no matter how I try it
That coda is a nightmare
That etude is an even bigger nightmare

[sumpianodude]

Beethoven wrote Appassionata to be way easier than it sounds haha. Though some parts are kind of obnoxious.
I am lost at how to pedal Beethoven 27-2, it sounds bad no matter how I try it

I find that the moonlight has quite a few tricky passages in the second. The voicing for me is a nightmare, and the different Rythms in the different voices tend to throw me off.

 I definitely overestimated the third movement of op.53. I find that I can play the tremolos in the left hand without as much fuss as people give. But then I tried the first movement(underestimated) and deemed it unplayable.

Underestimated: Bach BWV935, Beethoven op53 1st
Overestimated: Beethoven op 51 1st, 27-2 3rd, rondo alla Turka, Bach prelude in c maj(wtc; I played this my 3rd month of learning piano)

[huaidongxi]

as an unschooled banger, would be intimidated by any of the pieces the players here found easier to learn than they anticipated.  since Beethoven sonatas recur in both categories, will pass on a historical footnote, for those unfamiliar with his composing career.

up to and including Op.81 (das Lebwohl, garbled without LvB's consent by the publisher into les Adieux) the composer was an active teacher, and many if not most of the sonatas were written with an expectation that some students would play them, particularly the young women LvB enjoyed teaching.  at most, one or two of the piano sonatas were performed in public in Vienna during the composer's lifetime ; they were heard in private settings, salons, palaces.  women did not perform in public at all, though a few were associated with his works and spread their popularity, from private recitals or soirees.  Friedrich Wieck was an admirer and acquaintance of LvB and probably had interest in the compositions for his students who included of course his daughter and later, R.Schumann.  Clara did perform publicly at age eleven.

if anyone knows of a woman performing Beethoven's piano works in a public setting during his lifetime (they were published throughout the continent and in Britain), would appreciate hearing about her.

[xdjuicebox]

I find that the moonlight has quite a few tricky passages in the second. The voicing for me is a nightmare, and the different Rythms in the different voices tend to throw me off.

 I definitely overestimated the third movement of op.53. I find that I can play the tremolos in the left hand without as much fuss as people give. But then I tried the first movement(underestimated) and deemed it unplayable.

Underestimated: Bach BWV935, Beethoven op53 1st
Overestimated: Beethoven op 51 1st, 27-2 3rd, rondo alla Turka, Bach prelude in c maj(wtc; I played this my 3rd month of learning piano)

LOL I thought the first movement was light years easier than the third...and the second has some really awkward parts imo

[sumpianodude]

I find that the moonlight has quite a few tricky passages in the second. The voicing for me is a nightmare, and the different Rythms in the different voices tend to throw me off.

 I definitely overestimated the third movement of op.53. I find that I can play the tremolos in the left hand without as much fuss as people give. But then I tried the first movement(underestimated) and deemed it unplayable.

Underestimated: Bach BWV935, Beethoven op53 1st
Overestimated: Beethoven op 51 1st, 27-2 3rd, rondo alla Turka, Bach prelude in c maj(wtc; I played this my 3rd month of learning piano)

My bad, I meant op.57.

LOL I thought the first movement was light years easier than the third...and the second has some really awkward parts imo

Yeah... I was able to preform a "musical"(according to my teacher) rendering of the first movement with next to no guidance from her. I'm sure we can all agree that the third movement is more diffult(at least technically) than the first.

[dcstudio]

Chopin Opus 66--I thought it was impossible--the sheet music gave me anxiety attacks just looking at it.  It was in a collection book that sat in the piano bench for years.  When I was very young I believed that only pianists on a par with Van Cliburn would dare learn it.  I was shocked at how easily I learned it as an adult.  Moonlight Sonata...all around totally thought 3rd mvmt was played by aliens.. until I learned it.

Linus and Lucy was one I seriously underestimated... not a piece--but anyway it sounds pretty easy... wow it took a lot of determination to get that to work.  I lost count of how many students attempted this one... after 20 years I can count on one hand the number of students I have had who really played it well ...lol

and who DIDN'T underestimate Scott Joplin and ragtime in general?..   learning to stride is a real bugger.

[indianajo]

My teacher assigned me pieces as a student, I had no choice.  The only piece she took away and gave back to the music store was Beethoven Pathetique Sonata.  I didn't make much progress on the first movement age 16, but I was seriously overcommitted to an academic track load of homework and high school band the top one out of four, I shortly after quit piano study to concentrate on the band loaned bassoon.  I'd never heard Pathetique on record or radio, I had no passion for it, and frankly no emotion at all age 16.  I found loud chords mildly thrilling, which is probably why Lecuona Malaguena engaged my enthusiasm and Pathetique didn't
When I tried to get the teacher to teach me how to play Riders in the Sky without buying a sheet music kluge at the store, she asked me "why do you want to play that old thing?" **** that was my only request in 6 years.  So she overestimated it or blew it off.  She'd already run me through chord theory on paper, she'd just skipped the learning to hear them part. It took me 40 years to learn to listen to chords through the teach yourself to play guitar book, then another ten years to try to apply that skill to piano.  Picking out pop pieces by ear is not impossible, just hard, but getting easier.  I woke up from a dream and picked out four measures of the melody of Revolutionary Etude? Chopin on Tuesday. I'll have to download the score to see if it actually starts on F# to C# like the jukebox of the mind tells me.  
I was born for stride piano, I'm severly left handed, but it took passing through the popular Scott Joplin resurgence of 1972-80 on the radio to get me to notice him and desire to learn that.  I can do stide bass all day. I don't sound anything like Joshua Rifkin or Marvin Hamlish either one, more like Willie "the Lion" Smith I saw in a movieola clip of Fingerbusters.  
It is a pity the teacher didn't force me to learn to do fast trills age 8-16.  We skipped all the JS Bach Inventions that had that in it. I had to learn those on my own. Age 16 she was starting me on JSB French Suites and of all of JSB's music I find French Suites are about as insipid as they come. Invention #4 can be a lot more exciting.   Age 16 I discovered the teacher & I were different.   I had to learn RH trills for Moonlight Sonata third movement age 33-55, and it is a lot harder skill to pick up as an adult IMHO.  I'm still not world class, but better than I was.  I wanted to complete the sonata I learned the first movement of age 11, I had the Serkin recording by then and was impressed.  I learned the second movement of Moonlight in about a year, but the third took another 25 or so to get up to 2/3 the speed of the tyros on the recordings.  The trills are the speed limiter on that, the arpeggios I could do faster.  
I want to do Nights in the Gardens of Spain and Rhapsody in Blue but those single note repetition parts scare me off.  I actually bought Rhapsody, but I've got the wrong version I read here, I need to buy the Wasserman before I really start it. I noticed the Warner Bros solo wasn't much like the 2 piano "original" I later bought.  My Mother bought the original solo missing the middle pages for $1 in ~1948, and she never came within 6 years of practice of trying it.  I'm getting there, but those repetitions: a whole new skill, and do I really need a grand piano to do it?  My brother skis and breaks his leg occasionally for a thrill, I try pieces that are too hard  for me on piano.  
BTW after 36 years muddling & practice, I got through Pictures @ an Exhibition last night with only 9 mistakes that I heard.  Who knows what else is lurking in my performance?  I'll have to hire somebody to tell me how bad I am one of these days. 

[briansaddleback]

Chopin Opus 66--I thought it was impossible--the sheet music gave me anxiety attacks just looking at it.  It was in a collection book that sat in the piano bench for years.  When I was very young I believed that only pianists on a par with Van Cliburn would dare learn it.  I was shocked at how easily I learned it as an adult.

and who DIDN'T underestimate Scott Joplin and ragtime in general?..   learning to stride is a real bugger.

Yeah Fantasie impromptu does look unwieldy at first but gets better and is not really that bad as you learn it. But to get it to performance , I m not sure if that is going to happen anytime soon for me.
Joplin is great. Do not underestimate Joplin. All his pieces are all about tempo and constant pace and you got to keep jumping with it. Hard to perform it is a physical work out to perform his stuff in any capacity.

[dcstudio]

@Indiana joe

I first attempted the Pathetique at college when EVERYONE said don't do it... the performance dept  HATES that just as much as Moonlight

did I listen?  hell no...

my rendition was so bad that the chair of the department got up and started watering his plants in the middle of my 1st mvmt performance...at my juries   hearing the water behind me just made it worse... I remember thinking

"is he... peeing?"  

 then everything went to crap.  


it was traumatic as hell... but really funny now.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

1st movement of op 81a.  I thought it was gonna be a walk in the park but that ish is so difficult to make it sound good.

And the right hand of Ondine I've heard is nasty to handle but I've never had any problems with it.

[indianajo]

Oh, wow! I just realized I have a repeat attack function on my Hammond organ and Schober Recital organ, and an electric piano perc (glock) and guitar  perc on the hammond.  I just downloaded the two piano version of Nights in the Gardens of Spain from Imslp.  I'm off into wild flights of fantasy.  
Meanwhile, I scored a $150 Shure KSM27 microphone  yesterday, making a pair with the one I found for $80 two years ago in west Louisviile.  Getting it was A 6.5 hour bus ride (three one+ hour waits for next bus) but worth it for $3.80 "shipping" and handling. The previous owner knocked $10 off for not having to drive to downtown Louisville to sell it to me.  The $300 SM32 on E-bay in California, the guy wanted $62 shipping; unbelievable.  I've been looking for good condensor mikes I could afford for 46 years, ever since I bought my tape recorder.
  Pictures @ An Exhibition on Sohmer console piano is destined for tumblr website as soon as I tune my piano and make another mike stand and cable.  

[arthurjnewport]

Overestimated: All of Brahms, especially his rhapsodies.

Underestimated: All of Beethoven, especially his sonatas, and a lot of 20th century pieces.

[nanabush]

Overestimated:  Chopin/Liszt Etudes.  When you play it slowly and get your damn fingering down, feel the motions, it all fits really really nicely.  I played about 7 Chopin Etudes and 2 Liszt Etudes so far, and once being assigned them and knowing I had to sit and learn, there was nothing in these pieces that made me completely insane.

Underestimated: Ligeti 'Fem'... man oh man I wish I hadn't set myself up with that trap of a piece.  I had 3 weeks before my jury which consisted of a Concerto movement and 3 etudes (this was AFTER an hour long recital the month before - essentially after the recital you have a month to learn a movement of a concerto and 3 etudes).  So I picked a Chopin and Debussy etudes (10/4 and Arpeges Composees)... tricky but manageable.  My teacher than said "oh hey what about Ligeti!?"  And I had a book of his pieces out of interest... flipped through it and most of them were complete messes of notes, except Fem which seemed very structured... it is a structured piece but it completely busts out into chaos with so many excessive notes that I honestly felt in my jury I was mashing random keys at some point because I had completely lost my spot.  

Ligeti may sound repetitive and all, but holy f*ck I remember spending HOURS AND HOURS on one measure in that damn piece.  It was a total of like 30 notes but it just would not sink in.  That one measure was harder than the Chopin/Debussy combined I swear.  I really think if I had spent another day playing those hard parts, my parents would have killed/poisoned me from hearing them so much.

[reiyza]

Underestimated mozart sonatas.

I couldn't even deliver a good performance of K.545, stuck at 60-70mm. The "easyness" of the piece is terribly decieving. Curse you mozart.! Joke.

[ianzilla]

Overestimated:  Chopin/Liszt Etudes.  When you play it slowly and get your damn fingering down, feel the motions, it all fits really really nicely.  I played about 7 Chopin Etudes and 2 Liszt Etudes so far, and once being assigned them and knowing I had to sit and learn, there was nothing in these pieces that made me completely insane.

Underestimated: Ligeti 'Fem'... man oh man I wish I hadn't set myself up with that trap of a piece.  I had 3 weeks before my jury which consisted of a Concerto movement and 3 etudes (this was AFTER an hour long recital the month before - essentially after the recital you have a month to learn a movement of a concerto and 3 etudes).  So I picked a Chopin and Debussy etudes (10/4 and Arpeges Composees)... tricky but manageable.  My teacher than said "oh hey what about Ligeti!?"  And I had a book of his pieces out of interest... flipped through it and most of them were complete messes of notes, except Fem which seemed very structured... it is a structured piece but it completely busts out into chaos with so many excessive notes that I honestly felt in my jury I was mashing random keys at some point because I had completely lost my spot.  

Ligeti may sound repetitive and all, but holy f*ck I remember spending HOURS AND HOURS on one measure in that damn piece.  It was a total of like 30 notes but it just would not sink in.  That one measure was harder than the Chopin/Debussy combined I swear.  I really think if I had spent another day playing those hard parts, my parents would have killed/poisoned me from hearing them so much.

a month to learn a movement of a concerto and 3 etudes? i'm sorry but i have trouble believing that a normal conservatory pianist can play this within that short amount of time up to a performance level

[romancatholicpianist]

I REALLY overestimated Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum. Started it last week and I can get through most of it without difficulty now. Also overestimated the Prelude from Bach's B flat Major P&F. It's all in the wrist rotation. . .

Underestimated Chopin in general. Voicing, touch, repeated notes, and don't even get me started on rubato!

[briansaddleback]

  overestimated difficulty in learning the notes to 10-11
so easy to learn the notes.

  underestimated the difficulty in playing these notes in 10-11
so difficult to play these notes.

[briansaddleback]

a month to learn a movement of a concerto and 3 etudes? i'm sorry but i have trouble believing that a normal conservatory pianist can play this within that short amount of time up to a performance level

Unfortunately 90% of the kids on this forum will overly accentuate or exaggerate their progress/accomplishments over the keyboard.  I take everybody here including those who just typed up immediately (dr gradus ad parnassum in 1 week? give me a break, it took me almost a year to get it to near half decent AT-tempo performance level)  w a huge grain of salt. Lot of my posts on this forum thusly is always said in jest to humor them.

[chomaninoff1]

thank you, brian. I was wondering if this was just me. I find it almost impossible to believe that someone could get a movement of a concerto and 3 etudes up to performance level within a month. It takes me a month just to really get the notes of a chopin nocturne under my fingers. Mind you, this is not even up to performance level. Clearly, I am not at the same level as some of these more advanced pianists, but I still have a problem with posts like these because of their absolute incredulity.

[briansaddleback]

thank you, brian. I was wondering if this was just me. I find it almost impossible to believe that someone could get a movement of a concerto and 3 etudes up to performance level within a month. It takes me a month just to really get the notes of a chopin nocturne under my fingers. Mind you, this is not even up to performance level. Clearly, I am not at the same level as some of these more advanced pianists, but I still have a problem with posts like these because of their absolute incredulity.

i actually dont have a problem with these posts, the more insecure people out there there are, the more thankful I am of who I am. Who wants to be around everyone with a great attitude and a great life?
It is relativity that puts a life together.  light /dark ,cold/hot, insecure people/relatively im more secure ...i guess.

I chuckle at the posts is all i do  and sometimes reply in a tongue in cheek manner.


i find it easy and natural to just state the truth . plain and on the table. Im terrible at this. I take this long to do this. I prepare this much but i still only did this. I caught a fish only this big. Just plain truth.
Because the truth is really in the playing. I dont see anyone who really plays well in a video here actaully make outlandish claims. Because they are secure about themselves and dont need to retort on a public forum.
Maybe these insecure kids didnt get enough attention or hugging from their parents? unfortunate. I  did however and I am thankful for it.

[chomaninoff1]

.

[ajlongspiano]

Overestimated: Chopin Ballade 4

I don't really underestimate any pieces. I try to treat everything as if it were the hardest thing ever written.

Best,


AJ

[pencilart3]

Underestimated difficulty... chopin 10/5

wickedly difficult. after all the talk about it being one of the easiest etudes, glancing at the sheet music I plunged in what a year or so ago and it was terribly, terribly difficult.

[briansaddleback]

Underestimated difficulty... chopin 10/5

wickedly difficult. after all the talk about it being one of the easiest etudes, glancing at the sheet music I plunged in what a year or so ago and it was terribly, terribly difficult.

This is one thing I agree with you on. Cool.

[transitional]

Overestimated: The raindrop prelude was much easier than it sounds. I've never actually learned it, just read through it. My experience with sightreading  it is that 80% speed is decent for this piece, a little rubato never destroys chopin, and a few mistakes are just mild dissonances that contribute to the raindrop theme.

And K 332. I heard it on a cd when I was like 7 and really got into it (didn't really care much about the piano at the time). So I opened a Mozart sonata book and read through measure 22 (the easy 8th note part). "Hey, I can do this??" (at the time I was probably at like grade 3 in piano)

Underestimated: Bach's Prelude and Fugue in D from bk 1. The prelude is ridiculously simple, but it took like half a year to get the perpetuum mobile precise. Don't even get me started on the intricacies of the seemingly simple chord progression.

K 545 and almost all of mozart is way harder than it's made out to be as well. Don't ask me how people get those notes even, the trills absolutely perfect, and the sparseness that's Mozart demands.

[bryfarr]

Yes - a good topic to resurrect from 2016 !
I don't think I underestimate much, most of the pieces I undertake are at or beyond my current capacity.  One piece I'm surprised I'm still working on (still trying to get a decent recording of, though I'm close!) is Etude Op 72 #3 in G by Moskowski.  It's taken me a while to figure out the wrist/hand/arm movement for this piece.
Another piece that I don't think I'll "finish" is Prokofiev Sonata #3 - playing fast and soft is soo difficult, especially given the chromatic, irregular nature of the music.

I wish I could learn and memorize music faster - there's so much I want to explore.

[liszt-and-the-galops]

You two just wrote a heck of a necro post.