Aman Ahuja wrote:

>My curiousity is aroused, however.  What pieces _are_ usually considered
>the most "difficult" piano music?

I may have missed it, but in the field of difficult piano music, Lepold
Godowski shouldn't, can't be neglected, to mention a few, the studies
on the Chopin etudes, the passagaglia on Schuberts theme from the
"Unfinished", the sonata in e,which Marc Andre Hamelin in his notes in
the booklet considers very difficult, and that must mean something for a
virtuoso of Hamelin's stature!!  And don't forget Alkan's Grande sonata op
33, "Les quattre ages", especially 1st and 2nd movements.  I once read a
description of Alkan's op 39,7, Concerto, first movement, as four Islameys
piled on top of each other.

On the other hand, what is difficult for one pianist, might be not so for
another, I think, it will depend on the build of the hand, and the ability
to stretch, the innate independence of the finger muscles and so on.  My
former piano teacher had very small hands, she barely could stretch an
octave, she once told me, she couldn't play Rachmaninoff for purely
physical reasons, and when she had to play Brahms's Haendel variations, she
had to use a number of tricks, and special fingerings, to divide large
stretches between the two hands.

Peter Wisse [log in to unmask]