# 100 Most Difficult Concertos



## chu42 (Aug 14, 2018)

The order is highly approximate but perhaps useful from a pedagogical standpoint

The main purpose of such a video is to entertain and perhaps expose the listener to new works.

Hope you guys enjoy!


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

On Bartok's Piano Concerto 2. From Wikipedia:

András Schiff said, "For the piano player, it's a finger-breaking piece. [It] is probably the single most difficult piece that I have ever played, and I usually end up with a keyboard covered by blood."[4] Stephen Kovacevich also declared that it was the most technically demanding piece he had ever played and that he nearly paralyzed his hands while preparing the piece.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Phil loves classical said:


> On Bartok's Piano Concerto 2. From Wikipedia:
> 
> András Schiff said, "For the piano player, it's a finger-breaking piece. [It] is probably the single most difficult piece that I have ever played, and I usually end up with a keyboard covered by blood."[4] Stephen Kovacevich also declared that it was the most technically demanding piece he had ever played and that he nearly paralyzed his hands while preparing the piece.


Hmmm.... Maybe that explains why I've burned up two turntable motors trying to play recordings of the Bartok Second Concerto on my stereo system. I certainly never had a problem with recordings of Bartok's Sz.39.


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## EmperorOfIceCream (Jan 3, 2020)

Yvonne Loriod premiered Bartok's Second Concerto within eight days of receiving the score after the chosen soloist declared it unplayable!! Truly, frighteningly amazing.

Thanks to chu42 for compiling the list. Although I wonder, what makes Des canyons aux étoiles so hard? Looking at the score, I see that it is very hard, but why is it almost near the top? It doesn't have those long passages of continuous octaves like Bartók 2, or crazy rhythm/synchronization difficulties like in Ligeti, or enormously long runs like in Sorabji (also there is a recording of his PC3 on youtube you should hear if you haven't) or something. The difficulties mainly seem to be awkward chords played in big jumps in unusual rhythmic groupings. Granted, I haven't played any of the concerti on that list (so sad many of my favorites are near the top...), but I am curious.


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## chu42 (Aug 14, 2018)

Well first of all, the difficulty in interpreting (and possibly memorizing) a ninety minute work shouldn't be lost on any soloist! Fortunately there are many places of respite.

Second, I believe it is written very awkwardly, somewhat like Schoenberg. It is so very non-Romantic (and in that way dissimilar to some other Messiaen piano works) and 

Furthermore, the unusual rhythms and chords that you mentioned are probably the crux of the difficulty. There is nothing more frustrating to a pianist than having to work and synchronize to unusual time signatures, constantly changing time signatures, and even no time signature at all.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

chu42 said:


> ...
> 
> ... There is nothing more frustrating to a pianist than having to work and synchronize to unusual time signatures, constantly changing time signatures, and even no time signature at all.


Hmmm... It seems that anyone who has heard _me_ play the piano would argue rather that I've mastered "unusual time signatures, constantly changing time signatures, and even no time signature at all", even when I'm playing a piece written in a simple 4/4.

No frustration anywhere in sight!


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

OT, but if that's your hand in your avatar, chu42, you have quite a span there. My max is an eleventh (not very comfortably at that).


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

consuono said:


> OT, but if that's your hand in your avatar, chu42, you have quite a span there. My max is an eleventh (not very comfortably at that).


I can do a twelfth but only if I hit both adjacent notes (e.g. C4-G5 I would have to also play D4 and F5). I wonder if that's ever gonna be useful ...


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> I can do a twelfth but only if I hit both adjacent notes (e.g. C4-G5 I would have to also play D4 and F5). I wonder if that's ever gonna be useful ...


I think I read somewhere that Scriabin could only manage an octave.


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## chu42 (Aug 14, 2018)

consuono said:


> OT, but if that's your hand in your avatar, chu42, you have quite a span there. My max is an eleventh (not very comfortably at that).


But _my _span is an eleventh!

Edit: It appears that I am reaching a twelfth in the picture; I can only do so with my left hand even though I'm right handed, and with great difficulty.



consuono said:


> I think I read somewhere that Scriabin could only manage an octave.


Yes, and even so Scriabin would write pieces like this etude in ninths, which is very awkward to play even for those with a large handspan.






I think he was projecting.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

They say Scriabin could barely stretch to a 9th. I could just barely do a 10th, and have to be hitting the keys precisely at the corners.

Didn't Larocha manage to do a 10th at 4'9"?


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## Handelian (Nov 18, 2020)

Phil loves classical said:


> On Bartok's Piano Concerto 2. From Wikipedia:
> 
> András Schiff said, "For the piano player, it's a finger-breaking piece. [It] is probably the single most difficult piece that I have ever played, and I usually end up with a keyboard covered by blood."[4] Stephen Kovacevich also declared that it was the most technically demanding piece he had ever played and that he nearly paralyzed his hands while preparing the piece.


Solti, who won a piano competition, said he found the Barton 2 too difficult to play. It amazes me these days that we now have youngsters who appear to stroll through such pieces!


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

consuono said:


> I think I read somewhere that Scriabin could only manage an octave.


Whereas Rachmaninoff could do a 13th or 14th.
It's also funny Scriabin wrote an etude of ninths even though he couldn't play it. Cute
(I just found chu42 had already mentioned the fact as I was writing my comment, but I'll just post it anyway)


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## chu42 (Aug 14, 2018)

Phil loves classical said:


> On Bartok's Piano Concerto 2. From Wikipedia:
> 
> András Schiff said, "For the piano player, it's a finger-breaking piece. [It] is probably the single most difficult piece that I have ever played, and I usually end up with a keyboard covered by blood."[4] Stephen Kovacevich also declared that it was the most technically demanding piece he had ever played and that he nearly paralyzed his hands while preparing the piece.


The interesting thing is that for all its difficulty, the Bartok still manages to be an innovative and musically sound work. The same cannot be said for certain concertos by Czerny and Thalberg.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

chu42 said:


> But _my _span is an eleventh!
> 
> Edit: It appears that I am reaching a twelfth in the picture; I can only do so with my left hand even though I'm right handed, and with great difficulty.
> 
> ...


I'm looking at the second to the last bar in this screen capture, left hand, second half of the measure. I'll be rolling that.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

My ten favorite concertos from this list (unranked):

Falla - Nights in the Gardens of Spain
Bach - Brandenburg Concerto 5
Mozart - Piano Concerto 20
Mozart - Piano Concerto 27
Ravel - Piano Concerto in G
Ravel - Piano Concerto for the Left Hand
Prokofiev - Piano Concerto 2
Bartok - Piano Concerto 1
Bartok - Piano Concerto 2
Schnittke - Concerto for Piano and Strings


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

EmperorOfIceCream said:


> Yvonne Loriod premiered Bartok's Second Concerto within eight days of receiving the score after the chosen soloist declared it unplayable!! Truly, frighteningly amazing.
> ...


Of course, Loriod remains one of the most prodigious pianists who ever lived, mastering everything she touched from Bach through Mozart and Beethoven, through to the music of her contemporaries. Actually, she likely found the Bartok Second rather a relief to play, especially in comparison to that infernal bird-calls music she so often championed by Olivier Messiaen.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

chu42 said:


> ...
> 
> ... even so Scriabin would write pieces like this etude in ninths, which is very awkward to play even for those with a large handspan.
> 
> ...


I think you're supposed to take those top notes with your nose.


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## chu42 (Aug 14, 2018)

pianozach said:


> I'm looking at the second to the last bar in this screen capture, left hand, second half of the measure. I'll be rolling that.


I doubt Scriabin himself even attempted many of his own works.


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