Musical Madness 2026! Firebird vs Tannhäuser; Ballade 4 and Messiaen vs Cziffra!

[liszt-and-the-galops]

Link to the form for voting: https://forms.gle/rz1CK93Rtm3pBBGP7

Pieces in the matches:
Chopin - Op. 52 Ballade no. 4
Cziffra - La Fantaisie Roumaine

Messiaen - Vingt Regards no. 6 "Par Lui tout a été fait"
Cziffra - Fantasy on William Tell

Stravinsky/Agosti - The Firebird
Liszt - S. 442 Tannhäuser Overture

Fauré - Op. 19 Ballade
Rachmaninoff - Prelude Op. 23 no. 9

Current bracket: https://challonge.com/musicalmadness26

Winners of the previous matchups: Saint-Saëns Op. 111 no. 1, Le Festin d'Ésope, Petrushka, and Liszt S. 420 La Clochette. Full results are available on challonge.

This thread also doubles as the official discussion thread for this match and the results of the previous one.

Voting closes at 8:00 PM on March 23rd, 2026 (US Eastern time).

[gasplamey]

uHOw the fxck did le Festin win?!?>!?
Voted B4 Mess Liszt Rach. I dont' wasnt Cziffra to wisn and it wouldn't hekp my bracket so voted acgainst him both times. Rach is more pf a pituy vote bc I love the piece but it has zerot chance so i jnust want it to get 1 votge.

Lavapiés is an interesting piece in the context of this tournament. It's undoubtedly one of the hardest pieces in the entire tournament (top 2-5 last year, somewhere in the top 10 this year), but it doesn't have any of the other factors that seem to give pieces a boost (e.g. "bravura," frequently having its difficulty overstated, etc.), so any time it wins it's doing so from actual difficulty alone.

I feel like, you and thor nare masssivfleyt overstimatreing how difficlutl. the Albeniz is.

[the_franzliszt]

I'm suprised the Alkan won too.
I'm going Ballade Nr.4, Messian, Liszt, and Faure on this set

[thorn]

Lol I fully approve of tactical voting to get rid of Cziffra, the rounds with him are getting dull and predictable. But Tannhauser over Firebird is... a choice.

I feel like, you and thor nare masssivfleyt overstimatreing how difficlutl. the Albeniz is.

I'm not sure it's the most difficult in the whole contest, but it's true people underestimate it because it doesn't sound like Liszt/Alkan. Also there's no videos of AdL, who is everyone's reference for Iberia, and tbh I think the difficulty of Lavapies is clearer when you can see the pianist's hands:

i=3nQC3cLhe219cEcg

[liszt-and-the-galops]

uHOw the fxck did le Festin win?!?>!?

I'm suprised the Alkan won too.

Because for whatever reason people's brains shut off when they see "Alkan" and assume that whatever they're listening to is the most impossible thing ever. I've seen people claim that Le Festin is harder than any of Liszt's original Etudes lmfao.

I feel like, you and thor nare masssivfleyt overstimatreing how difficlutl. the Albeniz is.

See thorn's post above.

Lol I fully approve of tactical voting to get rid of Cziffra, the rounds with him are getting dull and predictable.

I don't think they're really very predictable. Most of the pieces that Cziffra has faced are in the easier half of pieces in the tournament, plus the Cziffra FotB lost by a decent amount to Chopin Ballade no. 4. Obviously people are fine to vote however they want to, though. :)

Also, if Ballade no. 4 wins, it may as well be a tradition for it to make it the last 8 lmao.

But Tannhauser over Firebird is... a choice.

I'll go ahead and say that fortunately it seems to be a fairly unpopular choice (so far, at least).

[moonlight88]

Lol I fully approve of tactical voting to get rid of Cziffra, the rounds with him are getting dull and predictable.

kek I voted to get rid of the chopin. its overplayed as heck and only the 5th hardest piece that chopin wrote
i don't care much for the cziffra but at least it deserves to be elite eight
messian does too so voted him there
voted firebird and faure ballade because those are two of my favorite pieces though they're obviously way harder than their opponets

[gasplamey]

Also there's no videos of AdL, who is everyone's reference for Iberia, and tbh I think the difficulty of Lavapies is clearer when you can see the pianist's hands:

i=3nQC3cLhe219cEcg

peifce is sitls awful to lsiten to and just as deseving of "tacitful voting" or hwatgever it was.

I've seen people claim that Le Festin is harder than any of Liszt's original Etudes lmfao.

IKt's definately harder than all fo s. 136 thoguh yeah s. 137 is just stupdi.

I'll go ahead and say that fortunately it seems to be a fairly unpopular choice (so far, at least).

I refust to beleive that.

kek I voted to get rid of the chopin. its overplayed as heck

TAKED TAHT BAC K.

[thorn]

I don't think they're really very predictable. Most of the pieces that Cziffra has faced are in the easier half of pieces in the tournament, plus the Cziffra FotB lost by a decent amount to Chopin Ballade no. 4. Obviously people are fine to vote however they want to, though. :)

Okay, so I don't like the fact I didn't vote honestly. I know it's just a bit of fun but still it's not how I do things. I revoted properly (Cziffra, Messiaen, Stravinsky, Faure) so please discount my earlier one (Chopin, Messiaen, Stravinsky, Faure).

peifce is sitls awful to lsiten to and just as deseving of "tacitful voting" or hwatgever it was.

Personal taste isn't here or there regarding difficulty. I absolutely hate Paganini and everything derived from him- Liszt, Brahms, Hamelin, whatever- but there's still times those pieces have been objectively harder than their opponent... (the Hamelin isn't in this contest, it's his Etude 3 if anyone's wondering)

But I imagine plenty of people vote according to taste tbh, as has been mentioned before. It's the main reason I revoted because the fact I don't personally care for Cziffra at all is irrelevant in a difficulty contest (or at least it should be)

[liszt-and-the-galops]

so please discount my earlier one (Chopin, Messiaen, Stravinsky, Faure).

👍

IKt's definately harder than all fo s. 136 thoguh yeah s. 137 is just stupdi.

Completely forgot about the Etude en Douze Exercise lol, though they were referring to S. 137.

But I imagine plenty of people vote according to taste tbh, as has been mentioned before.

Undoubtedly.

[liszt-and-the-galops]

I doubt it'll have any impact on the results this late in the vote, but I just stumbled across Sergio Fiorentino's live performance of Rachmaninoff - Op. 23 no. 9 (skip to 43:16), which seems to be the only at-tempo recording of the piece that exists. Figured it was worth posting.