I find it interesting that "Gaspard de la nuit" wasn't selected even though it has been played on his channel. One of the most challenging pieces for sure!
most people consider it the hardest piece in the normal piano repertoire. Having said that, he probably did not know how to play it by the time of the video
Almost cartainly becasue its not popular enough. Rousseau have addressed this before; they choose to pander to the youtube algorithm and only select well known pieces.
@@insertfunnynamehere9910yep in the comments of the first video he explains this and gives a real list with pieces like islamey, galop in a minor, symphony 9 transcription and gaspard de la nuit
In Rousseau's "Top 10 Most Difficult Piano Pieces" he commented that this wasn't his actual top 10 list of most difficult pieces and lists what he would actually put under his top 10. Which does include pieces such as Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit.
Would love to see a reaction video of Traumpiano. He is just uploading bangers after bangers back to back no matter how difficult the pieces are. Great video as always!
I personally have been on the search for some of the most difficult or insane piano pieces, and over they last two years that has lead me to some unexpected places. From the common stuff of Chopin and Liszt, to the lesser known like Alkan, and even Méreaux and even down the rabbit hole of 12 tone music and the new complexity movement. And to be frank, only some of these are even close to being the "most insane" piano pieces, but in the end, the actually most insane stuff is almost unlistenable to the average listener and uninterpritable by the average pianist. So when people look for these "hard" pieces, not only is that not possible simply because of the subjectivity of difficulty, but also because of the limitation the audience places on their own listening. Rosseau himself knows this, even commenting some pieces he really sees to be the most difficult under one of his own videos, but unfortunately, some composers were just destined to be obscure (Not because of a lack of talent, but a lack of understanding) I guess.
Kinda disagree with 4 lol. Black Keys etude is among one of the first Chopin etudes that teachers like to tell their students to learn (when they’re ready). I also find it fitting the hand pretty well, although interpretively it does give a challenge(a lot of the Chopin etudes do though.) Also I know these videos aren’t serious because MOST of these non-concert pianists can play.
Just found your channel and subbed. Amazing video -- can't believe you don't have a couple million subs yet! Your quality and interpretation are great ❤
Thank you Matthew. Your break downs are always very interesting. Also, would you consider doing a reaction video to all the Simply Piano (and the like) ads?
Před 19 dny+2
could you make a video on what music we should learn in order to get good fast please
Hey Mathew he actually wrote a comment with his true opinion on all the most complex pieces. He made the choices he made in the video as it would do better on the CZcams algorithm.
Here’s my ranking of all the pieces showed in this video. Hardest would be Chopin 1st Ballade because of the musicality and the difficult coda. Next would be Rachmaninoff’s G Minor Prelude because you need a big sound and the middle section is very delicate so you need to be very musical, next would be Chopin’s Winter Wind Etude because it is quite technical, next would be En Sospiro because you must have a good flow and be musical with it, there are also some Liszt flourishes in there too. Lastly we have Chopin’s Black Key Etude, it is relatively technical but it lies well in the fingers and repetitive. None of these pieces would be considered expert level or hardest piano pieces. But I would classify them as intermediate to any Classical Music Pianist.
I would say that "Grande Fantaisie de Bravoure sur la Clochette" is the hardest piece. It's basically La Campanella for 15m before Liszt made it easier.
i agree but they both played extremely hard pieces like gaspard de la nuit (traum played scarbo) rousseau played all three parts but nothing else hard was played by rousseau while traum plsyed islamey and petrushka and same i like traum so so so much more
@@tao5331 rousseau is more of an organisation (many pianists are invited to play on the channel) wearass kassia or traum are both swecret but famus concert pianists
Matthew, in my journey of learning piano I've noticed there are quite a few acronyms or pneumonic devices used to remember things (ie. FACE, All Good Boys Deserve Fudge etc). I was wondering if you could do a video on the most useful acronyms? There's probably quite a few I haven't come across yet, but I've noticed that they really do help me remember things if I have something simple to refer back to. My most recent one I learned was Fast Cars Go Dangerously Around Each Bend to help determine the key signature and the number of sharps/flats. Love your videos as always, I love the explanations you give for things that seem like they're extremely sophisticated, make it easier for me to understand and break down. Thanks for everything you do! ❤️🇨🇦
Thanks as always! 😊 I teach “Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle” for sharp keys because you can reverse it to get flat keys. “Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles’ Father” Those give you the order of the sharps/flats…to get the name of the key you go forward one in the alphabet from the last sharp. E.g “Father Charles” (F# C#), forward one from C is D major. So D major has F# and C#. For flats you go back one in the mnemonic. So “Battle Ends And” (Bb Eb Ab), back one in the mnemonic from the last flat (Ab) is Eb…so Eb major has 3 flats. 😊 I like the video idea, il have to collect some mnemonics together 😊
@@matticawood oh I like that one better because it makes sense backwards! Thank you! Once it clicked in my head (my music teacher may have had to explain it to me a couple times) it made things so much easier! Such a good one 😊 Thanks for the reply! Hopefully others find this helpful as well.
I was taught in school (albeit I never use the acronym anymore) to remember sharps by, "For Christmas Give Dad An Extra Buck", and then for flats remember the word "Bead" and then "Greatest Common Factor" (GCF).
Hey Matthew, great video! One thing I appreciate about you is that you can be an expert in both classical playing, and music theory for things like playing worship music! I’ve played piano for years but didn’t realize until I was an adult that I was not learning the theory portion of music. It makes playing more difficult pieces much worse to learn and maintain. Do you have a suggestion on how to learn both sides of the coin, and what I should look for in a teacher that can help me do that? Someone like you haha!
0:42 something that I don’t know if people may have noticed, is how, whoever does that little head nod at the dissonance in that last chord really respects the piece, you just HAVE to
For Chopin, I think it would be definetly op. 10 no. 4, because like in Winterwind, you actually only have to learn the right hand and there is only one hard "tecnique". In Torrent, you have so many different technices mixed up together and you have to play all these at the same time. Also the left hand's line has to stay very clear. I played it when I was 12 (now I'm 13) and I think it's also musically very complicated. Overall I would say there is not a "Hardest Piece Ever" because it's depending on your own nature. Btw nice vid.
As a calcified 12 year old I can say that you just ruined all of my self esteem😂 you seriously played winter wind AT 12 (sorry if you can’t understand English is not my first language😅)
I really enjoyed this vid Matthew. I particularly like the way you break the pieces down and simplify them by showing the component parts. I’d love you to do this with one of my fav pieces, ‘Fleeting Smile’ by Roger Eno. A simple but very emotive piece.
Matthew, I have a technical question. I just started piano lessons and my teacher puts a big emphasis on my arm and finger alignment so I'm hyper aware now when I watch others. I noticed your fingers are really straight when you play, do you always play that way or is it just because your piano is sitting higher for the video?
Your teacher is right to do so! Early on in playing if you play with good technique then you can learn to be relaxed which will stop tension in the long term. In answer to your question, it’s a combination of two things. Firstly, yes the height of the piano for the videos means my hand needs to adjust slightly to accommodate. Fortunately I only play at that height for the videos so the keys can be seen and the rest of the time I play at a normal height where I’m less restricted. Secondly the angle of the camera is facing straight towards my knuckles which means whatever bend there is in my fingers is quite hard to see 😊 I think when starting…making sure you don’t play in unusual positions is important because you don’t have a “normal” way that you play yet…but as time goes on, you will naturally play correctly as your default, so playing in unusual positions won’t add tension or ruin your technique forever 😊
I find Un Sospiro difficult also because you're not supposed to use much pedal, I've seen only few people who were able to actually play the melody using just legato, like Paul Barton
I feel like the most insane piano pieces (not necessarily the most difficult) should probably be populated heavily by Alkan. Though there may be a bit of overlap between that list and the most difficult pieces, because Alkan was an absolute mad lad.
@@MakoDMusic An individual might find one harder than the other due to personal experiences. However, balladr 4 in general is a way harder piece compared with ballade 1. Ballade 1 is only shown here due to it's popularity in the classical piano community. Hardly anyone here would recognize ballade 4 anyway
Hi Matthew I love your reaction videos! :) Could you check out Hayato Sumino (Cateen)? He has a fantastic "7 Levels of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" video (among others) that I think you'd really appreciate!
Hey, good question! Teaching the piano is a lot about methods of learning. So, how to approach a piece of music and practice, how to practice certain techniques that come up and how to interpret the music. All of this can be done without having played it. There also won’t be many techniques that a good teacher won’t have come across before. When I look at pieces like the Chopin etudes, I can see what techniques are required, what the piece is trying to convey emotionally etc. The only difference between a piece that I can play or have never played is the time spent drilling those things into my hands and memory. Instead of spending hours drilling them into my own hands and memory, I’m helping to drill them into someone else’s hands and memory. So a teacher can understand exactly how to practice and interpret a piece, without spending the time to practice it into their hands. Most teachers at conservatoire level won’t have played most of the pieces they teach themselves…but they will read the piece and know what it means and how to practice it 😊
@@matticawood ooohh makes sense, its a bit challenging for a teacher to have played all the pieces their students are playing. I do think that if the teacher has studied the piece, they can teach it more effectively though! thank you!
do your own top 10 list maybe some of the pieces you include could be liszt reminiscences de lucrezia borgia and his beethoven symphony no 9 transcription, alkan concerto and symphony for solo piano, godowsky/chopin etudes, mereaux etudes, feinberg and szymanowski sonatas edit: forgot medtner sonatas
Those are lesser known works, but there are a lot of insane pieces like Sorabji’s that are just completely random notes with humanly possible technique. For that reason, it’s almost impossible to actually state a top 10 most difficult
@@chironchiron5053 yeah thats why i said everyone has a different list obv ik that sorabji has impossible pieces (more or less) but he couldnt play those pieces himself
@@chironchiron5053 sorabji music is well thought out and isn't random (unlike something like finnissy's Piano concerto 4) you just probably haven't listened to much of his stuff. Check out these pieces from sorabji: - in the hot house - 3 pastiches for piano - fantasie espagnole Sorabji tends to cares more about creating "majestic" textures as opposed to creating melodies, telling a story, or evoking emotions. He makes the musical equivalent of horror vacui art.
@@billybobthekidiswack alright, I’ll check them out, thanks for your time. It’s just that in my opinion, some people like Sorabji might write ridiculously impossible or difficult things like Opus Clavicembalisticum, when only about 20 people recorded it. I don’t think anyone listens to it on a daily basis because it’s a wonderful work, I just think it’s just another contemporary work with random notes.
I really dont know many songs that arent the same. I could apply this to the majority of the Chopin études, since they typically they train specific individual techniques but can you really take away from the difficulty because "you can play it well with practice". The only one I really would disagree with being on the list is Op. 10 No 5 since it's nutoriously one of the easier études and I don't think it belongs with the others but all of these are still difficult peices reguardless of how good you can get with practice. Some people wont be able to play these pieces if you get what I'm saying
Some other possible contenders: Conlon Nancarrow: Sonatina Carl Vine: Piano Sonata No. 1 (possibly my favorite piano sonata of all time) Beat Furrer: Spur Gyorgi Ligeti: Etude for Piano No. 6 ("Autumn in Warsaw") Outside of classical music (but sounding to me very much like a lost Ligeti etude) there's this stunning piece "Self Portrait" by Tigran Hamasyan: czcams.com/video/iPRgCSjQR0c/video.html
Can you please do more of Peter Bence's videos... Pleaseeee. With a lot of his videos together like you did in Peter Buka's reaction video. Please!!! 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Oh come on. What a hackneyed lineup. Even sticking to within this period take your pick of any of Liszt's Transcendental Etudes, pretty much Alkan's entire repertoire or, hell, even Beethoven's Hammerklavier.
'Difficulty' is subjective, these lists are largely pointless. Make a mistake in the opening chords of Beethoven 4th Concerto or in the tolling bells of 'Le Gibet' in Gaspard de La Nuit and everyone notices. You can be playing Sorabji entirely wrong and no-one will care but the player (and even that's arguable). Anyway, I'll give an unranked 10 solo pieces that spring to mind, purely based on technique / virtuosity required Messiaen Vingt Regards sur L'Enfant Jesus Villa-Lobos Rudepoema Liszt Tr. Etude "Feux Follets" Rachmaninov 1st Sonata in D minor Rachmaninov 2nd Sonata (the first edition, 1913) Beethoven Op 106 in Bb Sonata - "Hammerklavier" The two books of Paganini Etudes by Brahms Any of the Liszt operatic transcriptions like Totentanz, Don Juan, etc Alkan Le Festin d'Esope Leopold Godowskys Transcriptions of the Chopin Etudes
I dream of playing Chopin's Ballade and will work hard to get there. I'm open to advice for those to help me. I've only been playing for 5 months and have learnt the 1st Movement of Moonlight Sonata and halfway through Gymnopedie no.1.
In a comment on their video "Top 10 Most Difficult Piano Pieces" Rousseau gives a more realistic top 10 pieces, and that they just cater their videos to the CZcams algorithm.
The Chopin Etude isn't that difficult, I sight read it at half tempo when I first was learning it then had it down in about 2 months, rhythmically it drives itself forward. I'd say Pastorale Jazz Etude is much more rhythmically and technique.
Use structure to tell a story! Build to a big moment about 2/3rds the way through and repeat ideas but develop them so that it feels familiar, but interesting 😊
Hey Matthew, I would love to see your reaction to another channel called Phyxinon and his piano covers for a rhythm game called Deemo :) Marigold, Entrance and ANiMA, would be what I consider the most difficult pieces he's played (and also his most viewed ones). Otherwise would love to hear your thoughts on his skills as a pianist :D
All these Chopin Etudes on these lists, yet you never see Godowsky's studies on Chopin's Etudes. I'm not even a pianist and those works make my hands cramp just looking at the sheet music.
This is really just s channel for kids/people who arent into classical music. There are already enough videos for the hardest pieces for solo piano before 1900. As for after the 1900s, i just made the hardest piece on my laptop an hour ago...
I find it interesting that "Gaspard de la nuit" wasn't selected even though it has been played on his channel. One of the most challenging pieces for sure!
most people consider it the hardest piece in the normal piano repertoire. Having said that, he probably did not know how to play it by the time of the video
Almost cartainly becasue its not popular enough. Rousseau have addressed this before; they choose to pander to the youtube algorithm and only select well known pieces.
@@insertfunnynamehere9910yep in the comments of the first video he explains this and gives a real list with pieces like islamey, galop in a minor, symphony 9 transcription and gaspard de la nuit
Because it’s uploaded after this video?
lol he dosent know how to play it that’s why he doesn’t wanna record a video about it these pieces he mentioned are no where near the hardest.
In Rousseau's "Top 10 Most Difficult Piano Pieces" he commented that this wasn't his actual top 10 list of most difficult pieces and lists what he would actually put under his top 10. Which does include pieces such as Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit.
Yes! We need Matthew to take a look at those pieces and react to those! I've listened to quite a few from that list and I really really like Islamey!
Does it contain rondo fantistique? It was so hard that even franz liszt who composed it, had a hard time playing it
@@sleepy4205 No. I believe the only piece by Liszt in that list is his Gallop in A Minor.
very interesting, would like to hear about your hardest pieces!
Always look forward to a new Matthew Cawood vid!
2:56 to go into huh?
Brooo... 💀
😂😂😂😂
Would love to see a reaction video of Traumpiano. He is just uploading bangers after bangers back to back no matter how difficult the pieces are. Great video as always!
I personally have been on the search for some of the most difficult or insane piano pieces, and over they last two years that has lead me to some unexpected places. From the common stuff of Chopin and Liszt, to the lesser known like Alkan, and even Méreaux and even down the rabbit hole of 12 tone music and the new complexity movement. And to be frank, only some of these are even close to being the "most insane" piano pieces, but in the end, the actually most insane stuff is almost unlistenable to the average listener and uninterpritable by the average pianist. So when people look for these "hard" pieces, not only is that not possible simply because of the subjectivity of difficulty, but also because of the limitation the audience places on their own listening. Rosseau himself knows this, even commenting some pieces he really sees to be the most difficult under one of his own videos, but unfortunately, some composers were just destined to be obscure (Not because of a lack of talent, but a lack of understanding) I guess.
Your channel is growing man! I remember a while ago it being 50k, 20k more is an incredible achievement
Kinda disagree with 4 lol. Black Keys etude is among one of the first Chopin etudes that teachers like to tell their students to learn (when they’re ready). I also find it fitting the hand pretty well, although interpretively it does give a challenge(a lot of the Chopin etudes do though.)
Also I know these videos aren’t serious because MOST of these non-concert pianists can play.
Yea this video is casual af
But the real killer is the double-octave run in the last bars.
Just found your channel and subbed. Amazing video -- can't believe you don't have a couple million subs yet! Your quality and interpretation are great ❤
Thank you Matthew. Your break downs are always very interesting.
Also, would you consider doing a reaction video to all the Simply Piano (and the like) ads?
could you make a video on what music we should learn in order to get good fast please
0:45 Is that from "You Lie In April"?
No,YLIA is from Winterwind
Its a piece by Chopin, your lie in April used that piece
Its from Winterwind etude 25 No 11 chopin
I reccommend reacting to the two set violin and "sophie oui oui" hardest pieces to play in the piano. It is much better
Il check it out! 😊
@@matticawood Thanks for answering
0:13 sounds like At The Speed of Light - Dimrain47 (Bloodbath song)
True
Is this a geometry dash reference?
These pieces are definitely more "epic" than "insane". They're all on my to play list as a hobbyist.
Was Waiting for this, thanks
Hey Mathew he actually wrote a comment with his true opinion on all the most complex pieces. He made the choices he made in the video as it would do better on the CZcams algorithm.
Here’s my ranking of all the pieces showed in this video. Hardest would be Chopin 1st Ballade because of the musicality and the difficult coda. Next would be Rachmaninoff’s G Minor Prelude because you need a big sound and the middle section is very delicate so you need to be very musical, next would be Chopin’s Winter Wind Etude because it is quite technical, next would be En Sospiro because you must have a good flow and be musical with it, there are also some Liszt flourishes in there too. Lastly we have Chopin’s Black Key Etude, it is relatively technical but it lies well in the fingers and repetitive. None of these pieces would be considered expert level or hardest piano pieces. But I would classify them as intermediate to any Classical Music Pianist.
I would say that "Grande Fantaisie de Bravoure sur la Clochette" is the hardest piece. It's basically La Campanella for 15m before Liszt made it easier.
I don't split hands when I play tge Melody of Un Sospiro. I don't need to. I only cross over for one or two specific notes.
much love to rousseau, but traum is (imo) a lot better. would be nice to see some reacts to him aswell
Traum is incredible
Agreed 🎩
i agree but they both played extremely hard pieces like gaspard de la nuit (traum played scarbo) rousseau played all three parts but nothing else hard was played by rousseau while traum plsyed islamey and petrushka and same i like traum so so so much more
Traum is a professional pianist while i don't know about Rousseau
@@tao5331 rousseau is more of an organisation (many pianists are invited to play on the channel) wearass kassia or traum are both swecret but famus concert pianists
Matthew, in my journey of learning piano I've noticed there are quite a few acronyms or pneumonic devices used to remember things (ie. FACE, All Good Boys Deserve Fudge etc). I was wondering if you could do a video on the most useful acronyms? There's probably quite a few I haven't come across yet, but I've noticed that they really do help me remember things if I have something simple to refer back to. My most recent one I learned was Fast Cars Go Dangerously Around Each Bend to help determine the key signature and the number of sharps/flats.
Love your videos as always, I love the explanations you give for things that seem like they're extremely sophisticated, make it easier for me to understand and break down. Thanks for everything you do!
❤️🇨🇦
Thanks as always! 😊
I teach “Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle” for sharp keys because you can reverse it to get flat keys.
“Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles’ Father”
Those give you the order of the sharps/flats…to get the name of the key you go forward one in the alphabet from the last sharp. E.g “Father Charles” (F# C#), forward one from C is D major. So D major has F# and C#.
For flats you go back one in the mnemonic. So “Battle Ends And” (Bb Eb Ab), back one in the mnemonic from the last flat (Ab) is Eb…so Eb major has 3 flats. 😊
I like the video idea, il have to collect some mnemonics together 😊
@@matticawood oh I like that one better because it makes sense backwards! Thank you! Once it clicked in my head (my music teacher may have had to explain it to me a couple times) it made things so much easier! Such a good one 😊
Thanks for the reply! Hopefully others find this helpful as well.
I was taught in school (albeit I never use the acronym anymore) to remember sharps by, "For Christmas Give Dad An Extra Buck", and then for flats remember the word "Bead" and then "Greatest Common Factor" (GCF).
wait what is all good boys desserve fudge?
Could you check out a pianist named seon Yong hwang? You should definitely listen to his Spanish fantasy or scherzo a la napolitana
Hey Matthew, great video!
One thing I appreciate about you is that you can be an expert in both classical playing, and music theory for things like playing worship music!
I’ve played piano for years but didn’t realize until I was an adult that I was not learning the theory portion of music. It makes playing more difficult pieces much worse to learn and maintain.
Do you have a suggestion on how to learn both sides of the coin, and what I should look for in a teacher that can help me do that? Someone like you haha!
0:42 something that I don’t know if people may have noticed, is how, whoever does that little head nod at the dissonance in that last chord really respects the piece, you just HAVE to
For Chopin, I think it would be definetly op. 10 no. 4, because like in Winterwind, you actually only have to learn the right hand and there is only one hard "tecnique". In Torrent, you have so many different technices mixed up together and you have to play all these at the same time. Also the left hand's line has to stay very clear. I played it when I was 12 (now I'm 13) and I think it's also musically very complicated. Overall I would say there is not a "Hardest Piece Ever" because it's depending on your own nature. Btw nice vid.
As a calcified 12 year old I can say that you just ruined all of my self esteem😂 you seriously played winter wind AT 12 (sorry if you can’t understand English is not my first language😅)
@@MesterMontana no is ok i unsterstand sry😅
@@MesterMontana btw as your excuse u can say im asian😅😂
@@xxninjaxx7995lol that makes sense😂
My favorite classical piece that's fairly difficult is Liebesleid by Fritz Kreisler, its SOOO good.
It is fairly a hard piece but what makes it hard is to interpret it emotionally ( your lie in april type shi )
@@urmommafatlmao real
the intro has used in a famous pop song from the 60s or 70s, I can't remember the name or time exactly.
Traum channel is the best of this
It's because it's a fake out, where it seems simple in the inrto of the song 'Winter Wind', but then suddenly becomes super complex.
need more videos like this, i love it
I’m glad you like them 😊
I really enjoyed this vid Matthew. I particularly like the way you break the pieces down and simplify them by showing the component parts. I’d love you to do this with one of my fav pieces, ‘Fleeting Smile’ by Roger Eno. A simple but very emotive piece.
Matthew, I have a technical question. I just started piano lessons and my teacher puts a big emphasis on my arm and finger alignment so I'm hyper aware now when I watch others. I noticed your fingers are really straight when you play, do you always play that way or is it just because your piano is sitting higher for the video?
Your teacher is right to do so! Early on in playing if you play with good technique then you can learn to be relaxed which will stop tension in the long term.
In answer to your question, it’s a combination of two things. Firstly, yes the height of the piano for the videos means my hand needs to adjust slightly to accommodate. Fortunately I only play at that height for the videos so the keys can be seen and the rest of the time I play at a normal height where I’m less restricted. Secondly the angle of the camera is facing straight towards my knuckles which means whatever bend there is in my fingers is quite hard to see 😊
I think when starting…making sure you don’t play in unusual positions is important because you don’t have a “normal” way that you play yet…but as time goes on, you will naturally play correctly as your default, so playing in unusual positions won’t add tension or ruin your technique forever 😊
@@matticawood that makes sense, thank you for answering!
Is that Andras Schiffs portait at the background?
I find Un Sospiro difficult also because you're not supposed to use much pedal, I've seen only few people who were able to actually play the melody using just legato, like Paul Barton
Could try to learn winter wind in 30 days and share your progress? I think that would make into a great video!
It’s a good idea..I’d have to do it for a performance or something though so there is something to aim for 😊
@@matticawood Yea! how about you do a digital concert? Like get a grand piano and stream it online. That could be insane!
I feel like the most insane piano pieces (not necessarily the most difficult) should probably be populated heavily by Alkan.
Though there may be a bit of overlap between that list and the most difficult pieces, because Alkan was an absolute mad lad.
he showed ballade 1 as one of the difficult pieces but that channel has a synthesia of ballade 4 which is undoubtedly way harder
he uploaded ballade 4 much later
No, most pianists that can play all the ballades say that 1 is the hardest
@@MakoDMusic An individual might find one harder than the other due to personal experiences. However, balladr 4 in general is a way harder piece compared with ballade 1.
Ballade 1 is only shown here due to it's popularity in the classical piano community. Hardly anyone here would recognize ballade 4 anyway
Scarbo by Ravel is probably one of most technically difficult pieces in the entire piano repertoire.
I would say hungarian rhapsody no. 2 Friska and Cadenza are difficult to play.
The bartok piano concerto is concidered the hardest. But also gaspard de la nuit
Opus 10 #2. Chopin Etude.
Something by Sorabji. Take your pick. That sh*t is wild.
Hi Matthew I love your reaction videos! :) Could you check out Hayato Sumino (Cateen)? He has a fantastic "7 Levels of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" video (among others) that I think you'd really appreciate!
for me the hardest piano piece is "death waltz" and i only know 1 guy that had played it
I think musical moment 4 and Rachmaninoff piano concerto 2 mvt.iii are probably some if the hardest. They're very technically and very musical.
Franz Liszt - Galop in A minor
I have not seen a human play this piece on recording yet. (In full)
17:16 the ending sounds similar to Winter Wind's ending
i'd love to see him react to some Phyxinon especially the marigold cover
Vika Yermolyeva's (vkgoeswild) arrangement of Muse's 'Bliss' . . . absolutely jaw-dropping : )
hey i have a question, how do you properly teach a piece that you have never studied or played especially if its as difficult as chopins 25 11
Hey, good question! Teaching the piano is a lot about methods of learning. So, how to approach a piece of music and practice, how to practice certain techniques that come up and how to interpret the music. All of this can be done without having played it. There also won’t be many techniques that a good teacher won’t have come across before.
When I look at pieces like the Chopin etudes, I can see what techniques are required, what the piece is trying to convey emotionally etc.
The only difference between a piece that I can play or have never played is the time spent drilling those things into my hands and memory. Instead of spending hours drilling them into my own hands and memory, I’m helping to drill them into someone else’s hands and memory.
So a teacher can understand exactly how to practice and interpret a piece, without spending the time to practice it into their hands. Most teachers at conservatoire level won’t have played most of the pieces they teach themselves…but they will read the piece and know what it means and how to practice it 😊
@@matticawood ooohh makes sense, its a bit challenging for a teacher to have played all the pieces their students are playing. I do think that if the teacher has studied the piece, they can teach it more effectively though! thank you!
Can you react to to most difficult piano pieces by lord vinheteiro?
Sure! Il check it out 😊
Awesome video as always =)
Thanks! 😊
@@matticawood no worries, I hope you forever continue posting entertaining and educational vids!
Learning prelude in G minor, just patient and slow practice
id say le preux by alkan is 100% one of the hardest (even tho its based on a lot of commonly used chords ofc)
Matthew by any chance do you know why Rousseau hasn’t been uploading I don’t expect u to know but I’m just wondering why he hasn’t
Maybe he realised he played worse than a midi instrument
@@tuturdudur crazy statement
great video
Good video mate👍
can you react to Tetris Theme but it gets harder and H A R D E R by Sheet Music Boss?
You got some big hands brother
Yay new upload
do your own top 10 list maybe some of the pieces you include could be liszt reminiscences de lucrezia borgia and his beethoven symphony no 9 transcription, alkan concerto and symphony for solo piano, godowsky/chopin etudes, mereaux etudes, feinberg and szymanowski sonatas
edit: forgot medtner sonatas
Those are lesser known works, but there are a lot of insane pieces like Sorabji’s that are just completely random notes with humanly possible technique. For that reason, it’s almost impossible to actually state a top 10 most difficult
@@chironchiron5053 yeah thats why i said everyone has a different list obv ik that sorabji has impossible pieces (more or less) but he couldnt play those pieces himself
@@zanoryxx4353 honest opinion that sorabji was a contemporary clown who just did the works for the sake of putting random notes.
@@chironchiron5053 sorabji music is well thought out and isn't random (unlike something like finnissy's Piano concerto 4) you just probably haven't listened to much of his stuff.
Check out these pieces from sorabji:
- in the hot house
- 3 pastiches for piano
- fantasie espagnole
Sorabji tends to cares more about creating "majestic" textures as opposed to creating melodies, telling a story, or evoking emotions. He makes the musical equivalent of horror vacui art.
@@billybobthekidiswack alright, I’ll check them out, thanks for your time. It’s just that in my opinion, some people like Sorabji might write ridiculously impossible or difficult things like Opus Clavicembalisticum, when only about 20 people recorded it. I don’t think anyone listens to it on a daily basis because it’s a wonderful work, I just think it’s just another contemporary work with random notes.
For those who wants to know, the 11th etude opus 25 is not difficult, if you practise enough, you ll be able to play it very fast...
I really dont know many songs that arent the same. I could apply this to the majority of the Chopin études, since they typically they train specific individual techniques but can you really take away from the difficulty because "you can play it well with practice". The only one I really would disagree with being on the list is Op. 10 No 5 since it's nutoriously one of the easier études and I don't think it belongs with the others but all of these are still difficult peices reguardless of how good you can get with practice. Some people wont be able to play these pieces if you get what I'm saying
insane content, fire bro 🔥🔥
Thanks 🙏
Feux follets
you should react to Player Piano
Some other possible contenders:
Conlon Nancarrow: Sonatina
Carl Vine: Piano Sonata No. 1 (possibly my favorite piano sonata of all time)
Beat Furrer: Spur
Gyorgi Ligeti: Etude for Piano No. 6 ("Autumn in Warsaw")
Outside of classical music (but sounding to me very much like a lost Ligeti etude) there's this stunning piece "Self Portrait" by Tigran Hamasyan: czcams.com/video/iPRgCSjQR0c/video.html
Can you please do more of Peter Bence's videos... Pleaseeee. With a lot of his videos together like you did in Peter Buka's reaction video. Please!!! 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
I can 😊
@@matticawood that would be great 👏😍
Oh come on. What a hackneyed lineup. Even sticking to within this period take your pick of any of Liszt's Transcendental Etudes, pretty much Alkan's entire repertoire or, hell, even Beethoven's Hammerklavier.
Please react to Bartok solo piece
Hello ! Can you inspect Eric C piano man ? He got some good techniques and is pretty good to see 😁 have a good evening
In some Zelda interpretations, like fairy mountains
I wonder why the Chopin ballade is only ranked an 8/9 in terms of difficulty on the Henle website. It’s very difficult…
Henle giving false hope to many pianists 😂
@@matticawood You mentioned that the coda was harder than the winter wind, and the winter wind is actually ranked a 9 😂😭
Henle isn’t reliable, nor ar any other difficulty ranking systems
Ballade No.1?
Speaking for myself, of course it is not as hard as Winter Wind.
The most difficult Ballade by far is No.4.
@@peterchan6082 ballade 1 is definitely harder
'Difficulty' is subjective, these lists are largely pointless. Make a mistake in the opening chords of Beethoven 4th Concerto or in the tolling bells of 'Le Gibet' in Gaspard de La Nuit and everyone notices. You can be playing Sorabji entirely wrong and no-one will care but the player (and even that's arguable).
Anyway, I'll give an unranked 10 solo pieces that spring to mind, purely based on technique / virtuosity required
Messiaen Vingt Regards sur L'Enfant Jesus
Villa-Lobos Rudepoema
Liszt Tr. Etude "Feux Follets"
Rachmaninov 1st Sonata in D minor
Rachmaninov 2nd Sonata (the first edition, 1913)
Beethoven Op 106 in Bb Sonata - "Hammerklavier"
The two books of Paganini Etudes by Brahms
Any of the Liszt operatic transcriptions like Totentanz, Don Juan, etc
Alkan Le Festin d'Esope
Leopold Godowskys Transcriptions of the Chopin Etudes
No one pianist didn't play hardest piece in the history - etudes d'execution transcendante d'apres paganini, S. 140, 4b, "Arpeggio"
Winter wind is easy in comparison to prokofiev toccata lol
I dream of playing Chopin's Ballade and will work hard to get there. I'm open to advice for those to help me. I've only been playing for 5 months and have learnt the 1st Movement of Moonlight Sonata and halfway through Gymnopedie no.1.
In a comment on their video "Top 10 Most Difficult Piano Pieces" Rousseau gives a more realistic top 10 pieces, and that they just cater their videos to the CZcams algorithm.
The Chopin Etude isn't that difficult, I sight read it at half tempo when I first was learning it then had it down in about 2 months, rhythmically it drives itself forward. I'd say Pastorale Jazz Etude is much more rhythmically and technique.
Can try helldivers 2 thame?
try to see ravel la valse on piano or mephisto waltz
Where are Liszt's Feux Follets, and Chopin's B minor Sonata Op.58?
You have any tips on how to create your own music piano wise
Use structure to tell a story! Build to a big moment about 2/3rds the way through and repeat ideas but develop them so that it feels familiar, but interesting 😊
Opus clavicembalisticum
neat stuff
0:12 ahh yes my CASUAL training
- sun tzu
Hey Matthew, I would love to see your reaction to another channel called Phyxinon and his piano covers for a rhythm game called Deemo :) Marigold, Entrance and ANiMA, would be what I consider the most difficult pieces he's played (and also his most viewed ones). Otherwise would love to hear your thoughts on his skills as a pianist :D
Anything that you'd heard from Marc Andre-Hamelin but not from (much) anyone else would qualify, e.g. Alkan
Please react to Traum
*ahem* synaphaï *ahem* piano phase *ahem* klavierstuck x *ahem* english country tunes
Printing the sheet music for these pieces emptied my printer of ink :(
Well today is gonna be a good day.
Rachmaninoff pieces will satisfy your “insane hardestbpieces”
All these Chopin Etudes on these lists, yet you never see Godowsky's studies on Chopin's Etudes. I'm not even a pianist and those works make my hands cramp just looking at the sheet music.
React zimerman chopin ballade 1
where is rush e?
Could you please react to super Mario bros melody by BGH music? Just a suggestion not trying to be rude at all❤.
Please react to if I am with you from jujutsu Kaisen 😭🙏
check this out 16:31
So it becomez unRavel-ed?!
This is really just s channel for kids/people who arent into classical music. There are already enough videos for the hardest pieces for solo piano before 1900. As for after the 1900s, i just made the hardest piece on my laptop an hour ago...