I am impressed when a noted pianist like Leslie Kinton makes the following
unequivocal statement:

>Beyond doubt, Beethoven op. 106 (the "Hammerklavier") is technically,
>intellectually, musically, in every way, the most difficult masterpiece
>written for the piano. Nothing else even comes close.

I only just retrieved my loaned CD of Marc-Andre Hamelin (whom we Yankees
now claim as one of our own, by virtue of his living near Philadelphia,
despite his hailing from a nation of hockey players) performing Godowsky's
studies on Chopin's etudes.  As I recall, someone on this list nominated
Godowsky as the source of the "Most Difficult Piano Music".  But I thought
I would provide a learned contrast to Mr. Kinton's claim.  According to the
liner notes on the CD, the late reknowned critic Harold Shonberg claimed
Godowsky's studies were

>probably the most impossibly difficult things ever written for the piano.
>These are fantastic exercises that push piano technique to heights
>undreamed of even by Liszt.

As for me, I could have imagined playing the Hammerklavier (very badly),
but I cannot even imagine playing these tortuous exercises by Godowsky.
Heck, listening to Hamelin performing, I frequently guessed wrong about
how many hands he was using.

The two CD set, by the way, is hyperion CDA67411/2.

Larry