i`ve attempted `fantaisie impromptu` by chopin - but with your experience i doubt it will be useful 2 you.

Rach 3 is bullsh*t ? thank u so much for opening my eyes Justin ...

Of course pianists such as Martha argerich, Vladimir Horowitz, Nikolai lugansky, vladimir ashkenazy, Evgeny kissin don`t know a sh*t about "Good" Music ... But you do ... lol

Just remember that you`re failure to understand Rachmaninov`s music don`t give you the right to call it sh*t ..

example: Kun Woo Paik was only 13 when he was playing Grieg concerto in A.... !! hehehhe

It has been known as a fact that the 5 piano concerto by Sergi Rachmaninoff is the hardest piece ever wrote. Have you ever seen the movie Shine, well if you did you would remember that the man had a nervous breakdown! just by trying to learn the pice!! So if you don`t know where to find it i would go to pianopassion.com click the search button and they will give you millions or references for Free!! sheet music downloads.. hope you find this helpfull.. (peter)

Rachmaninov wrote 4 concertos ... the concerto u are talking about is the Third.
I think that we can`t say that it`s "the hardiest piece ever written", because there are probably unknown pieces much more harder, let`s just say that it`s the hardest piece among the famous one. Indeed its partition is a real hell.

But it`s so beautifull and incredible ..

by the way .. escuse my english .. i`m french lol

the point of this topic is to find the hardest piece, so you bigots that come in here and try to tell us to listen to the most `beautiful` piece can just stop taking up space, seriously.

The rach 3 isn`t the hardest, but it requires a big reach. I think the hardest piece is liszt`s napoli tarantella (don`t know the full name), or horowitz`s stars and stripes forever.

Also, I`m still sticking with the Godowsky studies as one of the hardest songs.

Man, what a ridiculous but interesting topic this has turned out to be wouldn`t you agree? Pages and pages of comment, and years in the making..Well Done Gherig!

Naturally, no one person can say what hardest piece of music is, and of those who mentioned `Horowitz` the great pianist, you`re probably familiar with him always saying...`It doesn`t matter anyway...it`s just opinion!`...so true.

If you need something try this -
Any Rachmaninoff piano concerto
Any Prokofiev Piano Concerto
Carl Vines piano sonata No. 1 and 2...different but extremely damn tough.
Ravel - Gaspard De La Nuit

Then again, famous pianist `Sviatoslav Richter` found this stuff managable but just couldn`t find the key for playing Mozart well....go figure.
Mike

Looking into these mentioned, I see that the `Death Waltz` is definately a joke, but a funny one, and `Pianississimo` by Donald Martino is not, and perhaps worth a further look into just for fun. Have not yet seen the music yet for Pianississimo

I`ve never seen so many braggers in one thread in my whole life. It`s amazing.

All of you can learn Faerie`s Aire and nobody would give a damn. It`s really about what you love playing, because the piano is not a tool to show off your cockiness. I mean honestly, who listens to the classic stuff on a daily basis? Rach 3? Mozart? Unless you`re some diehard classic fan, you won`t hear it on the majority of the radio stations. Or on CDs.

If it sounds good and if there`s heart, then its a complicated enough song. Giving it Away - Mae, which is a current song btw, sounds much better than any of the "classics" out there.



just my opinion, shoot me if you will.

Rzewski - theme on "The people united will never be defeated"
try learning it so you don`t have to use the sheets...?
(about 56 minutes long played by Hamelin..)

Retired professor of piano here...

Try "Islamey" by Balakirev. Its technically more difficult than Ravel`s Gaspard de la nuit. Those other pieces mentioned are hard for amateurs, while the two above are rarely played by professionals. They are playable.

ok, here`s the truely hardest (fastest too) piece:
http://www.lubomyr.com/musik/LundSPS.mp3

i think it`s like 19 notes per second at one part or something.

I have been playing for about 9 years... may I know what piece that is on the Mp3??? that J yang posted?

Ravel : scarbo from "gaspard de la nuit"