Hey Everyone,

I was just wondering what is the hardest piece everyone out there can play?

Mine would be Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu in C-Sharp Minor - Legend Piece.

Thanks, I look foward to hearing your hardest pieces!

Not that it really matters but for me

Piano - Debussy Sarabande from Pour le Piano, Schubert Impromptu No.4 in A flat from Op.90 and Rachmaninov Prelude in C# minor Op.3 No.2 (?)
Flute - Errr...Not a clue
Recorder - Various Telemann/Vivaldi sonatas

Kinda depends how you're grading the pieces and what you mean by "play" - play well, or just about get one's fingers round?? There is a BIG difference between playing the notes and actually being able to do a decent performance.

I definitely agree...I'm living proof

Hardest pieces are probably my G8 exam pieces, esp Debussy's Arabesque 1.

Also Tchaikovsky's June (Barcarolle)



I don't actually value the hardest pieces I can play all that much. When asked to play stuff, I'd always much rather play a grade 4 or 5 standard 'pretty' piece (i.e. Hisaishi, Uematsu, Einaudi...)

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Who cares? I wouldn't do any of my "hard" repertoire justice in performance anyway.

Well, if we're going to make a thread out of this, then let's say hardest piece that you would feel comfortable playing for someone. That way it is pretty well learned, but doesn't have to be "professional" status to count. Mine is piano: Pathetique - 1st movement. I have played it in public a few times but it still has slips throughout.

Kitten on the Keys (Confrey). Beethoven is easy comapred to that!!

If the question was 'what is the highest-graded piece you wouldn't be ashamed to air in public?' then my answer would be Mendelssohn's Song Without Words (duetto).

If the question was 'what is the most famous "hard piece" that you can give a decent rendition of to a non-musical audience (e.g. the grandparents want to hear your latest 'thing')?' then my answer would be Beethoven, 1st movement from the Moonlight.

All depends on your definition of 'play' and your definition of 'hard'

*It's not the level of difficulties, but the level of interpretation*
You can play a dauntingly difficult piece but screw up entirely, on the other hand you can do a simple one and interpret it like the composer playing it....(a good composer though... )

I absolutely love this piece.

Surely everything's hard until you can actually play it, at which point it becomes considerably less difficult?

I guess when I said 'hard', I meant the most technically difficult piece which you can play well. If you you cant play it well, you can't really say you can play it! lol

Also, I also asked because I noticed lots of people in the student section were Grade 8 or higher (Diploma etc) and I just wondered what you would value as your hardest piece seeing as you are so good!

In accordance to crazy_purple_piano_freak's reply, I love Einaudi! His music is so simple, yet so beautiful - Especially Nefeli and Nuvole Bianche! They are some of my favourite pieces and arent any harder than say, Grade 5 (Oh, and who are the other Japanese composers in that last section - one sounds familiar).

So I guess what I'm saying is - Simple music can easily be beautiful, so if you think I mean that a piece has to be hard to be liked, think again!!! lol

Have fun playing!

Einaudi can be a lot harder than it looks. Getting the notes right is pretty easy but it's very important to get the right tone.

Joe Hisaishi does the music to the Studio Ghibli films (Hayao Miyazaki and that) and Uematsu is a video games composer. He's most famous for doing the music to Final Fantasy.

Yes! I knew it! He composed a beautiful piece called To Zanarkand - That is a brilliant piece, I was playing it the other day. If I rememeber right his first name is Nobuo (I think!)

Thanx for that!

Yep! He's a bit of a superstar in Japan.

For stamina - Vivaldi G minor sonata (tr recorder)
For stress value - Czardas. Still need to master it
Fun piece - Krahmer Variations! They're fab.

Took the words right out of my mouth!

Depends on how you deem hardest. I can play a real flashy piece that many people would have alot of difficulty getting their fingers around, but I found it easy. But then there's dynamics and different sounds that you can do with pressign notes differently and I have actually given up on pieces a grade below my standard because it's too hard for me.

I'd have to say, though, it would actually be a viola piece. Entitled, rather inventively, 'Allegro'. It was a G6 A piece.

That and the G7 piece 'Vocalise'.

Cello: Ginastera- Puena No. 2
Clarinet: I guess the Martino- Set for Clarinet

The hardest piece I have ever done is in singing and it is called Oh Bid Your Faithful Ariel Fly from the Tempest...don't know if anyone has heard of it !

If you haven't it has really fast and hard triplet runs going up and down the scale over an octave!

Annetta

The third movement of Beethoven's Les Adieux is one of my favourites.

Chopin's Nocturne in C# minor...would love to be able to play the Pathetique...

I think it would have to be Gary Schocker's Regrets and Resolutions for flute! Fab piece that I love to bits but takes a lot of hard work to get it good!

I think the toughest piece would be islamey,but it doesn't mean tough pieces sound good always.

The hardest piece that I play is The Flight of the Bumble Bee on comb and paper! Alas, I have played it to audiences too. (Usually at parties, so nobody has actually had to pay to hear it!) I learnt to play some of it on the bass recorder but never felt the need to finish it.

On an emotional front, it's "The embroidery aria" from Peter Grimes
Intonation wise "Nacht" by Alban Berg.
Interestingly I don't find "Der Holle Rache" that hard as "Marten Alle Arten" from "Die entfuhrung as der Serail" requires more stamina.

I think the hardest thing I sang was a friends student composition that half of the lecturers in the music department said was "impossible" Certainly there wasn't another soprano in the department that would even consider trying to learn it!

Wow! How do you do that?

The hardest piece that I play is The Flight of the Bumble Bee on comb and paper! Alas, I have played it to audiences too. (Usually at parties, so nobody has actually had to pay to hear it!) I learnt to play some of it on the bass recorder but never felt the need to finish it.



Wow! How do you do that?

The comb and paper thing or the recorder?

The comb and paper thing! Sounds really hard >_<

A comb and paper is a fine toothed comb with greaseproof paper wrapped around it, just one layer. You place it quite firmly against your lips and sing through it and the sound is something like that of a bee stuck in a jam jar. This wonderful instrument has the advantage of being very inexpensive and is a good substitute for the crumhorn where economy is a deciding factor.

I think a recording of that would be an excellent addition to the recording site...

I'd pay to hear someone play the comb and paper!!

That sounds awesome - you should definately put a recording of it on. I did it - it tickled my lips! lol