Bartok/Medtner please, either one is fine by me. By the way, do you find that Medtner's writing in his sonatas is actually quite pianistic despite being really difficult

JS Bach, Prokofiev

Alkan

Scarlatti.

Mendelssohn, Grieg, Mozart

Le Gibet is the worst to read through IMO. Out of the three it was by far the biggest headache for me to digest, and so many damn big chords.

wish i could play it.. :(

@@Iumine Make goals, you'll get there someday :D

@@SCRIABINIST thanks :) im working up to it. currently im learning the last little bit of valses nobles et sentimentales

i learned it at age 13, was perfect 1 year later thats how hard it is, took a full year

transition to what? it is how it was written

​@@user-qn5kh2tz2r The transition between pianists. He seamlessly switched from one pianist's recording to another's for the exact same piece

@@christianvennemann9008 oh wow

pianists who only have 2 entries so far: 26. Martha Argerich 2 (2) / 2 27. Wilhelm Backhaus 2 (2) / 2 28. Dino Ciani 2 (2) / 2 29. Solomon (Cutner) 2 (2) / 2 30. György Cziffra 2 (2) / 2 31. Monique Haas 2 (2) / 2 32. Paavali Jumppanen 2 (2) / 2 33. Zoltán Kocsis 2 (2) / 2 34. Louis Lortie 2 (2) / 2 35. Radu Lupu 2 (2) / 2 36. Benno Moiseiwitsch 2 (2) / 2 37. Ivan Moravec 2 (2) / 2 38. Minoru Nojima 2 (2) / 2 39. Noriko Ogawa 2 (2) / 2 40. John Ogdon 2 (2) / 2 41. Maria João Pires 2 (2) / 2 42. Eliso Virsaladze 2 (2) / 2 43. Zlata Chochieva 2 (2) / 1 44. Annie Fischer 2 (2) / 1 45. Samson François 2 (2) / 1 46. Nelson Goerner 2 (2) / 1 47. Susanne Grützmann 2 (2) / 1 48. Friedrich Gulda 2 (2) / 1 49. Myra Hess 2 (2) / 1 50. Julius Katchen 2 (2) / 1 51. Éric Le Sage 2 (2) / 1 52. Maria Lettberg 2 (2) / 1 53. Peter Rösel 2 (2) / 1 54. Artur Schnabel 2 (2) / 1 55. Agustin Anievas 2 (1) / 1 56. Bernd Glemser 2 (1) / 1 57. Marc-André Hamelin 2 (1) / 1 58. Wilhelm Kempff 2 (1) / 1 59. Roger Muraro 2 (1) / 1 60. Konstantin Scherbakov 2 (1) / 1

and last but not least, pianists with only 1 entry so far: 61. Dag Achatz 62. Dmitri Alexeev 63. Géza Anda 64. Piotr Anderszewski 65. Nicholas Angelich 66. Håkon Austbø 67. Vladimir Baak 68. Gina Bachauer 69. Béla Bartók 70. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet 71. Boris Berezovsky 72. İdil Biret 73. Rafał Blechacz 74. John Browning 75. Gabriele Carcano 76. Robert Casadesus 77. Alberto Cobo 78. Nikolai Demidenko 79. Samuil Feinberg 80. Jacques Février 81. Goran Filipec 82. Leon Fleisher 83. Claude Frank 84. David Fung 85. Lukas Geniušas 86. Kiriil Gerstein 87. Jeanne Golan 88. Richard Goode 89. Stewart Goodyear 90. Percy Grainger 91. Jacob Greenberg 92. Maria Grinberg 93. Horacio Gutiérrez 94. Martin Helmchen 95. Bruce Hungerford 96. Byron Janis 97. Martin Jones 98. William Kapell 99. Freddy Kempf 100. Minkyu Kim 101. Michael Korstick 102. Frederic Lamond 103. André Laplante 104. Peter Laul 105. Yvonne Lefébure 106. Josef Lhévinne 107. John Lill 108. Dinu Lipatti 109. Marguerite Long 110. Yvonne Loriod 111. Vincenzo Maltempo 112. Leon McCawley 113. Jon Nakamatsu 114. Stanislav Neuhaus 115. Tatiana Nikolayeva 116. Guiomar Novaes 117. Masaru Okada 118. Jorge Federico Osorio 119. Cécile Ousset 120. Vlado Perlemuter 121. Nikolai Petrov 122. Jonathan Plowright 123. Beatrice Rana 124. Pascal Rogé 125. Mikhail Rudy 126. Georg Friedrich Schenck 127. Anna Shelest 128. Antii Siirala 129. Vladimir Sofronitsky 130. Roberto Szidon 131. Jean-Yves Thibaudet 132. François-Jöel Thiollier 133. Eliso Tomellini 134. Simon Trpčeski 135. Anatoly Vedernikov 136. Anna Vinnitskaya 137. André Watts 138. Alexis Weissenberg 139. Sabine Weyer 140. William Wolfram 141. Klára Würtz 142. Maria Yudina (yes 142 different pianists have been featured thus far that's pretty crazy)

Very interesting. I definitely was going for variety lol! And it reflects my favorite pianists (Richter, Gilels, Simon) although I wasn't even consciously thinking about using them more

what you don't like snare drum spam and tbf i don't think ravel himself liked it either 😂

Don’t look up La parade.

@@ilikeplayingffftonecluster851 I don't have to because I know the piece and it's not bad at all, it's actually good. Nothing's been as cringey and repetitive as the Bolero.

@@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji I can’t believe I’m saying this but I would take Bolero over what sounds like a bad Liszt transcription knockoff any day.

@@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji That being said, I don’t mind the repetitive nature of Bolero after my exposure to hip hop. Still think it gets far more attention than it deserves when the same composer wrote everything in this video. Sad that Ravel is mostly known for that by the mainstream.

Yeah

I mean there are some easier ones

@@calebhu6383 yeah like 3😅

@@themagicducc2777 valse nobles et sentimentales, menuet antique, pavane pour une infante defunte, serenade grotesque, prelude in g, a la maniere de, etc. etc. yea no there are still plenty more its just most of them arent really well known

@@GICM yes 3 is an exaggeration, but there are only 10 piano pieces on this list, 8 if you count the piano from daphnis et chloé as one “piece” like he did with miroirs

You should try Jeux d'eau after Une Barque

@@calebhu6383 Thanks! I was considering it!

Do you mean Une barque sur l'océan ?

@@arielorthmann4061 Yes

@@BuddyDean Try an obscure work of Ravel’s - his “Frontispiece”! He wrote it in 1918, right after his mother died.

not including chamber music. sonatine was put higher because its longer

Yeah I like that one

True, but a lot of them don't go noticed until later

Wait to see Ravel/Sorabji ( he transcribed the Spanish Rhapsody for solo piano)

I don't have Scarbo ranked higher than Le Preux? Le preux is like 8++ borderline 9

@@calebhu6383 i think they meant in the top 100 hardest video the whole gaspard was ranked higher than le preux

@@GICM Gaspard as a whole would be harder than Le Preux.

@@AllNewYear i guess. but idk how to judge difficult by length u know, it seems like cheating. like i could say playing fur elise 10000000x in a row is harder than sorabji symphonic variations

@@ryzikx well you're not playing the same thing over and over again so its not really cheating

46. Scriabin Piano Sonata No. 9 Op. 68 "Black Mass" (8) 45. Scriabin Piano Concerto Op. 20 (8) 44. Scriabin Piano Sonata No. 10 Op. 70 (8) 43. Schumann Fantasie in C Major Op. 17 (8) 42. Schumann Symphonic Études Op. 13 (8) 41. Schumann Toccata Op. 7 (8) 40. Ravel Piano Concerto for the Left Hand Alone M. 82 (8) 39. Ravel Fragments Symphoniques from Daphnis et Chloé M. 57a (8) 38. Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 1 Op. 1 (8) 37. Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 4 Op. 40 (8) 36. Debussy Transcription (only original version) of Ballet "Khamma" L. 125 (8) 35. Beethoven Variations on a Theme of Diabelli Op. 120 (8) 34. Schumann Kreisleriana Op. 16 (8) 33. Schumann Davidsbündlertänze Op. 6 (8) 32. Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 Op. 15 (8) 31. Brahms Piano Sonata No. 3 Op. 5 (8) 30. Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 28 Op. 101 (8) 29. Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 32 Op. 111 (8) 28. Liszt Transcendental Étude S. 139 No. 5 "Feux Follets" (8+) 27. Debussy Etudes Book I L. 136 (8+) 26. Ravel Miroirs M. 43 (8+) 25. Debussy Transcription of Ballet "Jeux" L. 126 (8+) 24. Debussy Etudes Book II L. 136 (8+) 23. Rachmaninoff Piano Sonata No. 1 Op. 28 (8+) 22. Rachmaninoff Variations on a Theme of Chopin Op. 22 (8+) 21. Scriabin Piano Sonata No. 6 Op. 62 (8+) 20. Scriabin Piano Sonata No. 7 Op. 64 "White Mass" (8+) 19. Brahms Variations on a Theme of Handel Op. 24 (8+) 18. Ravel Transcription of La Valse M. 72b (8++, but also might be 8+ depending on how much you play) 17. Liszt Réminiscences de Don Juan S. 418 (8++) 16. Liszt Grande fantaisie de bravoure sur La clochette S. 420 (8++) 15. Liszt Réminiscences de Lucrezia Borgia S. 400 (8++) 14. Rachmaninoff Piano Sonata No. 2 Op. 36 1st (1913) version (8++) 13. Scriabin Piano Sonata No. 8 Op. 66 (8++) 12. Scriabin Piano Sonata No. 5 Op. 53 (8++) 11. Ravel Gaspard de La Nuit M. 55 (8++) 10. Liszt Beethoven Symphony No. 7 (Op. 92) Transcription S. 464 (8++) 9. Liszt Étude d'exécution transcendante d'apres Paganini S. 140 No. 4b (8++) 8. Liszt Große Konzertfantasie über Spanische Weisen S. 253 (8++) 7. Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 Op. 30 (8++) 6. Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 Op. 83 (8++) 5. Brahms Variations on a Theme of Paganini Op. 35 (8++) 4. Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 29 Op. 106 "Hammerklavier" (8++) 3. Liszt Beethoven Symphony No. 3 "Eroica" (Op. 55) Transcription S. 464 (8++) 2. Liszt Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique (Op. 14) Transcription S. 470 (9) 1. Liszt Beethoven Symphony No. 9 (Op. 125) "Choral/Ode to Joy" Transcription S. 464 (9) (note for anyone curious: if you wanna know more about the rating system, Caleb has a pretty in depth explanation of it in his channel 'About' page)

Nice list

@@GICM Oh yeah, I changed Hammerklavier to 8++ but it's a very high 8++

@@calebhu6383 whoops i think i copied an outdated list could've sworn i already had hammerklavier at 8++

@@calebhu6383 what do you think of Mereaux's Scherzo alla Napolatina?

I think technically Jeaux d'eau has a higher ceiling, but with everything factored in (interpretation, length, etc.) Sonatine edges it out.

It's much easier to play the Sonatine on a bad piano than Jeux d'eau. I think Jeux d'eau requires an improvisatory musical approach at times and a very fine control of the sound. It's easier to give a really mediocre performance of Jeux d'eau.

@@calebhu6383 I will never understand where the ideas of “interpretive” or “musical” difficulty came from. I used to nod along with the idea but then I’ve come to think it’s a little BS

@@nicb4589 I do think people underrate how much musicality has to do with fine muscle control rather than your maturity or mental state. Also people overrate the musical difficulty of works that are lyrical or slow-for me, the easiest works musically are those with a nice melody. The hardest works musically are works that have less memorable melodies, very little going on, or those that have too much going on and require good voicing. Schubert's Sonata D.784 is an example of a work that is genuinely very difficult musically, and Chopin's Ballade No.1 is probably the most overrated in terms of being musically difficult.

@@calebhu6383 Exactly, so I believe it all falls under the category of technical challenges, since it has to do with fine motor control. I believe that a given musician’s maturity shows through anything they play, and it’s independent from the pieces themselves. A piece that is more “mature” is a piece with more technical challenges, which get in the way of making free musical choices. This is why technical difficulty is the only thing to consider. I just feel like its a misnomer. One small concession: Interpretive difficulty exists, but probably only like a pre-college level, where students have yet to go into fugues, sonata forms, or how Brahms constructs pieces from melodic cells. Once someone has an education/experience, I think that difficulty dissipates. The only exception would be pieces with important historical contexts or programmatic meaning, which is solved with a cursory search.

even warmer than Gilels in fact, somewhat amusingly

Right. His Feux Follets is also more withdrawn

@@calebhu6383 to be fair with Feux Follets he _might've_ just simply found it too difficult to play fast, where as with the Toccata im quite certain it was a deliberate interpretive choice

General public prefers Debussy, difficulty junkies prefer Ravel

Ravel just opens up a different world that’s so unique. ❤ He’s technically brilliant and deserves to be known for more than Boléro and Une Barque sur l’Ocean. 🤷🏻‍♀️ His Introduction et Allegro is miles above Debussy’s Chamber Music in general, IMO.

Check the last mvt of Beethoven's Waldstein sonata

@@brianzayman2228 those dont sound anything like this

also hammerklavier at written tempo i guess, but then again slow hammerklavier isn't necessarily bad either

Lol true. I think Gaspard and Hammerklavier are the most popular of these because of their scope and artistic/virtuosic combination being perfect for competition. Like you can find way more strong Rach 3 recordings than Bartok 2

stop trying to beat me as the guy who comments the most

@@GICM bruh lol

Not really, not that difficult or I couldn't find music for it

Haven't heard it yet

@@calebhu6383 oh, have you heard Roge's Ravel then?

@@GICM Yes, it is quite good

the album with miroirs, firebird, petruschka, and la valse is so epic

Yeah just about, since that's professional level difficulty

Ondine is like 7++ or 8? Le gibet probably around 6-7. Scarbo 8+ or 8++. Not too sure because I never played it.

@@calebhu6383 Ondine is actually not that hard technically speaking (excluding the double notes, which are still very tame compared to Op.25 No.6) I have practiced it for a couple days and it is much more tame compared to La Campanella or Chopin Sonata 2.

@@zswu31416 Ok cool. I think I rated it very hard because I find the quiet double notes to be extremely difficult. But I think someone who is good at impressionism won't find it to be too difficult.

@@calebhu6383 Oh, it probably is very easy because of the piano I am using. On an upright you just hold down una corda and you can play very softly.

@@calebhu6383 Henle rates both Ondine and Scarbo as 9,(highest in its rating system)Le Gibet is 8+..Musically,Le Gibet is hardest..

That isn’t true. A lot of people get started with the pavane since it’s both very approachable technically and musically and it’s a good crowdpleaser

@@emielgeerts but not everyone's gonna like pavane, which is kinda my point, there's not a lot to choose from compared to other composers. also pavane is not really the most comfortable beginner's piece to play; you need to separate the voices in one hand, there are some relatively big chords especially towards the end, and also the piece is not exactly short either. especially if you compare with Debussy for example who has pieces like the Arabesques and Reverie (or Le Petit Negro as recommended by piano teachers) in terms of technical requirements those pieces are more appealing than pavane. so unless you really like Ravel and not really any other composers or you just really like pavane you'd probably be more inclined to wait until you're at an intermediate level to play his pieces

I personally feel that the Pavane, Minuet in the Name of Haydn, the 2nd Movement to Sonatine, and the 5th Movement to the Miroirs Suite are all very approachable, but at an intermediate level.

(srsly tho what am i doing with my life lol)

You are contributing to society in a unique way

its in Gaspard de La Nuit my guy, just that no excerpts from it are shown in the video

@@GICM that's why I asked

@@neo-eclesiastul9386 probably no recording that he particularly wanted to show with Le Gibet

check the description

twas what i said, but scores might be hard to find apparently

@@GICM rip

not really sure what you mean

@@GICM The second bar of the second system in the excerpt has a 2-2 slide from F#-G. It's not terribly difficult, considering it's a slide from a black key to a white one.

@@Vincent_Xia ah i see

@@Vincent_Xia you’re right, I like it now haha