Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner How difficult is the first movement of Rach 3?

I know... If you have to ask you are not ready. I know Rach 3 has a reputation for being so difficult, but is this not more because of the 2nd and 3rd movements? I have read through all of the first movement and none of it seems all that difficult, am I mistaken? I am currently finishing up Chopin's 1st and 4th Ballades, Prokofiev's Suggestions Diabolique, Ligeti's Arc-en-ciel, and a few Bach WTC Prelude and Fugues. I have learned movements of the Grieg, Tchaikovsky 1, and Hummel A minor. I think that I could manage the first movement, but do you all think that I am mistaken?

Go for it

Doesn't the first statement answer your question?

Well, some pieces (prime example Chopin's Op.10 No.2) seem easy at first when reading through but become a whole new piece at a higher speed

Yeah I have seen that movie, but I find that a lot of these famous warhorse pieces are over-rated in difficulty by the general public. For example... I did not find the 4th Ballade to be particularly difficult in any way, yet many people say that it is Chopin's hardest piece. However, there are some pieces that Chopin wrote that I do not think I could manage

His allegro de concert is supposed to be the most difficult.

The Allegro de Concert has many challenging passages that present an array of difficulties. While none of them is insurmountable, they add up to a formidable and taxing whole. I spent nine months learning it, and some spots remain that I'm not entirely satisfied with.

I have a feeling that some of Chopin's youthful works intended to display bravura technique must be more demanding, though. Specifically, I'm thinking of the four concert pieces; the Krakowiak is likely the toughest of them.

Although the Allegro de Concert was conceived during that early period of Chopin's indulgence in stile brillant writing, it was refined and published a decade later during his most mature period. It's a curious amalgam of showy passagework, drama and sensitive lyricism, but I found it both compelling and unintimidating.

Among Chopin's other later works, I imagine that the fourth Ballade and the Sonatas are at least as difficult overall (if not more so).

Steven

shine is a lovely movie but full of overeactions, oversimplifications and great material for myths...

Everything is difficult until it is made easy via diligence of fine technique. The big question is how do you intend to perform?

As Jorge Bolet said of Liszt's Mazeppa (when he was asked what the hardest piece ever written was) - "there are dozens of perfmances of the [Beethoven] hammerklavier, but only a handful who can perform the Mazeppa - I mean perform AS IT WAS WRITTEN."

It would be interesting if your opinion of some of these great works matches your performance of them xtraheat. Many argue the most difficult (sic) piano concerto is a toss up between Rach 3 or Brahms 2. All movements of both concertos present extreme challenges to any performer wishing to play them AS THEY WERE WRITTEN.

So do you speak from experience?

I don't understand the emphasis, here. Don't we all aspire to play pieces as they are written? How else would "any performer" attempt to play them?

Regards,

I sort of hear shades of Richard Kastle in that emphasis.

Some people try to play pieces better than they were written.

Playing one movement of a concerto is always less difficult than playing three movements of a concerto.

That being said, while I think the 2nd and 3rd movements are overall a bit more difficult than the first, the cadenza of the first movement is a monster.

I haven't played the piece, but I've heard a lot of people practice it over the years, and it seems like people spend as much time on the first movement cadenza as the rest of the piece!

Ya think?