Musical Madness! The end of the 2nd round!

[liszt-and-the-galops]

Link to votes # 23 and 24: https://forms.gle/wSsKAwc4hCTL8iuR8

Pieces in the matches:
Petrushka mvt. 1 (defeated Torrent in round 1)
Ballade no. 4 (defeated Reflets dans L'eau in R1)

Petrushka mvt. 2 (defeated Sunshine in R1)
Islamey (defeated Chromatic in R1)

Link to the bracket: https://challonge.com/mm24bypianostreet

Voting closes at 8:30 am, US Eastern daylight time on April 4th.

[liszt-and-the-galops]

One of these matches is not going the way I expected it to...

[gasplamey]

One is very close.
The other is... not.

And how on earth did op. 25 no. 6 lose that badly?

[transitional]

And how on earth did op. 25 no. 6 lose that badly?

Many people think La Campanella is the hardest, period, for some reason. If you do a quick Google search for "hardest piano piece," La Campanella comes up many times. Still, I didn't expect it to lose that badly. My bracket was broken for sure, I thought it was definitely gonna be Op. 25 no. 6.

[lelle]

Op. 25 no 6 is difficult but it mostly requires a lot of refining of finger coordination and relaxation and it kinda plays itself. I'm note quite there but I've gotten far enough to feel that is the case.

La Campanella has a wider combination of difficult techniques that need to be mastered, and a lot more "opportunities" for wrong notes in a live performance.

I think as a pianist ages and their technique diminishes, it's likely they can keep performing Op. 25 no 6 longer than they can perform La Campanella.

Don't get me wrong, I think both pieces are impressive if you can play them live, and to some degree I think which one you find hardest depends on what your strengths/weaknesses are as a pianist.

[liszt-and-the-galops]

Many people think La Campanella is the hardest, period, for some reason. If you do a quick Google search for "hardest piano piece," La Campanella comes up many times. Still, I didn't expect it to lose that badly. My bracket was broken for sure, I thought it was definitely gonna be Op. 25 no. 6.

Not to mention anyone who saw the La Campanella video probably took one look at the double notes passages and assumed that that, in combination with everything else, made it an easy choice.
They might have even ignored them entirely; double notes don't really look that hard until you try them, at least to an amateur musician.
I figured La Campanella would definitely win it's first two matchups but would be stopped by whatever piece faced it in the quarters; whether it be Scarbo, Petrushka mvt. 3, or --as it somehow ended up-- Feux Follets. As it stands, half of the perfect brackets have FF in the semis; half have La Campanella. A total of 8 brackets have La Campanella winning the whole thing.
Honestly, I'm worried La Campanella might beat Feux Follets and Islamey. If the Toccata makes the finals, La Campanella could ****ing win.
TL;DR I guess I just knew La Campanella would beat 25/6. I thought it would be about 60/40, if not closer. The fact that it won with almost 75% has me worried.

Slightly off-topic, but how many of us actually think Feux Follets is harder than Petrushka mvt. 3, and how many just predicted that outcome based on Feux Follets vs. Scarbo? I fall into the 2nd category, by the way.

[gasplamey]

Slightly off-topic, but how many of us actually think Feux Follets is harder than Petrushka mvt. 3, and how many just predicted that outcome based on Feux Follets vs. Scarbo? I fall into the 2nd category, by the way.

I do as well.