Rating the pain level of piano pieces

@greenteakitten said in #10:

I ended up doing it on a 2/3 for the first half and then together for the second half, idk if that makes any sense haha

It totally makes sense, it's a blur anyway. I'd say that fluidity of motion in both hands is more important than when the actual notes happen. What matters is voicing and lightness, as you said.

May I ask, do you have anything in particular in mind when you say "awkward turns" in Fantasie-Impromptu?

@greenteakitten said in #1:

symphony no. 5 Beethoven,flight of the bumblebee

Well, the fact that these are not piano pieces makes them very difficult to play on the piano. This actually makes more sense than one would think.

Which reminds me of a story from long ago. I had a lesson with my professor, and we were hearing people playing piano in a class directly above. It sounded like a really good piano duo, playing Beethoven's Symphonies four hands. I mean, really high quality stuff, everything together, huge dynamic range, tempo, drive. We were curious, becaue my professor said that they kept going like that for a few hours already, playing through all symphonies like crazy. Naturally, after the lesson I went upstairs to take a quick peek.

I opened the door slightly. There was only one guy at the piano.

I play a lot of metal covers on piano. I've nicknamed Satan's Trial by Fire "The Handcramper" because in my version, the left hand is about 75% tremolos. Really, really fast tremolos.

@CSKA_Moscou said in #6:

Clara Wieck/Schuman : Concerto in A minor

I find this interpretation very respectful of this masterpiece,

...ehm, fine, but it's supposed to be a polonaise... (!!)

and in my opinion, is more about showing the musicality of the piano part, than just the technical, virtuoso side, unlike in Buniashvili or Yuja Wang versions of this piece, even though these are great interpretation also.

Where did you hear Yuja Wang or Khatia Buniatishvili playing this Concerto? Or have you ever heard Khatia play anything technically, but without musicality...? I'm sorry, but something doesn't track here.

@MusicGarlic said in #15:

Clara Wieck/Schuman : Concerto in A minor

I find this interpretation very respectful of this masterpiece,

...ehm, fine, but it's supposed to be a polonaise... (!!)

The last movement is at 3/4 and have the rhythm of a Polonaise

and in my opinion, is more about showing the musicality of the piano part, than just the technical, virtuoso side, unlike in Buniashvili or Yuja Wang versions of this piece, even though these are great interpretation also.

Where did you hear Yuja Wang or Khatia Buniatishvili playing this Concerto? Or have you ever heard Khatia play anything technically, but without musicality...? I'm sorry, but something doesn't track here.

Well, you're right, I think I got a Mandela effect. I sometimes confuse Clara Wieck Piano Concerto with the one from Robert Schumann (same tonality in A minor, very similar structure and both were created ((played for the premiere)) by Clara Wieck/Schumann). Indeed, Wang and Buniashvili played the one from Robert, but I was sure I've heard they played the one from Clara...

When I speak of musicality, this includes various criteria such as historical respect for the work and the playing styles of the period. The CNRTL (National Center for Textual and Lexical Resources) mentions the word "fidélité" as a synonym for musicality. What I said about the versions by Wang and Buniashvili is not a criticism of the ability to feel the music and give interesting interpretations - they are two of the best pianists of their generation- but rather a criticism particularly regarding the handling of tempi, which are rather fast for my taste, and the relationship to the work, since they choose to emphasize the virtuosic and technical aspects in a headlong rush that is more reminiscent of Florestan than Eusebius, while Robert Schumann probably hoped that his work will be performed and understood with this duality.

This resulted in some certainly memorable versions, but ones lacking a bit that historical, almost mystical musicality in relation to the Schumanns' connection with literature (which is also true for the Clara concerto).

I apologize for the great confusion I have caused between the two works. And thank for the clarification!

20/10 Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2

15/10 I can't jump sooooo far
La Campanella

17/10 My visual reaction time for about 0.195s is maybe too slow for this?
Flight Of The Bumblebee

20/10 Is Chopin human.
Winter Wind

999999999/10 Rousseau, how do you even play them??????
Impossible piano pieces played by Mr. / Mrs. Rousseau

I'm Grade 5, btw.
That reaction time might give a hint at my age :)

@EdwardChan6143Chess said in #12:

symphony no. 5 Beethoven,flight of the bumblebee

For the first one it would depend on the piano transcription -- it could be really simple or straight from the devil depending on who wrote the piano version.

Honestly Flight of The Bumblebee is hard because of that one left-hand section and the need to execute it clean - but in the wider world of piano it is hardly the most difficult thing out there! All you really need is to learn how to play a chromatic scale fast and still have some semblance of musicality to it. But then again, I never fully learned it, so I could be talking nonsense here 6/10

@MusicGarlic said in #11:

It totally makes sense, it's a blur anyway. I'd say that fluidity of motion in both hands is more important than when the actual notes happen. What matters is voicing and lightness, as you said.

Which is why I love Yunchan Lim's rendition of it so much!~

May I ask, do you have anything in particular in mind when you say "awkward turns" in Fantasie-Impromptu?

Well admittedly I've always been too scared to try lol, but years of watching just about everyone in my life practice the same piece, it definitely feels awkward when slow, and what I meant was that since it's not an easier chromatic scale like Bumblebee that makes it harder to execute fast!