Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner What is your Achilles' heel in the piano repertoire?

It's the new year, and one of my resolutions is to stop procrastinating and stay on top of all my music. I'm a day into it, and I'm frustrated by the practicing. So I'm taking a breather to vent to the forum about:

The first four measures of the 4th movement in Brahms' F minor sonata for piano and clarinet (or viola). The entire sonata could go without a hitch, and yet I arrive at these four measures and break out in a cold sweat and feel like it never goes well. I know a pianist who's recorded this, and I've discussed this with other pianists, and they all have similar attitudes towards these measures. (The pianist who recorded it took many takes, with most attempts followed by a loud expletive.)

So, do you have a favorite Achilles' heel in the piano repertoire?

Chopin Scherzo No. 2 - in the middle there is a fast section in E major. No matter how much I practice it, it seems that my right hand doesn't want to "fit" in that key! My hand feels over-stretched, fingers feel overcrossed - or something (it is hard to describe). It is weird - I've not had that feeling in other pieces.

Well, whenever I try to play Moonlight Movement 3 I just can't get the timing right with both hands for measures 9-13. Also, I think that I play the last couple measures too fast and without much clarity for Rach's G Minor Prelude, and when I try to slow it down it just sounds chopped up.

My Achilles heel? I'd say its gotta be Liszt, Chopin, Beethoven, and Ravel.

There's this one part in the Prokofiev 3rd sonata I play that has these alternate note passages in the RH and a low bassy ostinato in the LH that I just can't seem to get nailed down, and a few measures later there's this repeated note pattern that is tough at full speed too because it depends so much on having a good action.

My two achilles heel composers are Ravel and Prokofiev.

in general it's Handel and Bach (although i like playing Bach...to a certain extent).

A certain left hand passage in the Schubert Wanderer Fantasie, 1st movement.

*shakes fist in general direction of Schubert's grave*

Amen to that!

I'd have to say most pieces by Chopin - much to my regret.

Whilst I can get my fingers around many of the intermediate-dificult ones, I can't make the music breathe in a natural way. My Chopin is stiff and clunky.

More at home with Bach, Beethoven and Schumann.

La Leggierrezza - ai yi yi...

But its such a wonderful piece!

You have three feet! ... you could always take up the organ :-)

Yup the same for me here! The whole piece goes without too much of a hitch until I get here then it's like I've started unraveling a ball of yarn.

Oh my other things that are broken...

Moonlight 3rd movement
Chopin's 1'st Ballade Last few pages
Schubert's B-flat Sonata Op. Poth. The last movement.

Why does this happen?
I think we take too much for granted, make grand assumptions, and don't work as hard on these more difficult sections. The rest of the pieces aren't as difficult as these sections, therefore we breeze right through, and when we get here, we want to keep slipping along quickly.

John

John Citron said:
Maybe because those passages are just really difficult!

For me, I DO practice a lot on the harder sections - so it is all the more dissapointing when they don't go as planned.

End of Chopin's first Ballade - oh yeah...!

vitamin said:


Two is plenty enough! Although it might just work...hmmm....

Well, for me it happens because I psyche myself out. I think "here comes the passage that I've worked much harder on than anything else in this piece; whatever you do, don't screw it up like you probably will..."

haha...good question

The only piece that has ever really "defeated" me is Liszt's mephisto waltz no. 1.

I studied this piece about 2 yrs ago and left it unfinished...no matter how hard I worked I could simply not get the double note trill passage that comes up right after the lyrical second section of the piece. The only way I could sucessfuly play it was if I divided the hands, which sounded disgusting.

Maybe in 2 years it will be nicer to me.

one word baroque

Don't know, but i think my mozart pretty sucks!

The "animato e molto leggierro" sections of Grieg Concerto 1st movement. The end of each one, just before the run in thirds....