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 Biggest "degree of difficulty" to "beauty/depth" spreads
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 26
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OP
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Hello all, long time lurker and rare poster. I'm a jazz player but enjoy practicing classical and would love some suggestions to build my repertoire.
What would you say are some of the pieces that have the biggest gap between their difficulty to play and their beauty. And by difficulty I mean strictly technically - leave interpretation aside, if that's possible. And certainly I realize beauty is in the ear of the beholder.
As examples, the 1st movement of the Moonlight and 2nd of the Pathetique would be stellar examples, though certainly among the most played sections of classical piano music.
Bonus points for full pieces vs. movements.
Last edited by Uncledave; 07/30/10 09:28 PM.
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 Re: Biggest "degree of difficulty" to "beauty/depth" spreads
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Joined: Jul 2010
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Debussy: "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair" (no. 8 from Preludes, Book 1). It's the first "real" piece I learned, and it is just gorgeous.
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Re: Biggest "degree of difficulty" to "beauty/depth" spreads
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 25
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Liszt's Concert Etude 3, Un Sospiro
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Re: Biggest "degree of difficulty" to "beauty/depth" spreads
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Schumann From Foreign Lands and People (from Op 15). Packs a lot of bang for your bar - into a very short piece with bonus repeats. Easier than the other pieces suggested so far.
![[Linked Image]](http://www.runemasterstudios.com/graemlins/images/cloud.gif) Composers manufacture a product that is universally deemed superfluous—at least until their music enters public consciousness, at which point people begin to say that they could not live without it. Alex Ross.
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Re: Biggest "degree of difficulty" to "beauty/depth" spreads
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 1,676
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Beethoven's Andante Favori (the original second mvt. of the Waldstein sonata)
Currently working on: Perfecting the Op 2/1, studying the 27/2 last movement. Chopin Nocturne 32/2 and Posth. C#m, 'Raindrop' prelude and Etude 10/9
Repetoire: Beethoven op 2/1, 10/1(1st, 2nd), 13, 14/1, 27/1(1st, 2nd), 27/2, 28(1st, 2nd), 31/2(1st, 3rd), 49/1, 49/2, 78(1st), 79, 90, 101(1st)
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Re: Biggest "degree of difficulty" to "beauty/depth" spreads
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Joined: Nov 2009
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Hmm. I really don't think there is nearly as much of a dichotomy between musicality and technicality that some say. I think EVERY piece by a half-competent composer is musical. Liszt's "Grand Galop Chromatique" or "Mezeppa" or Balakirev's "Islamey" are very musical works. The composer put each note and expression marking in the optimal places to convey the exact musical picture he wanted to. And on the other side, these slow pieces mentioned in the original post are TECHNICALLY difficult. Having a wide dynamic range (especially between ppp, pp, p, and mp) is VERY difficult, and having a sense of touch to put accompanying voices "under the voice" while voicing the melody with a richer singing tone is also difficult. (Schubert Impromptu 90/3, Pathetique middle movement, Moonlight 1st movement, etc.) My little rant aside, I have a few favorite slow, pretty pieces: Ravel: Pavane for a Dead Princess, Menuet on the Name of Haydn, Forlane (kind of jazzy in some spots) and Menuet from Le Tombeau de Couperin, second movenent of the Concerto in G; Chopin: Almost all the nocturnes and many of the Preludes, Ballade 4 in F Minor (This piece is very, very difficult, but the beauty overshadows the virtuosic difficulty in my opinion); the list could go on and on. 
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Re: Biggest "degree of difficulty" to "beauty/depth" spreads
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Joined: May 2001
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Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
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Last edited by pianoloverus; 07/31/10 10:29 AM.
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Re: Biggest "degree of difficulty" to "beauty/depth" spreads
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Joined: Jan 2003
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I don't understand the question. Do you - the OP - mean: "what are some profoundly beautiful pieces that are easy to play?"
If that's the question then:
- Beethoven - "Tempest" sonata 3rd movement.
- Schumann - Arabesque
- Several of the Chopin preludes #4, #15, for example.
- Several of the Chopin mazurkas
- Bach C minor partita - the Allemande and Sarabande
Those are some examples, but with all of them it's difficult to make them sound beautiful.
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Re: Biggest "degree of difficulty" to "beauty/depth" spreads
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How about horrendously difficult pieces that are completely banal? Then you have a single piece that stands almost alone - Liszt's Grand Galop Chromatique.
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Re: Biggest "degree of difficulty" to "beauty/depth" spreads
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Hmm you put the 3rd movement of the tempest sonata there, now I feel bad, because I think its really not easy  . @Pianoloverus where could I get Bach - Liebster Jesu ? Its amazing !
Last edited by Victor25; 07/31/10 09:52 AM.
Currently working on: Perfecting the Op 2/1, studying the 27/2 last movement. Chopin Nocturne 32/2 and Posth. C#m, 'Raindrop' prelude and Etude 10/9
Repetoire: Beethoven op 2/1, 10/1(1st, 2nd), 13, 14/1, 27/1(1st, 2nd), 27/2, 28(1st, 2nd), 31/2(1st, 3rd), 49/1, 49/2, 78(1st), 79, 90, 101(1st)
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Re: Biggest "degree of difficulty" to "beauty/depth" spreads
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Joined: May 2010
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MacDowell's "To a Wild Rose"
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Re: Biggest "degree of difficulty" to "beauty/depth" spreads
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Hmm you put the 3rd movement of the tempest sonata there, now I feel bad, because I think its really not easy . @Pianoloverus where could I get Bach - Liebster Jesu ? Its amazing ! It's not easy. But it is a very beautiful piece, and not as hard is it is beautiful - IMHO.
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Re: Biggest "degree of difficulty" to "beauty/depth" spreads
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OP
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I don't understand the question. Do you - the OP - mean: "what are some profoundly beautiful pieces that are easy to play?" Yes, that's what I mean. You've stated it much clearer than I did! Thanks for the recommendations all.
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Re: Biggest "degree of difficulty" to "beauty/depth" spreads
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Estrellita by Manuel Ponce
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Re: Biggest "degree of difficulty" to "beauty/depth" spreads
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Re: Biggest "degree of difficulty" to "beauty/depth" spreads
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"Peace Piece" by Bill Evans
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Re: Biggest "degree of difficulty" to "beauty/depth" spreads
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Joined: May 2009
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Beethoven Op106
edit: to below, yes I was just kidding
Last edited by Victor25; 08/01/10 07:51 AM.
Currently working on: Perfecting the Op 2/1, studying the 27/2 last movement. Chopin Nocturne 32/2 and Posth. C#m, 'Raindrop' prelude and Etude 10/9
Repetoire: Beethoven op 2/1, 10/1(1st, 2nd), 13, 14/1, 27/1(1st, 2nd), 27/2, 28(1st, 2nd), 31/2(1st, 3rd), 49/1, 49/2, 78(1st), 79, 90, 101(1st)
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Re: Biggest "degree of difficulty" to "beauty/depth" spreads
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Joined: Dec 2009
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Umm, you did read the question, yes?
"And if we look at the works of J.S. Bach — a benevolent god to which all musicians should offer a prayer to defend themselves against mediocrity... -Debussy
"It's ok if you disagree with me. I can't force you to be right."
♪ ≠$
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Re: Biggest "degree of difficulty" to "beauty/depth" spreads
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 1,676
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On a more serious note, everybody should play Chopin's Op28 no 20
Also beautifull is Mendelssohn's Op 102 nr. 6
Last edited by Victor25; 08/01/10 01:07 PM.
Currently working on: Perfecting the Op 2/1, studying the 27/2 last movement. Chopin Nocturne 32/2 and Posth. C#m, 'Raindrop' prelude and Etude 10/9
Repetoire: Beethoven op 2/1, 10/1(1st, 2nd), 13, 14/1, 27/1(1st, 2nd), 27/2, 28(1st, 2nd), 31/2(1st, 3rd), 49/1, 49/2, 78(1st), 79, 90, 101(1st)
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Re: Biggest "degree of difficulty" to "beauty/depth" spreads
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Schubert's Impromptus, or his 3 Klavierstücke, that's 11 masterpieces of moderate technical demands, but musically of Himalayan proportions.
Longtemps, je me suis couché de bonne heure, but not anymore!
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