Hardest Orchestra piece?

I played Smetana's "The Moldau" (again) last night with the San Fernando Valley Symphony, and I'd forgotten how hard some if that is. The diminished arpeggios in the "Stromschnellen" section are almost silly. It's a very satisfying piece to play, though, even with those two trite chords at the end (what was he thinking?).

Actually, everything we played in last night's concert was tricky. We started with "The Moldau," rounded out the first half with Gershwin's "An American in Paris" - surprisingly tricky here and there, and not especially idiomatic for the viola - and then for the second half finished up with Ravel's brilliant orchestration of Moussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" - again, rather tricky in spots. Not a terribly long program, but a satisfying one that the audience and players enjoyed alike.

I'm not sure if tricky is hard.But could you feel the ground shake in The Great Gate of Kiev?

Only during the performance, when everything just magically came together. As late as dress rehearsal, the conductor was trying in vain to get the brass to play the "Catacombae" section with the right depth, and the percussion to play "Great Gate of Kiev" properly. We figured it would probably all come together - or not - and it did, in the moment.

And, yes, perhaps tricky isn't difficult. When about a third of the orchestra is made up of amateurs, it can seem that way.

Once upon a time it was Berlioz's Queen 'ab scherzo (how appropriate), but that's probably no longer true. For things actually in the fairly general repertoire, as opposed to, say, Schönberg's Five Pieces, which aren't in the repertoire (to a certain extent because of their difficulty, justement)...

I'm not sure if anyone mentioned - Berlioz' - Symphony Fantastiq
Strauss' - Heroe's life / Zaratustra

I'm surprised no one has yet mentioned Bartok's Concerto For Orchestra. That piece was written deliberately to tax the orchestra to its limits.

Night on Bare Mountain isn't that bad. Just a whole load of counting. Pictures at the Exhibition - now that can be a pain.

The worst one for me (I'm practising at the moment), is Rimsky-Korsakov's Suite from Tsar Saltan. The second movement is really, really difficult for strings. Constant semiquavers that are IMPOSSIBLE to play on the double basses and quite difficult to play on cello. If you get to listen to it, take a minute to think of the amount of blistered fingers there were after the performance ...

I have to say, Higdon's Concerto for Orchestra (which I seem to be talking about a lot) is insanely difficult. It demands huge virtuosity from both principals and sections - including a movement for percussion that is nuts - with bowed vibraphones and everything. My conservatory orchestra had a hard time with it with 8 percussionists, while the recording that's out now uses only 4 - it's NUTs. Like I said.

Tricky-wise, I'd say Adams' The Chairman Dances. THey shift time a whole lot and everything.

Ravel's Requiem (cf. the Dies Irae)... not so easy!