Aman Ahuja wrote:

>My curiousity is aroused, however.  What pieces _are_ usually considered
>the most "difficult" piano music? What does one mean by "difficult" in the
>first place?

Charles Valentin Alkan
Concerto for Solo Piano - the 1st Movement alone is almost a half hour
of page after page of pianistic horrors

Symphony for Solo Piano

My favorite is #11 of the OP39 etudes - of which the Concerto and the
Symphony are part - is #11 - the overture.  Here Alkan sounds a lot like
Offenbach - before Offenbach started composing.

Dave Harman
El Paso, TX