Hardest piece you know?

Meh...I've seen much harder pieces for that exact, same ensemble.

Meh, I never said I've never seen anything harder, I've just never attemped any harder ones. I tryed the tenor part. It's weird.

Might sound a bit lame but I had some problems with "Axel F" for piano.

If you are talking about piano music, then i woud have to say.. Prokofiev. Some of his musics are insane, not only the technical elements, but also the style and its harmony structures are absolutely ridiculous

...some of the bits in beethovens 8th sonata are pretty hard to get rite...

I am with Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata, III mov. - Presto Agitato.

I wonder if Beethoven really played it.

I don't know if I've mentioned this already, but:

TERRAIN, by Brian Ferneyhough. For violin and wind octet. It gives you a headache just reading the score. Intense hyper-polyphony and virtual polyphony abound.

Ferneyhough is a far-out composer. He had things exceedingly wise to say in his interview:

Ferneyhough

Arthur Reglay: I am with Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata, III mov. - Presto Agitato.

I wonder if Beethoven really played it.[/b]

Didn't he play it to annoy the neighbours?

:D

Probably..............

Why do you wonder?

here's one I'll throw in - Shumann's konzertstuck(sp?) or concert piece for 4 horns and orchestra - 1st horn part. Not only is the technique nuts, but there are I think 3 high e's for horn... two notes above the even semi reliable range for most college players.

Bach's English Suite in G-Minor (Prelude).

If you are talking about piano music, then i woud have to say.. Prokofiev. Some of his musics are insane, not only the technical elements, but also the style and its harmony structures are absolutely ridiculous

I don't find his style ridicolous at all; in fact, I find a tremendously classic composer, and the only work of his that seems "insane" to me is his Second Symphony, and that's a masterwork. Like Shostakovich, he obviously liked strongly musical grotesque humor, but in a much more smooth manner than Shostakovich's. Except for the three War sonatas, I find his Sonatas eccentrical, but in a candid, joyful and impressively skilful way, and I find his piano Sonatas much more classic than Shostakovich's (take a look at no.1), Myaskovsky's and even Kabalevsky's ones. I have studied the five first ones, and I really love them :wub: .

But one of the hardest pieces for piano I know of is 'Opus Clavicembalisticum' by Khokisru Sorabji. If you don't know, it please look it up. The composer is actually British, and he was the most arrogant man I have ever heard of. He literally banned performances of his music because he thought noone else was good enough to hear them, or he thought noone would be able to play them how he wanted. He set out to write the hardest music for piano(and longest, this one is about 4-5 hours), just for the sake of making it hard and long. Don't get me wrong, some of the music is actually pretty good. It's like the rougher side of Stravinsky meets the romantic Chopin. Really. But it's hard as freaking hell. There are a few recordings of it, none of which are that good. There are always mistakes, and one person just butchers it.

:blush: Now, this is a insane composer. Though, I don't think Opus Clavicembilisticum is Sorabji's most demanding work; I find this Third Piano Sonata much more overwhelming; it's not as long as Opus... (just two hours :)) and it's not as formalistic as it, but it makes Alkan's works look like La Tarara; it's nearly unplayable. Though, I agree that Opus Clavicembilisticum is an absolutely overwhelming work. Paradoxically, his set of 100 (yes, 100) Trascendental Etudes is much less demanding than it.

It's a pity that Sorabji made so much for being relegated to ostracism. It's one of the most audacious composers ever, and he joined and astondishing technique and a genuine compositive personality. I'm not sure I love his works, but they're impressive, all of them.

PD Another work in this line is Rzewski's 33 Variations on El pueblo unido jam

Wieniawski's Concerto in D minor for violin is the hardest piece I'm working on and have ever worked on, right now. Currently it seems impossible but I'll probably find something harder later in life. It's all relative; when I was three I thought the variations on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star were gigantic mountainous problems, so perhaps this concerto isn't really all that hard and I'm just breaking my brain over it. For piano the hardest piece I'm doing now is Cat and Mouse by... A composer I can't remember. :glare: When the name comes to mind I'll say so.

:P I feel embarrassed to say but, the faster beethoven piano sonatas always give me trouble, theres just so much technique involved. Also, for violin, I was say the hardest piece for me so far has been Saint-Saens Rondo and cappricio - the last part, ughhh!

Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos 2 & 3. Wow. :closedeyes:

Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos 2 & 3. Wow. :glare:

3 isn't that difficult. 2 on the other hand... >_<

"I heard a piece for violin solo and orchestra (not a concerto, though) - some set of Gypsy Dances by a Spanish composer. It was AMAZING, and sounded like a scallop to play."

Hmmm.... could this possibly have been Chardez (I'm not exactly sure if that's the correct spelling... but this piece is pretty hard)

Sorry about the quote thing... it messed up.

3 isn't that difficult. 2 on the other hand... >_<

I'm not sure if we've seen the same score...

Frederic Rzewski - The People United Will Never Be Defeated!

(36 Variations on a theme)

This is a work I listened when I was undergraduate, and was stunned. It was nothing I heard before. It was crazy and in some parts, inhumanly difficult. It is also very long.

"...Many pianists consider the technical demands of this work to be among the most severe of any well-known work of the 20th century" -from Wikipedia

I suggest if you are not familiear with this work, check it out. It's good to know it exists.

more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_People_Un...ver_Be_Defeated!

Frederic Rzewski - The People United Will Never Be Defeated!

(36 Variations on a theme)

This is a work I listened when I was undergraduate, and was stunned. It was nothing I heard before. It was crazy and in some parts, inhumanly difficult. It is also very long.

"...Many pianists consider the technical demands of this work to be among the most severe of any well-known work of the 20th century" -from Wikipedia

I suggest if you are not familiear with this work, check it out. It's good to know it exists.

more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_People_Un...ver_Be_Defeated!

Rzewski's Variations on American Folk Tunes is also really hard - it sounds really easy at first, but then it gets awful.

Hardest piece I know...

Can a collection count as one? I ask this because I'm thinking along the lines of Franz Liszt's entire collection of Paganini Etudes for the piano... one such Etude features marvelous right hand technique that includes two-octave leaps on sixteenth notes in very fast time (the exact tempo eludes me at the moment) in G# harmonic minor.

If you want one single solitary piece... Again to Liszt, Hungarian Rhapsody no 2 in C# Minor (didn't somebody down there mention this already? :) ). Again to piano.

--Dallas.

I don't know if these have been mentioned before for the piano:

- Ravel's "Ondine" and "Scarbo";

- Godowsky's "53 Studies on Chopin's Etudes" and "Passacaglia";

- Alkan's "Douze

A Barcarolle from Tchaikovski. It's easy at first, but then it gets arpeggiousy. Too bad for me.

Can a collection count as one? I ask this because I'm thinking along the lines of Franz Liszt's entire collection of Paganini Etudes for the piano... one such Etude features marvelous right hand technique that includes two-octave leaps on sixteenth notes in very fast time (the exact tempo eludes me at the moment) in G# harmonic minor.

I think you're thinking about the Paganini Etude No.3 "La Campanella". La Campanella is by far the most famous of the Paganini Etudes, although I can't personally say how it ranks in terms of difficulty. I have attempted it, but when the trilling starts, my finger strength fails me. "La Chasse" (Paganini Etude No.5?) is also one of my favourites.

Personally, I find the Transcendental Etudes by Liszt to be harder, but they are technically far beyond me, so all I have to go by is what I have heard from other pianists who can play them.

The hardest piece I have played personally is Busoni's transcription of Bach's Toccata, Adagio and Fugue BWV 564. It's not exactly in the same league as the Opus Clavicembalisticum, but it isn't a nursery rhyme either...

Oh, and it's nice to be here on YC.com! :)

I'd go along with the Liszt - Mazeppa (4) is 'kin hard! Even the slower ones you need a handspan of about a 12th to get smooth.

But for individual pieces, I reckon Earl Wild's Fantasia on Porgy and Bess or Villa-Lobos' Rudepoema are pretty difficult - beyond me, quite honestly, when I innocently plunged into both (at different times, obviously).

the solo violin Ciaconna by Bach from the Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin is considered among the most difficult pieces for any instrument from what I have heard, although i can think of some pieces which are more a sheer onslaught of technical dexterity which are obviously much more difficult... in my experience i can say the chaconne is a nice challenge but the skill really comes in when playing it nicely... it treats the violin as a contrapuntal and chordal instrument in many passages and it can be difficult to play some of those chords and unisons in tune but really just the sheer enjoyment of playing it (or any Bach) will overcome that feeling of intimidation you might get at a first glance, and you will surprise yourself and find yourself playing it cleanly and full of feeling pretty soon

i think the enjoyment of a piece is the main driving force in learning it

F. F. Chopin - Prelude in B flat minor Op.28, No.16.

Just WOW.