What is the hardest piece you have ever played?

[tiberiuszgo]

Alright I did not make this post to give me ideas lol but I am just curious to all the pianists here, what is the hardest piece you have played?

edit: To define "hard", what is a piece that you had the hardest time playing or that had the most problems

[themeandvariation]

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=462.0

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=3255.msg29546#msg29546

etc., etc.

[lelle]

It depends on how you define "hardest". For example:

Chopin Op 10 no 2 is one of the most technically challenging pieces I have played in the sense that I have worked on it, on and off, since at least 2016, but still haven't "mastered" it. The most difficult bits I still need to push some 5-10 bpm before I can play the whole piece in Chopin's tempo of 144 bpm. It also still highly depends on my daily form if I can play it without mistakes or if I crash and burn at some point, so I certainly couldn't play it to an audience. Yet if I am in good form, it doesn't necessarily feel "hard" to play, it just takes some concentration.

Another piece I find highly challenging is Franck - Prelude, Aria et Final, which is the lesser known but equally fabulous cousin to his famous Prelude, Chorale et Fugue. There's nothing in it that per se is astonishingly challenging from a technical point of view, but it's somehow just so massive and unwieldy and the Finale is relentless. It's surprisingly hard to completely memorize, which is funny because I rarely struggle with memorization and memorize things that some people find challenging like Bach fugues without issue. It's also difficult to hold together and make musically convincing rendition of, but I think it's a real treasure if you get it right. I have worked on it on and off since 2019 but still don't feel on top of it, neither technically, memory-wise, or musically. For comparison, the Prelude, Chorale and Fugue feels quite all right.

[lelle]

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=462.0

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=3255.msg29546#msg29546

etc., etc.

I think this is different from the OP:s question. I think some of the hardest pieces overall are Gaspard de la Nuit, the early versions of Liszt's Transcendental and Paganini Etudes, Godowsky's studies on Chopin studies, etc. But I haven't played those (reading through slowly doesn't count as playing IMO) and probably never will, so they don't count as the hardest pieces I personally have played.

[ranjit]

It depends on how you define "hardest". For example:

Chopin Op 10 no 2 is one of the most technically challenging pieces I have played in the sense that I have worked on it, on and off, since at least 2016, but still haven't "mastered" it. The most difficult bits I still need to push some 5-10 bpm before I can play the whole piece in Chopin's tempo of 144 bpm. It also still highly depends on my daily form if I can play it without mistakes or if I crash and burn at some point, so I certainly couldn't play it to an audience. Yet if I am in good form, it doesn't necessarily feel "hard" to play, it just takes some concentration.

Another piece I find highly challenging is Franck - Prelude, Aria et Final, which is the lesser known but equally fabulous cousin to his famous Prelude, Chorale et Fugue. There's nothing in it that per se is astonishingly challenging from a technical point of view, but it's somehow just so massive and unwieldy and the Finale is relentless. It's surprisingly hard to completely memorize, which is funny because I rarely struggle with memorization and memorize things that some people find challenging like Bach fugues without issue. It's also difficult to hold together and make musically convincing rendition of, but I think it's a real treasure if you get it right. I have worked on it on and off since 2019 but still don't feel on top of it, neither technically, memory-wise, or musically. For comparison, the Prelude, Chorale and Fugue feels quite all right.

I have a lot of respect for those who can pull off Chopin op 10 no 2. That etude is HARD to play at tempo. I would be more scared of playing that than op 10 no 1, which seems to sit okayishly well in a normally sized hand.

[lelle]

I have a lot of respect for those who can pull off Chopin op 10 no 2. That etude is HARD to play at tempo. I would be more scared of playing that than op 10 no 1, which seems to sit okayishly well in a normally sized hand.

Op 10 no 1 you can play with some tension and still get to the end. Sure, there might be a large quantity of wrong notes and you'll get tired but you can keep going. If you are not scared of the occasional wrong note or smudge Op 10 no 1 is not too bad. Still worse than a lot of other pieces but not too bad. Op 10 no 2 just falls apart completely unless your technique is in very good shape.

[lostinidlewonder]

When I was younger I would always think, "oh this piece is the hardest I've ever played!"... "no wait... now this piece is the hardest!". It gets to a point where pieces are no longer rated in terms of technical difficulty as such but more the workload to complete. It is difficult to want to invest a lot of time in marathon pieces, you need specific reasons to want to do such things even if you can do it why would you want to? Paradoxically these days I don't tend to play very difficult works.

[visitor]

David Amram piano sonata

[mikey shooes]

Chopin - Nocturne Op 9 No 2 (E Flat Major)

Here is the score on which I tried it- https://musescore.com/user/6662591/scores/4383881