the most difficult style of music to play

Years ago I had an excellent album (LP) called The Virtuoso Handel, played by Igor Kipnis. (I also picked up the CD some years later, and so far as I know it is still available.) It often sounded as though two persons were playing. I have never heard anything since to compare with the complexity and speed of this performance (yet the playing was flawless and the music did not sound rushed). The pieces flow smoothly into one another, but if I recall correctly the virtuosity of the first track, Lesson in B-flat Major, was simply awe inspiring.

Incidentally, though it is harpsichord music, the sound is extremely rich, warm and full. That is another aspect of this recording: I have never since heard a harpsichord whose tonal qualities were as pleasing as this.

Originally posted by scherzo
You mean a fugue?

I remember mentioning the word fugue in my post, yes. Could you maybe clarify the question?

Originally posted by davaniel
The Revolutionary Etude by Chopin is by no means the hardest music to play. To stick with Chopin's Etudes, try op. 25 no. 6 or even op. 10 no. 2. They are already much harder. Apart from that it's mostly technical stuff, and from counterpoint and emotional point of view there's not much difficulty in it.
Try playing Ravel's "Gaspard de la Nuit" - Ondine, Le Gibet and Scarbo. Now that's music that's hard to play.

The Debussy Prelude Feux d'artifice (Book II, No. 12) is (for piano) also a highly challenging piece, to say the least. The best performance by far that I have heard was by Krystian Zimerman in his two CD set containing all of the Preludes. However, there is a decent performance by Pollini which is available on youtube:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jRQW_kajq54

The highly dissonant first portion (which perhaps might be called "angry bees" rather than "fireworks" ) can be skipped: it lasts only 50 seconds or so. The video has a lot of nice close-ups of Pollini's hands, but the video is out of sync with the audio, and the audio, though reasonably good, is rather soft. But it illustrates the difficulties of the piece quite nicely.

Some of Lizst's piano pieces, in particular some of the Transcendental Etudes, might also be added to the list of ultra-difficult works. I have fond memories of Evgeny Kissin's version of No. 8. I could add to the list but Windows is acting up and I'd better post this now.

Jazz is the hardest...if you put a monkey in front of classical notes long enough he'll play them. But try making it up as you go along. Now, it's EASY to improvise poorly, but that's not what I'm talking about.

Once the jazz musician can play what he hears he's gotta learn to hear better things! It's the original creativity combined with technical execution that makes it harder to be a real jazz musician opposed to classical, I think, in my humble opinion.

Originally posted by davaniel
I remember mentioning the word fugue in my post, yes. Could you maybe clarify the question?

Try playing Bach's series of Preludes and Fugues. In case you didn't already know because you were too busy making snide comments, he wrote one for every key. (C, c, C#, c#, D, d, Eb, eb, etc.)

What is the most difficult music to play? I don’t know the answer to that question, but for anyone to play a piece of music and think that it’s perfect is living in a dream. It takes practice just to play a quarter note correctly. 🙂

Think I'm in the wrong post 😀

Originally posted by davaniel
I remember mentioning the word fugue in my post, yes. Could you maybe clarify the question?

I forget who said this. Maybe it was George Bernard Shaw;
"A fugue is a musical composition in which as the voices keep entering the audience keeps leaving." 😀

Originally posted by Mark Adkins
The Debussy Prelude Feux d'artifice (Book II, No. 12) is (for piano) also a highly challenging piece, to say the least. The best performance by far that I have heard was by Krystian Zimerman in his two CD set containing all of the Preludes. However, there is a decent performance by Pollini which is available on youtube:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jR No. 8. I could add to the list but Windows is acting up and I'd better post this now.

for classical pianists, debussy is looked on as a composer who wrote non-challenging pieces... i play a lot of debussy and havent found too many of his works a challenge... though i have never played the feux d'artice...

mozart is also said to be non-challenging.... i wouldnt say bach was either... chopin, rachmaninov and beethoven's works demand more and more technically speaking, but yes, you're right, Lizst's piano pieces, especially the Transcendental Etudes are said to be virtually unplayable...

btw, because a piece is difficult, it doesn't make it good

Originally posted by eatmybishop
btw, because a piece is difficult, it doesn't make it good

Of course not. And yet, some of the most difficult pieces are amazing in their challenge and unplayability.

Originally posted by eatmybishop
for classical pianists, debussy is looked on as a composer who wrote non-challenging pieces... i play a lot of debussy and havent found too many of his works a challenge... though i have never played the feux d'artice...

mozart is also said to be non-challenging.... i wouldnt say bach was either... chopin, rachmaninov and beethoven's works demand more ...[text shortened]... to be virtually unplayable...

btw, because a piece is difficult, it doesn't make it good

To play Bach flawlessly is far from non-challenging. Mastering the articulation can be incredibly difficult.

Originally posted by scherzo
Try playing Bach's series of Preludes and Fugues. In case you didn't already know because you were too busy making snide comments, he wrote one for every key. (C, c, C#, c#, D, d, Eb, eb, etc.)

As a matter of fact, I am playing one of those Prelude & Fugues, and played lots of them in the past. Sometimes I practice sightreading by playing through the first 6 or so. In fact, he wrote two for every key (Wohltemperiertes Klavier book I and II). My comments may seem 'snide' to you, but are in my opinion merely pointing out inaccuracies in your posts.
I myself probably like playing Bach's Preludes & Fugues most of all, but for me it's not the most difficult to play. Of course f.i. five-part fugues are extremely hard to perform well, but that depends more on someone's skill to listen to him/herself than on purely technical skills, like it does in Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit or in the aforementioned Liszt pieces like the Transcendental Etudes.
P.S., let's not fight about minor points as long as we all love the brilliancy of the great classical composers.

Originally posted by Steinberg
To play Bach flawlessly is far from non-challenging. Mastering the articulation can be incredibly difficult.

yes, i guess with the counterpoint it is very difficult, but would you class it in the same league, technically speaking, as chopin or liszt?

Originally posted by eatmybishop
for classical pianists, debussy is looked on as a composer who wrote non-challenging pieces... i play a lot of debussy and havent found too many of his works a challenge... though i have never played the feux d'artice...

mozart is also said to be non-challenging.... i wouldnt say bach was either... chopin, rachmaninov and beethoven's works demand more ...[text shortened]... to be virtually unplayable...

btw, because a piece is difficult, it doesn't make it good

Well, I didn't say Debussy in general; however, a number of his etudes and preludes, some of the Estampes and Images, and some of his other music, is indeed challenging. There are a lot of pianists who "play Debussy" but not so many that play him well. In addition to the technical challenges there are the aesthetic challenges of bringing out the feeling of the music properly.

Note also that just because a piece is difficult, doesn't make it bad, either. It doesn't make it bad or good, in and of itself.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=L5YasjMqoY0

Here's a video of Debussy's "Gardens in the Rain" (Estampes No. 3) as played by a professional pianist, Gerhard Oppitz. He does not play it especially well, and stumbles over it in several places, but he has the tempo about right (a little rushed, but at least not too slow) and does OK much of the time. Unfortunately, it is the only professional youtube video of this piece (that has decent audio) that I could find. There are tons of incompetent amateur performances of it on youtube -- rather gallingly -- and they are miserable. I would not pay for Oppitz' performance either, but at least he illustrates both the potentialities and the difficulties of the work.

To the individual who claims that Debussy is not at all known for difficult piano pieces: are you saying that this is not an advanced work?