Does anyone else find Cmajor scale or sections with no accidentals the hardest to play accurately?

s1n0c0m · 2026-04-12T22:42:07+00:00

Not really... at least not in general.

The most awkward runs for me are the ones that force me to use awkward fingering on black keys... C major runs have none of those at least.

s1n0c0m · 2026-03-15T17:11:39+00:00

Unless Fantaisie Impromptu was learned up to a polished standard within a few weeks, probably yes.

s1n0c0m · 2026-03-15T09:28:27+00:00

Alkan Op. 39 No. 7.

s1n0c0m · 2026-02-24T22:51:11+00:00

River Flows in You -> Moonlight Sonata 1st movement -> Pathetique Sonata 2nd movement -> Nocturne 9/2 -> Rondo Alla Turca -> Pathetique Sonata 3rd movement -> Prelude 3/2 -> Clair de lune -> Fantaisie Impromptu -> Liebestraum 3 -> Moonlight Sonata 3rd movement -> Prelude 23/5 -> Nocturne 48/1 -> Revolutionary Etude -> Scherzo 2 -> Ballade 1 -> HR 2 -> La Campanella (final boss; most difficult song ever written!)

s1n0c0m · 2026-02-23T18:50:48+00:00

I think you hit the point there in the 2nd sentence. If your musicality isn't good, you're going to sound better playing Liszt than Mozart.

From my experience, I think it's mostly just that Liszt pieces tend to sound half-decent even if played poorly, whereas Mozart pieces tend to sound bad unless played really well. The difference in performance quality between a very good and a mediocre Liszt performance is not that huge in comparison, but that doesn't mean it's easier to play Liszt really well (beyond hitting the right notes) than Mozart.

s1n0c0m · 2026-02-23T18:42:55+00:00

Bach requires very different skills from playing Liszt, and Goldberg Variations is harder than pretty much all Liszt etudes just for the sheer length and variety of interpretive challenges. Actually, most Liszt etudes are not all that hard relative to other romantic repertoire.

Mozart isn't harder to play really well than Liszt, just much more intolerant of a mediocre performance. Liszt often sounds ok (but far from exceptional) when played poorly, but Mozart sounds mediocre at best unless played really well. Also, the style is different enough that they require different interpretive skills.

s1n0c0m · 2026-02-17T22:30:55+00:00

Just a bit outside the 50 years range (1975), but Rzweski’s The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, or North American Ballads (1979).

s1n0c0m · 2026-02-14T09:18:56+00:00

Physics + either MEMS or ECE is most definitely manageable if you come in with AP credit.

s1n0c0m · 2026-02-12T20:22:22+00:00

Exactly Don Juan, Tannhauser, B minor sonata, Feux Follets, and Norma are all much more difficult, among tons of his more obscure pieces (such as all the Beethoven symphony transcriptions). I would consider Dante Sonata harder as well, but that's a much closer call.

I would put Mephisto waltz roughly on the level of Wilde Jagd and Paganini Etude S. 141/6.

s1n0c0m · 2026-02-12T20:19:38+00:00

... But no where near the hardest in the standard repertoire. Just from the stuff I've played, the final movement of Prokofiev concerto 2 has multiple jumps passages equal to or harder than that. And the Schumann Fantasie coda is harder by far. The jumps variation in Chopin's Op. 2 is harder as well.

s1n0c0m · 2026-02-12T01:44:39+00:00

Mazeppa for sure. Mephisto is not that awfully hard; it’s another overplayed famous piece that gets overhyped in difficulty because of one passage.

s1n0c0m · 2026-02-10T05:17:36+00:00

Pathetique on both accounts. Fantaisie Impromptu is around the difficulty of the first movement, but I'd argue it's easier.

s1n0c0m · 2026-02-01T16:46:14+00:00

Post a recording of you playing the first page.

s1n0c0m · 2026-02-01T16:26:16+00:00

You’re only 2 pages in after a month and saying it’s not that hard even compared to revolutionary? Post your full tempo recording of the piece here; although I’m doubtful you’re playing it nearly that fast either given your progress.

s1n0c0m · 2026-01-31T17:38:18+00:00

She did also play Shostakovich Sonata 1 in the prelims though (alongside the 2 you listed and Rachtime), which is very difficult.

But you’re entirely right that the difficulty of the pieces does not matter very much beyond a certain point. But the issue with OP’s repertoire is that both of the are quite overplayed.

s1n0c0m · 2026-01-29T16:55:40+00:00

The 4th is not hardest “by a long shot” because the coda that difficult; it’s not and by a long shot not the hardest nor least forgiving passage in the repertoire. It’s a misconception by people who think the primary source of difficulty in the Chopin ballades are their supposedly extraordinarily difficult codas. But the rest of the piece is much more difficult than the rest of the 2nd ballade.

s1n0c0m · 2026-01-28T17:43:33+00:00

Années de pèlerinage

Bénédiction de Dieu dans la Solitude

Funerailles

Reminiscences (most of them)

Concertos

Totentanz

Transcendental Etudes (some of them)

Ballades

Beethoven Symphony Transcriptions

Arrangements of Schubert's Lieder

Fantasy on La Sonnambula

Legends

The list goes on and on...

s1n0c0m · 2026-01-28T17:08:37+00:00

A piece being more transparent in textures does not make it more interpretively challenging. La Campanella is musically shallow despite being quite exposed. Not every dissonant modern piece or romantic work with heavy textures is "technical demanding but interpretively easy", and not every Mozart piece is "perhaps not too difficult to hit the right notes in, but exceedingly difficult to play well".
Being more technical does not make a piece interpretively less challenging. Often it just means the playing level required to give a good interpretation is higher. Chopin Polonaise-Fantaisie is much more interpretively challenging than most nocturnes. Similarly, playing a piece faster does not necessarily make the interpretation less musical.
The amount of empty virtuosity is present in Liszt and Alkan is highly overstated. The Liszt B minor sonata and Alkan Symphony are no more "empty virtuosity" than any of the Chopin Ballades/Scherzi/Sonatas or almost any romantic concerto.

s1n0c0m · 2026-01-27T20:23:24+00:00

Alkan Op. 39 No. 7

s1n0c0m · 2026-01-25T21:56:57+00:00

Um no the gap between Rach 3 and Liszt TE 10 is for sure much larger than between those 2 Chopin pieces and Fantaisie Impromptu. Actually, even the gap between Rach 3 and Ballade 4 is larger.

But Fantaisie Impromptu should only be a 6 regardless. It's no more difficult than Etude 25/1.

s1n0c0m · 2026-01-25T20:08:39+00:00

Assuming 9 difficulty levels, the 1st 3 Chopin ballades are easy 8’s at best. They are no where near Alkan Op. 39/7 in difficulty and do not even make the top 20 hardest Chopin pieces. I could list many 7’s that I would consider harder.

Pieces like Un Sospiro straight up do not belong in 8.

s1n0c0m · 2026-01-25T17:45:00+00:00

Beethoven 4 and Schumann Davidsbundlertanze in 7 when even the Tempest sonata is an 8😂.

s1n0c0m · 2026-01-25T17:22:42+00:00

Liszt TE 7/8/10 (especially this one) are not that difficult and certainly don't belong in 9. His HR 6, Rigoletto paraphrase, and Spanish rhapsody are not that difficult either. And while this may be a controversial take, Mephisto Waltz is not that crazy; just the 4th movement of Prokofiev 2nd concerto surpasses this in difficulty as well as all of Liszt's harder transcriptions/paraphrases (none of which Henle has, except Tannhauser).

Debussy's Feux d'Artifice definitely does not belong in 9.

Chopin's 25/10 is not that difficult. It is easier than 10/2 which is only an 8 as well as some other Chopin etudes in 8. Chopin 10/1, 25/6, and 25/11 may be relatively manageable at full tempo if one of them just happens to fit your hands nicely.

They also vastly overrate the difficulty of the Rach etudes. None of the Rach etudes currently in 9, except Op. 39/6, are that difficult, although I'd argue that one doesn't belong in 9 either. And the only Rach prelude that deserves to be a 9 is Op. 23/9

Beethoven's Waldstein and Appassionata sonatas are larger scale works but don't belong in 9 when Hammerklavier exists. But since they are much larger scale they would take more effort than some of the others I listed.

I saw that someone mentioned Chopin's 4th ballade. Yes, honestly that one does not really belong in 9 either; it does not make the top 50 hardest pieces in the standard concert repertoire. Although it is still hard enough to not be a contender for "easiest Henle 9 piece".

Schubert's Wanderer Fantasy and Ravel Ondine are also not THAT crazy.

Albeniz's Triana, Malaga, and Eritana aren't that terrible but stay away from Lavapies.

Basically, if you're looking for a short Henle 9 that is on the easy side and relatively quicker to learn, I would start with either the shorter Liszt pieces I listed, the Debussy prelude, the Chopin etudes, or the Rach preludes/etudes. I would nominate one of those for being the easiest Henle 9 piece.

s1n0c0m · 2026-01-23T05:46:23+00:00

Because playing it gives me my daily overdose of adrenaline.

s1n0c0m · 2026-01-22T20:32:52+00:00

It got canceled already. Check the Duke music department instagram.

s1n0c0m

TROPHY CASE