Piece you can ALMOST play but always eludes you

[fftransform]

Hnngh, every year or two I pick up Vers la flamme for a few weeks (I think I was asking about it last year on here, even), then eventually drop it as I make little progress.  I just can't get those tremolos or leaps at the end, and I think I'd wreck my wrist trying to practice it a lot.  I'm not satisfied with the sound from 'cheating' the tremolos; right now I'm trying to do them as written and then jump back down for two-handed 1-3 trills (rather than hand over hand e.g. in Horowitz, or just LH everywhere like most others).  I make very little progress on them, and my accuracy on the leaps gets stuck pretty quick.

Any pieces like that for you?

[lelle]

Chopin - Etude Op 10 no 2 immediately comes to mind. I've worked on/dabbled with it on and off since 2016 (I did learn the notes in 2014 but it was simply beyond me at the time). It gets better every year but I have still not reached my goal of playing it cleanly at Chopin's indicated tempo of 144 BPM. I can play the outer sections allright in 140-144 bpm if I am in good form but the middle section still falls apart a bit when I try to push it beyond 130-135 bpm or so. And I still wouldn't dare perform it in front of an audience. I'll just have to keep chipping away at it until I can do it.

[anacrusis]

Fun topic, surprised there aren't more answers! I take a stab at La Campanella every now and again, and taken on their own most difficulties seem solvable, but I just can't keep up control for the entire piece, or play it at a professional standard for that matter. One day...

[krncandi]

I learned Balakirev's Islamey when I was studying it to compete. But for some reason, Los Requiebros from Goyescas by Granados is giving me a very difficult time. Enormous technical challenges, unfriendly to the hands and fingers, the sheer amount of hidden melodies and there's just so many notes. It's an overall gorgeous grand operatic piece. But I struggle with this work more than I have with Islamey, Toccata by Prokofiev, Hungarian Rhapsody no. 9 by Liszt and a bunch of other difficult works I have learned in my years

[mz90808]

Pretty much everything.  Maybe I’ll just give up the whole thing. Anyone want an SK7?  My partner can’t stand listening to me practice anyway, so …..

[nightwindsonata]

Chopin Etude Op. 10 No. 4. I spent many hours last spring trying to make it work, but I could never get it to a level of cleanliness and professionalism that I was comfortable bringing on stage. I still can't play it to this day.

[anacrusis]

Chopin Etude Op. 10 No. 4. I spent many hours last spring trying to make it work, but I could never get it to a level of cleanliness and professionalism that I was comfortable bringing on stage. I still can't play it to this day.

Are there any specific trouble spots or is it problematic in general? I know it has some gnarly passages.

[brogers70]

The question makes me think of one advantage of being just a so-so player and still on the steep part of the learning curve. There are many things I cannot play, but I can be pretty confident that anything that I can almost play now, I'll be able to play within a year. But that's just because I'm at the stage of developing my technique and not trying any killer pieces.

[nightwindsonata]

Are there any specific trouble spots or is it problematic in general? I know it has some gnarly passages.

wellllll the broken tenths are really hard for me to do comfortably at tempo. I can do it, I have the wrist flexibility to work at it for awhile and eventually get it, but I'm just never secure enough to make sure I hit all the notes every time, since I have shortish fingers and a small hand span. I'm also really uncomfortable with the fourths in the development section, especially the descending fourths--I am just not a nimble-enough pianist to leap between the positions so quickly. Ironically I never actually had trouble with the coda, except for that one measure where the left hand has to jump down to hit those bass g-sharps. I did my best with the piece, but at the end of the day I just gave up. Perhaps I'll come back to it later when my technique is more developed.

[jeffkonkol]

Chopin opus 25-12, Ocean Etude

[shashasha]

Feux Follets. I’ve never spend enough time on it but it always feels so close yet so far away. That piece drives me nuts and if you can play it, then I hate you.

[shashasha]

Fun topic, surprised there aren't more answers! I take a stab at La Campanella every now and again, and taken on their own most difficulties seem solvable, but I just can't keep up control for the entire piece, or play it at a professional standard for that matter. One day...

La Campanella is so peculiar. I banged my head for six months learning it during undergrad, took a month break, then came back and nailed it. There are some pieces that you just have to learn twice. Chopin’s thirds etude comes to mind.

[nightwindsonata]

Funny how most of the pieces on this list are etudes ...

[ksam]

Fun topic, surprised there aren't more answers! I take a stab at La Campanella every now and again, and taken on their own most difficulties seem solvable, but I just can't keep up control for the entire piece, or play it at a professional standard for that matter. One day...

I gave up on that piece years ago.

[anacrusis]

I gave up on that piece years ago.

Sorry to hear that! I haven't given up yet, though I don't expect to ever be performing it live, let's just say that... Did you work on it much?

[paxxx17]

I don't think I've ever played a piece where I was completely satisfied and was like "oh yeah, I can play this perfectly now"

[bwl_13]

I don't think I've ever played a piece where I was completely satisfied and was like "oh yeah, I can play this perfectly now"

Has anybody? I don't know of many pianists who have experienced the feeling of total control and mastery. There's always more to do.

[caters]

Appassionata Sonata. Those interval tremolos of third to octave in the third movement are very tricky for me, and it often stops sounding like a tremolo at some point.