# Most Virtuosic Music



## Jean Christophe Paré

I am looking for virtuosic music, in the sense of music written or used to promote one's technical abilities. Preferably with light, if any, accompaniment. 

The first ones that come to mind as examples are Paganini's Caprices and Liszt's Transcendental Studies.

What else?


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## Aramis

Op. 21 by Paderewski - it's so virtuosic that it could make Liszt grab his head in horror if he would see the score.

Etudes by Chopin and Rachmaninow are also considered to be dream of every ambitious pianists.

Try this if you want some cello music too - this cute piece seems to be nightmare of all cello students:






Och, and Prokofiev's 1st piano concerto was written by him in purpose to test his pianistic skills at the time he was finishing his education.


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## Wicked_one

Talking about the nightmares and cello music, who was that composer who was named " the Paganini of the cello"?


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## TWhite

For solo piano music, the Russians have some good ones: Balakirev's "Islamey" and Liapunov's "Transcendental Etudes" chief, among them. Of the Liapunov, #10--"Lezghinka" is somewhat akin to "Islamey", both of them being among the best examples of Russo/Oriental pianistic showpieces I can think of. Both are extremely difficult.

And for sheer fiendish difficulty, Albeniz monumental suite "Iberia" is bristling with virtuostic brilliance and pianistic athleticism. Take a listen to #3 from Book 1: "El Corpus en Sevilla", it almost explodes the keyboard.

Tom


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## World Violist

Wicked_one said:


> Talking about the nightmares and cello music, who was that composer who was named " the Paganini of the cello"?


Popper.

And while we're talking about the piano, try checking out Sorabji and Alkan. Sorabji wrote incredibly long pieces that are also incredibly difficult the entire way through (let's put it this way: makes Wagner look like cheap exercises). Alkan just wrote incredibly difficult stuff.

Oh, and Marc-Andre Hamelin has also released a disc of his etudes he's written over the years. He puts three Chopin etudes into a single of his... played at the same time.


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## Aksel

I feel dizzy just listening to Sorabij. There are so many notes. It is really insane. But it is very wonderful indeed. And so is Alkan.

But there are also Georges Cziffra's transcriptions of different orchestral pieces. Like Johann Strauss' Trisch-Trasch Polka





And RK's Bumblebee flight


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## Huilunsoittaja

Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumble Bee can be a real show piece for any instrument. For flute, it's just hard... but say you see a _trombone_ do it, that's real talent.

For flute:





And this:


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## Aksel

Yes. It at least sounds fiendishly difficult.
Pictures at an exhibition with trombone is also quite insane. Especially Tuileries and Limoges. I saw Christian Lindberg live playing it. My jaw hit the floor. Several times.
But I do think that the Cziffra one is a tad harder than you normal, run-of-the-mill Bumblebee transcription.

And also:


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## Jean Christophe Paré

To answer, I must say that Sorabji was my favourite of those suggested.


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## Falstaft

Ligeti's etudes are no walk in the park! (a silly but entertaining performance: 



)

From a different angle, there's also this.


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## Op47

St Saens 2nd Cello Concerto


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## Chris

Egil Hovland's Variations on Now Thank We All Our God


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## hocket

Locatelli's 'The Art of the Violin'.


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## matsoljare




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## Huilunsoittaja

*And there will always be this:*


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## claroche

For the trumpet, check the Carnival de Venice:





On piano, apart from things already mentioned (Liszt, Sorabji, Prokofieff, Ligeti's piano books) check Xenakis' solo piano oeuvre (esp. Eryali) for impossible difficulty (i.e. chunks are actually impossible to play); and Gaspard de la Nuit, which Ravel purposely wrote to be harder than Islamey, and might be the hardest thing in the "regular" piano repertoire.

On Rachmaninoff, while his concertos and such are very difficult, I don't get the sense they are composed explicitly for the purposes of virtuosic showmanship (as is more explicitly the case with much of Liszt). His fondness for lyricism and melody, to me, take front stage. A number of his etudes are insane, however, ex. the Tableaux etudes:






Here's a good one from Ligeti:


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## Saul_Dzorelashvili

Weber


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## Guest

How about Godowsky's Studies on Chopin's Etudes? Really, just go look up Marc-Andre Hamelin's discography and you get a pretty good selection of piano virtuoso pieces.


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## KJohnson

Really inspired performance by Gitlis


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## KJohnson

BTW, how do you guys embed videos? The YouTube code didn't work here... Didn't recognize html


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## GuitariAri

I haven't seen any answers to this for classical guitar music, so I'll post some of my favorites:

In the Classical period, I'd have to say that Luigi Legnani's 36 Caprices are some of the most virtuosic pieces ever written for the guitar. Unfortunately they are little known outside the guitar world. I never understood how that happened, because they are just amazing.

Recuerdos de la Alhambra by Francisco Tarrega is the most famous tremolo piece in the guitar repertoire. And it is hard. The tremolo is fast, constant thruought the entire piece and, oh yes, must sound effortless 

Asturias (Leyenda) by Isaac Albeniz is one of the most recognizable pieces in the repertoire because it's so fast and furious. I think that it was originally written for piano, and transcribed to the guitar by Tarrega. Both of these pieces are from the Romantic Era.

In the 20th century, I'd have to say that Villa-Lobos' 12 Etudes are some of the most difficult pieces. They were dedicated to Andres Segovia. Some of Villa-Lobos' 5 Preludes are also extremely difficult, but they are not as consistently difficult as his Etudes.

The 3rd movement of Barrios's "La Catedral" is also extremely fast and furious. I highly recommend listening to it if you haven't already!


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## tdc

As far as guitar goes, Joaquin Rodrigo's Toccata for guitar and Passacaglia from his 3 Spanish Pieces come to mind...

And definetely a lot of pieces transcribed for guitar from other instruments --> like the Albeniz and Scarlatti stuff. J.S. Bach's Chaconne in D minor is also notoriously difficult.


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## GuitariAri

I've actually never heard of Rodrigo's Toccata & Passacaglia. Can you send a link?

Yes, absolutely - once you get into transcriptions ... man, what people can do with the guitar is amazing! Here are some examples; please let me know what you think. I'm going to list them in what I think is the order that they were created.

I believe that it was Andres Segovia who transcribed Bach's Chaconne on Guitar. That is probably still the "gold standard" of virtuoso violin music played on guitar.

Eliot Fisk later transcribed Paganini's 24 Caprices on Guitar. Number 24 is probably the most popular, followed by #5. But it's just such an incredible thing that he transcribed all 24!

I may be biased, but I actually prefer listening to these pieces on guitar to the violin 

Philip Hii recently (in the 1990s) trasncribed Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (BWV 565) to Guitar. It is amazing. The fugue is just as divine on guitar as it is on Organ. You just can't believe it. But then you see him actually doing it. And wow!

Jozsef Eotvos recently made some incredible transcriptions of Bach's keyboard works. Bach's Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) on Guitar is probably my favorite. I spent a long time reading the liner notes and Eotvos' website. He had a similar experience as me: he fell in love with Glenn Gould's recordings. The transcription is amazing. It does justice to the piece. The only problem is that it's so hard! I bought the sheet music, and even though I can play most pieces in the RCM Level 4 Repertoire, I cannot really make it thru the Aria. Part of the problem is that ornamentation on the guitar is very hard, and the aria has a ton of it.

Philip Hii also made a transcription of Bach's Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue on Guitar. It is jaw dropping. As a teenager I bought a CD of Wanda Landowska playing it on Harpsichord. This is a monster transcription, though I have to say that in this case I actually do prefer the piece on harpsichord.


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## tdc

^Jerome slightly modified a couple of the more difficult passages here, yet was still able to win the GFA with this performance. The fugue at the end of this is pretty ridiculous.






^Marcin (another GFA winner) makes a couple mistakes, but I don't think Ive ever seen it performed without any mistakes yet. The piece was only discovered and released around 2005.

Thanks for the links, I'll check them out. I've definetely seen some vids of Paganini's caprice 24, it looks quite difficult.


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## tdc

GuitariAri said:


> Jozsef Eotvos recently made some incredible transcriptions of Bach's keyboard works. Bach's Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) on Guitar is probably my favorite. I spent a long time reading the liner notes and Eotvos' website. He had a similar experience as me: he fell in love with Glenn Gould's recordings. The transcription is amazing. It does justice to the piece. The only problem is that it's so hard! I bought the sheet music, and even though I can play most pieces in the RCM Level 4 Repertoire, I cannot really make it thru the Aria. Part of the problem is that ornamentation on the guitar is very hard, and the aria has a ton of it.


I've been listening through some of your links today, and the Jozsef Eotvos Goldberg Variations on guitar are simply wonderful. These are some of the nicest J.S. Bach interpretations I've heard on guitar in quite some time. Marvelous playing. Thank you for the link!

eek: The Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue ...wow, I cant believe somebody even attempted that one! Though if the guitar was mic'd better the sound could be quite good on that as well.)


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## GuitariAri

What a delight to read your reply! I am actually the author of those articles that I linked to. Classical guitar is still very much a niche, and I wanted to put together some resources of the wonderful (and what I would consider under-appreciated) music that I have discovered. I'm delighted that I was able to accomplish that goal!

The video of the chromatic fantasy and fugue I believe is by Jorge Caballero. I actually like his playing of the piece much more than Philip Hii's. Hii's interpretation is very staccato, and Caballero's is more legato.


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## tdc

GuitariAri said:


> What a delight to read your reply! I am actually the author of those articles that I linked to. Classical guitar is still very much a niche, and I wanted to put together some resources of the wonderful (and what I would consider under-appreciated) music that I have discovered. I'm delighted that I was able to accomplish that goal!
> 
> The video of the chromatic fantasy and fugue I believe is by Jorge Caballero. I actually like his playing of the piece much more than Philip Hii's. Hii's interpretation is very staccato, and Caballero's is more legato.


Very nice work! :tiphat:


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## Il_Penseroso

TWhite said:


> For solo piano music, the Russians have some good ones: Balakirev's "Islamey" and Liapunov's "Transcendental Etudes" chief, among them. Of the Liapunov, #10--"Lezghinka" is somewhat akin to "Islamey", both of them being among the best examples of Russo/Oriental pianistic showpieces I can think of. Both are extremely difficult.


Not only good examples for virtousic piano music , but really two masterworks ever written for piano. Love them both ...

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And of course there's also some Ravel: Jeux d'Eau , Gaspard de lu nuit , Miroirs , Concerto pour la main gauche

But I think there's still much more difficulties with a german classical polyphonic music for keyboard.i.e. a fugue by Bach could be more difficult than many virtuosic pieces written by the composers like Liszt, Balkierev, Rachmaninov, Ravel or Prokofiev. When you face just a technical problem, you may master it by a regular programmed practice, but playing a fugue by Bach, you should have not only a good technique but a high musicality and analytic point of view over it. People always take it simple but I think it takes time to play polyphonic music really good and correctly ...

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## Webernite

Does anybody here know how difficult Brahms's Paganini Variations are compared with, say, Liszt's etudes?


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## Il_Penseroso

Webernite said:


> Does anybody here know how difficult Brahms's Paganini Variations are compared with, say, Liszt's etudes?


If you mean Liszt's Etude No.6 (after Paganini's Caprice No. 24), I can tell Brahms is more difficult in both series (Brahms composed 2 series of variations on this theme). It is polyphonic, more complicated in texture ... 
Another important difficulty I've noticed, is the extra extension of both hands in some variations.


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## Webernite

Il_Penseroso said:


> If you mean Liszt's Etude No.6 (after Paganini's Caprice No. 24), I can tell Brahms is more difficult in both series (Brahms composed 2 series of variations on this theme).


Thanks. I'm not a pianist myself, but I'd sometimes wondered whether Brahms's Paganini Variations were purposefully designed to be more difficult than Liszt's.


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## Il_Penseroso

Webernite said:


> Thanks. I'm not a pianist myself, but I had sometimes wondered whether Brahms's Paganini Variations were purposefully designed to be more difficult than Liszt's.


I don't know but maybe it was on purpose ... like Ravel who composed Scarbo from Gaspard de la nuit, to be a more difficult piece than Balakierev's Islamey which was known as the most difficult piano music ever written (According to Ravel himself).


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## peeyaj

Here's one of Franz Liszt's favorite piano works, and influenced his compositional style (thematic development)..






The irony: Schubert wrote it for an amateur pianist and he can't play it rather well. ("The Devil may play it", Schubert said)


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## Il_Penseroso

peeyaj said:


> Here's one of Franz Liszt's favorite piano works, and influenced his compositional style (thematic development)..
> 
> The irony: Schubert wrote it for an amateur pianist and he can't play it rather well. ("The Devil may play it", Schubert said)


Great ! He said that about his "Wanderer-Fantasie" Op.15 D.760. Once practicing it, he suddenly got angry when faced to a difficult passage and said "The Devil may play it, but I can't !", It was such an inspiring work for Liszt as you pointed for his thematic transformation, so he arranged it for piano and orchestra and two pianos as well.


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## peeyaj

@Il_Penseroso

I wholeheartedly agree.. In my opinion, the Wanderer Fantaise is one of the most beautiful, virtuosic piece of music.

The second ''movement'' of it is wonderful and brilliant..


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## Il_Penseroso

peeyaj said:


> @Il_Penseroso
> 
> I wholeheartedly agree.. In my opinion, the Wanderer Fantaise is one of the most beautiful, virtuosic piece of music.
> 
> The second ''movement'' of it is wonderful and brilliant..


And I like and prefer the second movement, too :tiphat:


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## Huilunsoittaja

Ravel's Miroirs, specifically Alborada del Gracioso for the original Piano is very difficult with those repeated articulations of the same note. Of what I know that's some of the hardest technique on the piano.


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## Il_Penseroso

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Ravel's Miroirs, specifically Alborada del Gracioso for the original Piano is very difficult with those repeated articulations of the same note. Of what I know that's some of the hardest technique on the piano.


Part of it depends also to the piano, but you're right, one of the most difficult techniques. Moszkowski's Caprice espagnol Op. 37 is another noatable example with the same problem for pianist.


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## Stasou

I haven't seen any classical saxophone so...
Sigurd Rascher's version of Carnival of Venice




Paul Bonneau's Caprice en Forme de Valse


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## Stasou

Ahh, here's the recording of it I was looking for.


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## solkorset

Have you heard Liszt's transcription of Mozart's Figaros Wedding? If you can play that, congratulations. How about the russian Taneyev's prelude and fugue? I mean the fugue. Then there is Scriabin; try sonata 7, "white mass". Christian Sinding's "Fruhlingsrauschen" is a virtuoso piece, a showoff.


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## Stasou

I have never heard Balakirev's piano concerti, but I'll assume that they're pretty virtuosic.


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## Vaneyes

I wonder whether the pieces are ever as virtuosic as their hotdog performers. Horowitz, Rubinstein, Lang Lang, Liberace, Heifetz, Stokowski, come to mind.


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## Taneyev

Rachmaninoff sonatas
Tchaikovsky Grand sonata
Chopin.Godowsky etudes
Alkan minor tone etudes
Ernst (anything)
Sauret cadenza for Paganini's concerto op.6
Albeniz Iberia
Kodaly solo cello sonata
.....


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