Quote:
Originally Posted by gms5287
You've played this?
Well then I have a question, where would this lie on the difficulty scale for piano? I'm currently working on a trumpet and piano piece, one of the movements I'm imaging to be very very much in that sort of style, driving and rhythmic (almost sort of like the Finale of the Barber Piano Concerto). However, I'm always kind of wary of writing something that might be too much of a problem at the tempos and gestures I want. I'm of course writing all this at the piano and being pretty methodical, but I'm sure you get where I'm coming from with this. I don't want to write something that in my mind sounds good, take it to a player and then they're like, "Woah this is way too hard". For us other instrumentalists the piano can definitely be a monster to write for, even though I have written for it before (but that was a slow piece).
BTW: That Toccata is friggin insane
|
This is "up there" in difficulty.
Although, I must say that Prokoviev was an excellent pianist, and his music - while extremely difficult - falls very well under the fingers. Rachmaninov is another composer whose music jsut seems to "fit" no matter how hard it really is.
However, if I compare to the music of Hindemith, who was NOT a pianist, which is difficult and also does not really fall naturally under the hand. I love playing Hindemith, but I don't take as much pleasure from its technical difficulties.
The best thing is, if you are writing music that will be very challenging, be sure to bring it regularly to a pianist to double-check it and see where things could be awkward or even impossible.