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By slip-inviting, I mean the hardest one to play "correct" in tempo?
I got curious after listening to several recordings of Baba Yaga (Mussorgsky) without finding a single mistake-free performance. Everyone seems to mess around at the same spot, those fast octaves/chords in the right hand.
Not that perfection is something to strive for at the expense of expression, I fully advocate to let that piece run wild rather than be played safe, but my question is just: is there a more slip-inviting moment in a piece that you know of? Maybe to the point where a couple of slips are generally accepted?
Chopin Scherzo No. 4 is one of the most perilous pieces out there. Actually, all four of them are, because they're so fast and have such delicate figurations, but No. 4 is especially bothersome because of the rapid staccato chords.
The coda to the central march of Schumann's Fantaisie in C, Op.17, where there are leaps in both hands at high speed. Richter's live performances are particularly accident-prone (as is Horowitz's in his comeback concert in Carnegie Hall, 1965, played much more cautiously than Richter), but he never goes for safety.....
I have not formally studied Beethoven's Op. 101, but my piano teacher told me that in the last movement, four measures after the right hand trills, the right hand 16th notes -d, e, f#- then jumping down to an octave on b, were treacherous for accuracy. And Beethoven at that point asks for a repeat!
La Campanella is near the top of my list. Anything with such large leaps makes it easy to miss. Many people tend to have difficulty with the octave leaps at the end. Even Evgeny Kissin in this great performance, where he clocks in at an incredible 3:58.
I have an almost-lifelong frustration with the giocoso section (@ 4:14) of Fete dieu a seville from Albeniz's Iberia bk 1.
I hate adrenaline. I wish that I can switch it off there.
....and in the realm of the truly er,...spastic: My inability to avoid slips while playing the piano accompaniment to Schumann's Der Nussbaum when sung in the key of G. It's very strange that I have no prob whatsoever with any other key.
(funny, it just hit me that the section of the Albeniz starts in G major!)
The 4th movement of Mendelssohn's Bb Sonata. There are so many quick bass note jumps. Leaving out a few accompaniment notes (or slowing down) is almost required (at least for me). Also, the entire movement is really tricky to memorize.
In Ondine (no, not where you think). Near the beginning, when the intro melody reenters and the acc figure is playing the +5 figure up and down the octaves (right before the C# m9). I could never get from the B to the C# without my hand bumping each other. For me, that was by far the most infuriating part of the piece.
In Ondine (no, not where you think). Near the beginning, when the intro melody reenters and the acc figure is playing the +5 figure up and down the octaves (right before the C# m9). I could never get from the B to the C# without my hand bumping each other. For me, that was by far the most infuriating part of the piece.
I agree, although I would argue there are more difficult parts in the piece. It's very tough to get, but once you master it it's like ballet.
Also, I'd say (since I listen to MANY performances of both) that a lot of people slip in the climax of Ondine, and the climax(es) of Scarbo, the terrifying two chord part.
Also, the Heroic Polonaise seems to invite finger slippage in parts, and I always seem to catch something when I listen to live performances.
In Ondine (no, not where you think). Near the beginning, when the intro melody reenters and the acc figure is playing the +5 figure up and down the octaves (right before the C# m9). I could never get from the B to the C# without my hand bumping each other. For me, that was by far the most infuriating part of the piece.
I agree, although I would argue there are more difficult parts in the piece. It's very tough to get, but once you master it it's like ballet.
Yeah, I know, that's the strange part. The climax and the decending 3rd/4th parts are WAY harder, yet I was able to eventually get them in my hands, but that cross hand thing...ugh. I never could get it even close to the way I wanted it to sound. Also, I never made it through Scarbo. I got about a third of the way in and ran away
