Insanely difficult and beautiful piano piece!

[stinkynuts]

This is really amazing! How I wish I could play like this guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU5k4hFECIw

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez1s9JCzvQg&feature=related

Excerpt from Ondine, the first movement. Some areas are so complex, Ravel notates the piece on three staves.

 

[Berlin]

Thanks for the link, really. Didn't know who Ravel was.

Reminds me of Debussy's stuff though, the only other French composer I knew before your link.

 

[rick dickulous]

Bolero is not that good, it caused a riot the night it premiered, they tried to play it on 2 other nights and it also caused riots. So then the French authorities shut it down and wouldn't allow it to be played.

My Ravel favorites are Daphnis and Chloe, Le Tombeau de Couperin and Alborada Del Gracioso. Ravel was a very complex man. He taught Vaugn Williams for a week who then stormed off in a huff unable to tolerate the guy. And he played a nasty joke on famous violinist Szigeti in Toronto of all places.

With Ravel at the keyboard and Szigeti on violin, they practiced a 3 movement piece all week. In the 3rd movement, the piano played rather slowly while the violin played 4 times as fast. On the night of the premiere, rather than playing slowly, Ravel launched into the 3rd movement playing the piano part as fast as he could. This forced Szigeti into playing his part insanely fast and he broke a string during the piece and buried his bow under the other strings at the finale, producing a horrible squawk. What a nasty prank!

 

[stinkynuts]

Unlike such composers as Mozart, Beethoven and Rachmaninoff, Ravel significantly enriched the literature of the piano without being a virtuoso pianist himself. Gaspard de la nuit, composed in 1908, is at once the most demanding and the most revolutionary of his keyboard works, and altogether the most remarkable.

from http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/?fuseaction=composition&composition_id=2631

 

[stinkynuts]

And here's an interesting article on the piece and the composer, Ravel.

The top of page 13 explains why Odine is very hard to play. Requires tons of talent and practice to master it.

http://surj.stanford.edu/2004/pdfs/eccles.pdf

 

[DGrohl]

I wonder how difficult this piece is compared to Rachmaninoff's No. 3. If you want difficult, listen to that and then watch someone play it. I tried following the score one day and just kept getting lost. It's one of the most difficult concertos ever written. It's also a beautiful piece.

For example. Look at her hands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8hiYyZ440k&feature=related

 

[Noir]

I also think that Chopin's Godowsky Studies and Prokofiev's Second Concerto should also be classified as the hardest piano pieces..but try listening to Opus Clavicembalisticum by Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji.

Bird's Eye view of what it looks like to play this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grzfX8SNv_c

(keep in mind this is in Midi)

and here is a recording with sheet music, recorded my Madge. (personally not my favourite version..)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0IOmv7-QNk

and I love the interpretation of Racmaninoff's etudes (by Valentina Lisitsa): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTjJjda31rc&NR=1

 

[stinkynuts]

I also think that Chopin's Godowsky Studies and Prokofiev's Second Concerto should also be classified as the hardest piano pieces..but try listening to Opus Clavicembalisticum by Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji.

Bird's Eye view of what it looks like to play this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grzfX8SNv_c

(keep in mind this is in Midi)

and here is a recording with sheet music, recorded my Madge. (personally not my favourite version..)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0IOmv7-QNk

Yeah, I heard that piece is probably the toughest in the world. It looks insane!

 

[Berlin]

Two pieces that you should check out on youtube are the beautiful "Pavane Pour Une Infante Defunte" and "Bolero" (I'm sure you've heard this one but didn't know
it was Ravel).

You're right about Bolero, heard it so many times before and recognized it right away. It always reminded me of the song Memory. Kid you not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJHzoAmA8Ec

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyx2n_p9OZ8&feature=related


BTW thanks for all other links. I am now typing this to the Piano concerto of Rachmaninov .

 

[stinkynuts]

'Ondine' is the first movement of 'Gaspard de la Nuit' written by Ravel. It's is one of the most difficult piano pieces ever written. Ravel himself that his intention was to write a piece that would be more difficult that Islamey by Balakirev:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspard_de_la_nuit
The most difficult part is Movement #3: 'Scarbo'.

If you look at the sheet, it looks as if it's written for 3 hands.

Stinkynuts, as you said, it's also amazingly beautiful. To me, it's the ultimate piece for piano in all aspects. Period. Only the bravest and most technically accomplished pianists would dare to play this. If you could play this, you would be one of only few in the world who could do it and you would make a fantastic musical career.

Amen!

 

[stinkynuts]

my sister takes part in piano competitions and i think she mentioned once that a 14 yr old girl played this piece.

Must have been extremely gifted.

 

[Doug]

As a piano player, I'm truly amazed to find this level of serious discussion here! Bravo! No, I can't quite play all the mentioned Ravel pieces.

Here's to reviewing, of all sorts!

I'd love to chat about Ravel et al with Noir some day!

Doug

 

[RRG]

very difficult (over the mountain Randy Rhoads)

 

[jazzpig]

I also think that Chopin's Godowsky Studies and Prokofiev's Second Concerto should also be classified as the hardest piano pieces..but try listening to Opus Clavicembalisticum by Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji.

Bird's Eye view of what it looks like to play this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grzfX8SNv_c

(keep in mind this is in Midi)

and here is a recording with sheet music, recorded my Madge. (personally not my favourite version..)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0IOmv7-QNk

and I love the interpretation of Racmaninoff's etudes (by Valentina Lisitsa): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTjJjda31rc&NR=1

You just gave me a boner...with all due respect.