Very true. I think trying to find "good" intermediate music is a massive search for all of us. Like, we shouldn't expect learners (adults or kids) to have to hate the music they play for years until they reach a point of playing middle to upper int music.

#11 coming in at the end for the save!!! 😄 But yeah, I'm with you, such a cool, mysterious sound. I just couldn't cut it out. I love the Bartok, but I wanted another style represented for the 20th century as well.

Thanks for the additions and for checking out the video!

Thanks for the added context. I definitely don't base my ratings off a single syllabus, but it's always interesting to compare. For example, I just went through the RCM syllabus and it looks like (of the pieces that they have) I have a three 3s (Melody seems to be a 3 in this version, not 2), two 4s, one 5, two 6s, and one 8 (Even in the Country). I tried to mention throughout the video which pieces were easier or harder and it's fairly close. So I'm pretty happy with how we line up expect of course Evening in the Country. I did mention in the video however that I consider Evening in the Country to be the nearest to Für Elise in difficulty, so at least we agree there. I guess a video of "10 level 5 RCM pieces I like" could be interesting, but I would rather give my opinion and leveling rather than copy their work. I do think it is a very good ranking and system they've developed, and it's super helpful when talking about students level in general. Also, just for fun, I looked up Jane MaGrath's level of the two pieces and she has Für Elise as a 7 and Evening in the Country as a 5!!!! Lol. Not that I based my video on her rankings either, but it's funny to see a 3 level swing between two very reputable sources. I bet tempo of both pieces influences the leveling quite a bit. We all know how differently the middle sections of Für Elise can be interpreted, but the Bartok is similar in that sense. One edition I have simply says "Vivo, non rubato" for the 2 fast sections. If it was a 130-150 video that would be much different than a 180+ vivo. Does the RMC curriculum give an exact tempo? I have another edition "Celebrate Bartok" that says 144, but I don't believe that's from Bartok. Thanks again for checking out the video and adding more information here in the comments.

@@ryanabshier Thanks for the detailed response. It's interesting that the grading system has different criteria across organizations. For example, I remember having a "Children's Pieces" piano book with a different British grading system and progressive difficulty, but I disagree with it as "Fur Elise" appeared before many lower difficulty songs including "Spinning Song" in your list (which I learned before and felt more like RCM Grade 5). And yes, the RCM grade system gives specified tempo ranges for every piece. Double-checked "Evening at the Country" also has 144 tempo for the fast section, which could explain the high graded difficulty with all the sixteenth notes.

Haha, I need to add John Field to my "future ideas" list. I could even give it an edgy title like "Chopin's real daddy!!!" Lol

This "Für Elise" you talk about is just the main theme or are you taking into account the two episodes in-between as well. The first one is very agile and requires some dexterity, and the second as a long arpeggio, chromatic scales and requires mastery of voicing to play those chords well and with the correct articulation.

And/or Lascia ch'io pianga?!

I think there's a super famous orchestral recording of it that's used somewhere (maybe someone can tell us where???). I think I heard it that way first, then realized later that's an arrangement and Handel's original was leyboard.

Barry Lyndon

I also learned all three movements. In my humble opinion the 3rd was the easiest both to play and to understand. The 1st is way too dramatic and fullllll of energy. How well you play the intro defines what you will play in the Allegro con brio, plus there are rapid left hand tremolos all over the thing, uncomfortable left hand chords (full of inversions) in the first eb major theme, learning how to use the silence as a musical element in your interpretation, extreme ff's next to piano markings, etc. The 2nd despite being the slow one, also has big contrasts and has the challenge of voicing the melody on top of a a dense accompaniment. It's also tricky to play the sforzandos in the context of a piano and pianissimo. The 3rd one repeats the theme a lot, and it has some uncomfortable passages but not as many as the first movement. For me it has a clear rondo form, and maybe i didn't get to play it as much as the others, but everytime I play it it feels like pop music or something not Beethoven like, pherhaps it feels more like chamber music rather than purely piani music

Woow your information is awesome. Do you study the piano at conservatory?

But I am not a proffesional pianist, sow I play the first movement not that good, but the 2nd movement much better

@@tijn5446 I do study music! But not at a conservatoire. Maybe in the future I will, but I would have to study 2x more because getting accepted is really hard

Love the conversation here and @shimyy5658, thanks for the long detailed response! I do personally feel the 1st movement is harder to learn and play, however, when I've taught it my students they've struggled with the 3rd quite a bit too. This could be due to burnout. You learn the first movement over a long period of time and get the satisfaction of watching it improve, and then starting over with the 3rd can be a challenge mentally. But also I think the requirements to play the movements are very different. I would agree with @shimyy5658 that the 1st movement is tougher to pull off, being a more complicated sonata form that also includes the slow intro (that returns). And I've seen the Allegro section played great but people struggle playing the intro rhythmically AND musically so much that the audience is checked out by the 2nd page. Also, the 1st simply has more sections while the 3rd is a 7-part Rondo (A - B - A - C - A - B - A coda). Seems complicated, but you get to play that A section a lot so more free notes you don't have to learn. However, the 3rd movement I think has challenged my students because...it's fast, haha. It seems too simple of an answer, but it has a lot of fast notes with less sound/power to back it up. So it can sound a little naked at times. This isn't to say Beethoven wrote it wrong, but simply different than the 1st movement. So I'd say if you've played the 1st, go for the 3rd! Just don't expect easy and you'll be good. (also, switching between normal and triplets seems to kill people in the 3rd movement, so start practicing that early on)

I'm comparing them to the whole piece. So if you can play the first section but not the rest, these pieces should help fill that gap! Many of them are harder than (or at least similar to) the first section, but on a whole are easier than all Für Elise.

What does s 207 stand for?

@@ciasma_xavi It is Searle Catalogue for Franz Liszt's Works.

I went through a Kabalevsky phase several years ago, he's great and for sure has pieces that would fit into this list!!! Can you recommend some of your favorites? As I mentioned at the end of the video, I had to make tons of cuts to get the number down. But once you have only 3 or so pieces per era, it's just impossible to fit everyone. So I would love the comment section to be full of pieces for further study. Maybe which pieces you like and why you like them.

@@123SLM123 I'm guaranteed to get this comment whenever I make a video about this piece. It's just the way we say it. Just like we say BeethoVen and not Beethofen. Or Fir and not Fooh-uh. Extremely famous people and works take on new pronunciation in new languages. You can't really win saying Für Elise as an English speaker. I've listened to lots of Germans and they love using English words and giving them a German vowel pronunciation. It's cool, nothing wrong with it at all. It just means the English word is super popular that it's being adapted into multiple languages. Thanks for watching the fiteo!

@@ryanabshier I am not German, I am Dutch. Please never insult me like that again.

@@123SLM123 burn, German insult. I didn't call you German though. Beethoven spoke German, and you're talking about how I pronounced German, that's all. I don't think anyone is against anyone here.

@@ryanabshier it was meant as a joke. I love the Germans. But as far as your explanation goes, I disagree. Saying German words with an English accent is fine. Misspronouncing a name never is.

@@123SLM123 You should listen to francophones saying Sigmund Freud's name - it drives me crazy...😁