Most Intimidating Piano Solo

[bachmaninov]

Which piano solo 'looks' to be the most difficult... If you know what i mean... judging by all the 'black dots' on the page 


For example - Chopin's Ocean Wave Etude is tough! But it looks ALOT tougher than it really is

[Rach3]

The highest dot-per-page counts I've seen are in the beethoven op. 111 adagio (p. 3 is especially inky), and the finale of rachmaninoff's third (the small-note-head cadenzas and the 32nd notes).

This is a fun topic!

[Ludwig Van Rachabji]

Well, first you could check out my Sorabji topic. Some sheet music snippets are posted there.

But, most of Sorabji's music is spaced in such a way, that it really doesn't look as difficult as it is. So, I have two choices:

As for pieces that are human beings are actually capable of playing, I would say the Rach 3 cadenza gets my vote. No matter HOW it's spaced, it still looks as if he spilled his ink bottle on the paper.

Now, for some fun - Finnissy. Anybody who is not familiar with Finnissy will find the following link quite interesting.  https://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://fuwatm.hp.infoseek.co.jp/finnissy_english_15.gif&imgrefurl=https://homepage1.nifty.com/iberia/score_finnissy.htm&h=747&w=1009&sz=97&tbnid=btgpxJuDjyUJ:&tbnh=110&tbnw=149&hl=en&start=28&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfinnissy%26start%3D20%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN






And, a short recording, if you're interested. The piece is part of a group which Finnissy named "English Country Tunes".  You see, they are based on songs... how one must distinguish the melody from the rest of that... embellishment... I'm not quite sure.

[bachmaninov]

Wow that looks like it was fun to write

[Nightscape]

Ravel's Ondine has a very very high note per page count.  For instance, in a single measure (measure 89 in this case) there are over 320 notes.

[steinwayguy]

I think Ludwig just won, but yes, Ravel in general looks hella hard, to me, at least.

[pianoboi666]

well I was going to say Ravel Ondine or Scarbo, but wow.  that one takes the cake.  I wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole.

Dan

[ahmedito]

Thats nothing.

The most intimadating scores on this earth are by Brian Fernibough (bad spelling I think)

[whynot]

In the above sample, I particularly enjoyed the marking:  "hands slightly out of synchronisation." 

[musicsdarkangel]

I would say the Rach 3rd concerto, Liszt - La Campanella, and Liszt - Feux Follet.

[nanabush]

Most intimidating for the pianist would probably be Islamey, Scarbo from Gaspard, personally the Tocatta from tombeau de couperin which I gave up on a while ago

For the audience, anything intense, fast and loud...  So probably Islamey which is crazy hard, Wild Jagd, Feux Follets, or most ravel/liszt

[opus10no2]

Notes should never intimidate you - metronome marks should.

[cmg]

Well, first you could check out my Sorabji topic. Some sheet music snippets are posted there.


And, a short recording, if you're interested. The piece is part of a group which Finnissy named "English Country Tunes".  You see, they are based on songs... how one must distinguish the melody from the rest of that... embellishment... I'm not quite sure.

Thanks for the Finnissy!  One problem:  how do I get the recording link to play?  Would love to hear it.

[elevateme]

in the common repetoire.. (ie not sorabji or owt like that) definately the climax of ondine. not so bad to play though