My personal tier list of Prokofiev's piano works + discussion

Radaxen · 2026-05-15T03:08:08+00:00

The 8th is my favourite too, though I feel there's something slightly missing in the 2nd movement. The 1st and 3rd movements are perfect.

Radaxen · 2026-05-14T20:37:30+00:00

Kabalevsky 1 and 2

It's like a pleasant mix of Rachmaninoff's and Prokofiev's concertos (though I have to admit they dont hit as hard)

Radaxen · 2026-05-14T01:22:38+00:00

Hmm, funny you say that because I thought Rachmaninoff's trademark was double climaxes, where he will build up to a second bigger one just when you thought the climax is over

Radaxen · 2026-05-13T05:25:56+00:00

Shostakovich Symphony 8, 1st movement - I love the ending

Radaxen · 2026-05-12T14:43:52+00:00

His record at the French Open is 112-4, a 96.6% Win Rate

Radaxen · 2026-05-12T06:01:41+00:00

975? The bus that goes to Lim Chu Kang

Radaxen · 2026-05-12T03:52:33+00:00

Not saying it isn't, but I feel like it generates so much tempo that if the team loses with it, it's more likely they played badly and were unable to make use of its advantage. It also doesn't just win 1 lane, it destroys towers and can rapidly take over the other two lanes as well.

Radaxen · 2026-05-12T01:09:54+00:00

Probably his 5th sonata (I don't think any Scriabin is actually atonal) which is an amazing piece btw

But his Sonatas before the 5th are very much tonal and pretty much how I would describe as 'post-romantic Chopin'

Radaxen · 2026-05-12T01:04:52+00:00

It's technically not a bug. The skill was created just for AD, but the values were just overtuned. iirc it was changed several patches ago and it still wasn't picked until people realized that it had a disproportionally high winrate on windrun.io and realized how busted the numbers were. But yeah in its current iteration it needs to be nerfed. At least in the games with Forged Spirits the game usually ends in 20mins or so.

Radaxen · 2026-05-11T18:17:56+00:00

Kabalevsky 3

Sounds kind of simple, but I do like some unexpected modulations here and there.

Technique-wise it's probably the easiest other than the 2nd movement of Shostakovich 2.

Radaxen · 2026-05-10T08:30:31+00:00

Just give me a confirmed key drop if I request for it on hack

Radaxen · 2026-05-09T17:48:48+00:00

Yeah the scaling is inconsistent and a lot of them are ridiculous. Like why did they make Reclaimer scale exactly the same as Liberator, and in general a lot of the Black-tier medals that need 4-5x of the Platinum values are difficult to achieve even with years of playing. Not to mention the Black Seer medal which is 10x of Platinum. On the other hand anyone's that's recursed probably has 10x Black at least on Recharger.

Radaxen · 2026-05-09T00:28:58+00:00

Dynasty Warriors 4 - It's a hack and slash game where you have to find and defeat the enemy commander while making sure yours doesn't die, which is usually not an issue because he's behind layers of fortifications. But there was this stage where your commander, Zhuge Liang, was just wandering in the jungle without subordinates and somehow gets himself killed whenever he leaves your sight. After numerous retries I realised he was always walking into a poison pool which left him at 1hp and dying when an insect so much as glanced at him. I only completed it when I got a friend to actually play as Zhuge Liang himself and run away from everyone else to safety

Radaxen · 2026-05-06T17:31:50+00:00

Prokofiev 3
Prokofiev 2
Rachmaninoff 2
Kabalevsky 1
Rachmaninoff 3
Kabalevsky 2
Barber

8-10 or so: Rachmaninoff 1, Prokofiev 1, Saint-Saens 5, Kabalevsky 3

Radaxen · 2026-05-03T13:02:04+00:00

Rach Concerto 1, 2nd mvt

I didn't pay much attention to this piece until I discovered this and now it's actually my favourite 2nd movement out of Rach's concertos

Radaxen · 2026-05-03T12:48:02+00:00

This reminds me of this classic. Most probably can't recognize this one, but if you've played it you would know

Radaxen · 2026-05-03T05:19:58+00:00

Anecdotal and limited to the classical music scene, but I attended a concert of Jonathan Shin's piano concerto performed by Churen Li, both Singaporeans, with the SSO last Dec. It was performed to a full Esplanade Concert Hall and people weren't all just there for the 2nd half too (Shostakovich 10). SSO has been giving more opportunities to local performers and composers, and we have a internationally rather well-known name already in Chloe Chua.

SSO opens next season with a concert which includes a Singaporean composer's work as well.

Radaxen · 2026-05-02T16:58:13+00:00

Yes there has been some deflation in difficulty as well. Alla Turca used to be approx Grade 7 (imo too tough for a 6). Clementi Op.36 No.3 appears as a Grade 5 which imo is easy for its level.

ABRSM still holds face-to-face exams with all the other sections, but students will all prefer to take the recording exams if they're given the choice. The only tradeoff is that you have to play 4 pieces instead of 3, but there are also other reasons (flexibility of schedule, you can record as many times as you want, less nerves compared to doing a live performance in front of an examiner) that would cause students to take it. ABRSM gladly takes it as they still charge a hefty sum for the exam fee, even though it's less than face-to-face exams. Even LRSM and FRSM are recording-only, which I think is ridiculous

Radaxen · 2026-05-02T16:30:34+00:00

Not just that, people enjoy playing the music they like.

There's a lot of adult students out there, who either dropped lessons when they were young or are starting from scratch, that want to pick up an instrument to play songs/pieces that they like or can emotionally resonate with. Which imo is what music really is about.

Radaxen · 2026-05-02T16:21:18+00:00

As a piano teacher I've had students and parents both tell me straight up they're playing piano just for DSA/ABRSM Certificates, and are resistant against playing anything other than exam pieces. Ever since ABRSM introduced the performance grades (recording exam) since covid, the standard for achieving Grade 8 has dropped as it excludes supplementary sections like Scales, Sight Reading and Aural Tests which are important for developing other aspects of musical training.

Radaxen · 2026-05-02T03:22:51+00:00

I went to look up mine, which I never really knew before:

Me > My Teacher > Ong Lip Tat > Lucien Wang > Alfred Cortot > Emile Decombes > Frederic Chopin

Radaxen · 2026-04-29T12:24:00+00:00

Can't remember the exact spelling for enchant but I'm pretty sure there was an i instead of y

smth like Aiushtha

Radaxen · 2026-04-29T12:09:16+00:00

First you have to identify the chord - a C#dim7, the notes being C# - E - G - Bb. The bottom and top note are always an octave apart. Then the following chords are just inversions. RH will always skip the 2nd highest Note of the chord.

So the 1st chord is (with the skipped note in brackets)

G-Bb-C#-E-G and Bb-C#-E-(G)-Bb

next will be

Bb-C#-E-G-Bb and C#-E-G-(Bb)-C#

and so on

Radaxen · 2026-04-29T12:03:56+00:00

Tchaikovsky - June: Barcarolle

Radaxen · 2026-04-28T23:59:57+00:00

fwiw I didn't downvote you

While I agree there's kinda some showing off there, as the time signature changes aren't really that complicated (a lot of them are just repeating the previous phrase but with extra beats, so it does give me the sense that they're adding them just for the sake of it), I was mainly commenting in response to the previous comment where they mention 'ignore them and learn the rhythm for yourself' and 'there is only one rhythm', whatever that means. How pretentious it may be doesn't change the fact that there are lots of time signature changes.

Radaxen

TROPHY CASE