# Virtuoso music?



## ooo

Right now I am in the mood to listening to fast-paced virtuoso music. I'm starting with Paganini's caprice, but I'm at a loss to what to listen to next.
What are your favorite virtuoso pieces?
Any instrument works for me.


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## ahammel

_Scarbo_, anybody?


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## Rachmanijohn

Balakirev: _Islamey_


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## ahammel

Rachmanijohn said:


> Balakirev: _Islamey_


_Sarbo_ is harder 

Also check out Ravel's _Piano Concerto for the Left Hand_. It's pretty ridiculously virtuosic considering, you know, one hand.


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## musicrom

Zigeunerweisen - Sarasate
Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso - Saint-Saens


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## Mandryka

ooo said:


> Right now I am in the mood to listening to fast-paced virtuoso music. I'm starting with Paganini's caprice, but I'm at a loss to what to listen to next.
> What are your favorite virtuoso pieces?
> Any instrument works for me.


Katsaris playing the Cziffra transcription of the flight of the bumblebee






Cziffra's live performance is even better.

Koji Attwood plays Tchaikovsky-Feinberg - Symph 6 -Scherzo


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## Rachmanijohn

ahammel said:


> _Sarbo_ is harder


Yes Scarbo is harder, but _Islamey_ is a worthy virtuosic piece in and of itself. Not much less difficult.


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## starthrower

Prokofiev's piano sonata no. 7


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## musicrom

I just remembered about this piece and wanted to add it:
Wieniawski's _Scherzo Tarantelle_


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## Orange Soda King

Alkan: "Comme le Vent" is very virtuosic, and very humorous, too!! Same with "Le Festin d'Esope," "Saltarelle," and "Le Chemin de Fer."

For Liszt, I really like the 12th Hungarian Rhapsody. Check out Saint-Saens' 4th and 5th piano concerti; much better than the 2nd in my opinion. Also, SS "Etude en forme de Valse" is quite electrifying.

Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini is a virtuosic and fun piece!

Schumann's Toccata for piano. Prokofiev's Toccata. Ravel's Toccata. Anybody's Toccata, really.

Nikolai Kapustin's Variations for piano, Etudes Op. 40, 25 Preludes, any of his 20-something piano sonatas; he is very prolific and has plenty of amazing music.

Plenty of wonderful stuff out there.


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## kangxi

Orange Soda King said:


> Alkan: "Comme le Vent" is very virtuosic, and very humorous, too!! Same with "Le Festin d'Esope," "Saltarelle," and "Le Chemin de Fer."


Alkan! Good choice,but you're spoilt for choice there. Op76: 3 studies (1 for LH, 1 for RH & 1 for both hands together). 12 etudes in the minor keys including the symphony & concerto for pf solo. And oodles of others.

Or, to go to even more ridiculous level of virtuosity: Hamelin playing Godowsky's version of the Chopin etudes. Of course, it's easy to play, really. According to Bach anyway (press the right key time & the [piano] will do the rest).


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## Animato

O.K. Gaspard de la Nuit has already been mentioned (Scarbo)
For me the most virtuous piece ever is Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto no. 3. It is the Mount Everest for
every Pianist. 

But listen also to Chopin's Don Juan-Varations. They are something like "popular" music of Chopin's times.


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## worov

Have a listen to this one :


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## Ravndal

Islamey? Sure, go listen if you want a real bore.

I suggest you check out Chopin etudes op 10 & 25,


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## DavidA

kangxi said:


> Or, to go to even more ridiculous level of virtuosity: Hamelin playing Godowsky's version of the Chopin etudes. Of course, it's easy to play, really. According to Bach anyway (press the right key time & the [piano] will do the rest).


Incredible playing!


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## DavidA

Try Cziffra warming up!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7shGLjV0xJc


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## ShropshireMoose

How about this? Josef Lhevinne playing the Schulz-Evler "Arabesques on the Blue Danube."


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## Vaneyes

"Flight of the Bumblebee" w. Yuja.


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## Chordalrock

I think Liszt did virtuoso music better than anybody. Try "Orage" (I prefer Brendel's early studio recording here), "Wilde Jagd" (I prefer Arrau), "Grand Galop Chromatique" (Cziffra), "Transcendental Etude no. 10 in F minor" (Arrau or Cziffra), "Mephisto Waltz no. 1" (Andsnes), "Fantasy and fugue on B-A-C-H", the Paganini etudes and the concert etudes, La Campanella, and maybe Totentanz.

Chopin is also great here. Check out his two opuses of etudes as mentioned, but also the last movement of piano sonatas numbers 1, 2 & 3. And his Fantasie-Impromptu. And some of his preludes, like the 16th and 24th (also others but I can't remember their numbers).


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## DavidA

Vaneyes said:


> "Flight of the Bumblebee" w. Yuja.


Cziffra is even faster!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=n19dejb5dj0


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## DavidA

DavidA said:


> Cziffra is even faster!
> 
> www.youtube.com/watch?v=n19dejb5dj0


This shows what he is playing. Jaw dropping! Was this man human?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RwJCxNV2OY

And to think this man was nearly destroyed by some idiot critics!


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## Peter Gibaloff

If we are talking about "live" pieces I could recommend this:


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