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.
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
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!
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.
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.
a lot of the "truly hardest pieces" sound really bad (conventionally). people want it to be technically impressive *_and_* audibly satisfying. The "hardest pieces", for most people, must adhere to those stipulations in order to qualify.
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
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 ❤
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
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!
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?
thnx for uploading this pianocontent, love it, and your explanations are very good and v-well thought thru, and of cos the showcasing the pieces...keep up the good work! greetings from Norway
Winter Wind and Black Keys etudes are not the same difficulty at all imo. The Black Keys falls quite nicely into your fingers and is also more intuitive while Winterfall is the opposite and quite a nightmare to memorise due to its sometimes awkward chromatic patterns.
Black keys difficulty is imo in accuracy, because you need to adjust to just press black keys most of the time, not to mention black keys are smaller and wider apart Winter Wind, looks complicated at first, but when your muscle memory begin to work its magic learning its pattern imo it'll be kinda easy since the appregio jumps aren't that wide, Waterfall and sunshine on the other hand tho, even tho its patterns are much simpler than winter wind, the appregio jumps are much wider and it's kinds a challenge to be able to play it especially if you got small hands/fingers...
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 UA-cam algorithm.
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.
I actually played un sospiro when I was 13-14, and it is really really hard to concentrate sometimes on the interpretation when you are busy trying to play the right notes xD
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).
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.
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 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 would definitely say Scriabin's sonata 4 and 5 could be some of the most difficult pieces but I'd also say english country tunes by michael finissy is probably the most challenging piece I could name but atonal music feels quite separated from more traditional classical music and I find it hard to compare difficulty when they would require such different skills to be able to play
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 know it is 2 months ago but i learned jesus joy man's of desiring from indeed Johann Sebastian Bach that apollo covered in the time on piano man was that a hard song to learn even if you know that it is originally created for church choir. big greatz from Belgium.
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
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!
how about revolutionary etude godowsky version? if we're talking about some insane piano pieces i think of some jazz like art tatum and fats waller etc. those with big chords ..bigger hands gets so many advantage
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!
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 😊
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: ua-cam.com/video/iPRgCSjQR0c/v-deo.html
Rousseau is a channel I really enjoy. You should never be dramatic. ;-) Oh, wait! I have a better idea, if you haven't already done it. How about YOU come up with your most difficult pieces list, and demonstrate some of it. We are not the ones getting paid for this.
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.
None of these pieces are intermediate level for a classical pianist to even technically play let alone if you were to try and get them up to performance standard, they all require very good technique and a high level of musicality to play. An intermediate pianist is nowhere near this level of playing and would take years for them to achieve such pieces at a good standard. You are underestimating the difficulty of these pieces.
3:08 Chopin turns a corner and a magician turns out to be Nicola Tesla and he shows chopin a wind blower that blows chopin away slowly and Tesla magically disappears
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.
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 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
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.
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
I was waiting for something like Balakirev - Islamey as my top choice for the most difficult piece, would you care to comment on it? :D Also Rach 3 but that's a piano concerto so I don't know if I would put them in the same category.
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.
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.
Always look forward to a new Matthew Cawood vid!
very interesting, would like to hear about your hardest pieces!
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!
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.
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.
a lot of the "truly hardest pieces" sound really bad (conventionally). people want it to be technically impressive *_and_* audibly satisfying. The "hardest pieces", for most people, must adhere to those stipulations in order to qualify.
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
Genius way of writing music. It gets me every time
Your channel is growing man! I remember a while ago it being 50k, 20k more is an incredible achievement
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 ❤
2:56 to go into huh?
Brooo... 💀
😂😂😂😂
.
Get him, lads!!!
Cheeky… very cheeky 😂
Chopin's ballade no. 1 is one of those pieces where I could spend an entire lifetime trying to learn it and would feel like it was worth it
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
Was Waiting for this, thanks
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!
These pieces are definitely more "epic" than "insane". They're all on my to play list as a hobbyist.
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?
thnx for uploading this pianocontent, love it, and your explanations are very good and v-well thought thru, and of cos the showcasing the pieces...keep up the good work! greetings from Norway
0:13 sounds like At The Speed of Light - Dimrain47 (Bloodbath song)
True
Is this a geometry dash reference?
geometry dash brain
@@yourcommentisntfunnyv2709 oh shiii really? It’s not like I make Gd content 🤣
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
could you make a video on what music we should learn in order to get good fast please
Could you check out a pianist named seon Yong hwang? You should definitely listen to his Spanish fantasy or scherzo a la napolitana
need more videos like this, i love it
I’m glad you like them 😊
Winter Wind and Black Keys etudes are not the same difficulty at all imo. The Black Keys falls quite nicely into your fingers and is also more intuitive while Winterfall is the opposite and quite a nightmare to memorise due to its sometimes awkward chromatic patterns.
Black keys difficulty is imo in accuracy, because you need to adjust to just press black keys most of the time, not to mention black keys are smaller and wider apart
Winter Wind, looks complicated at first, but when your muscle memory begin to work its magic learning its pattern imo it'll be kinda easy since the appregio jumps aren't that wide,
Waterfall and sunshine on the other hand tho, even tho its patterns are much simpler than winter wind, the appregio jumps are much wider and it's kinds a challenge to be able to play it especially if you got small hands/fingers...
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 UA-cam algorithm.
Traum channel is the best of this
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.
I actually played un sospiro when I was 13-14, and it is really really hard to concentrate sometimes on the interpretation when you are busy trying to play the right notes xD
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
Oui oui
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?
Please react to Hungarian Rhapsody, Turkish March Volodos Version and also the Flight of the Bumble Bee version that Yuja Wang Played in her concert
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.
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😂
25/6 is harder for sure
All well said. So now I am curious, what would you say is the most difficult songs to play?
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.
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.
Rousseau is very talented!
The bartok piano concerto is concidered the hardest. But also gaspard de la nuit
I would definitely say Scriabin's sonata 4 and 5 could be some of the most difficult pieces but I'd also say english country tunes by michael finissy is probably the most challenging piece I could name but atonal music feels quite separated from more traditional classical music and I find it hard to compare difficulty when they would require such different skills to be able to play
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.
Awesome video as always =)
Thanks! 😊
@@matticawood no worries, I hope you forever continue posting entertaining and educational vids!
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!
That's my first time hearing Etude - wasn't that melody _slightly_ modified and used in pink floyd's the wall? It seems remarkably similar.
17:50 faerie’s aire and DEATH WALTZ
Good video mate👍
Vika Yermolyeva's (vkgoeswild) arrangement of Muse's 'Bliss' . . . absolutely jaw-dropping : )
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.
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!
insane content, fire bro 🔥🔥
Thanks 🙏
i know it is 2 months ago but i learned jesus joy man's of desiring from indeed Johann Sebastian Bach that apollo covered in the time on piano man was that a hard song to learn even if you know that it is originally created for church choir. big greatz from Belgium.
Yay new upload
Prokofiev Toccata op11 is pretty savage imo.
Is that Andras Schiffs portait at the background?
i'd love to see him react to some Phyxinon especially the marigold cover
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
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!
Scarbo by Ravel is probably one of most technically difficult pieces in the entire piano repertoire.
0:13 Um what the ffffffff-saved myself there. What pieces is that?!! 0:13
I would say hungarian rhapsody no. 2 Friska and Cadenza are difficult to play.
great video
how about revolutionary etude godowsky version?
if we're talking about some insane piano pieces i think of some jazz like art tatum and fats waller etc. those with big chords ..bigger hands gets so many advantage
the intro has used in a famous pop song from the 60s or 70s, I can't remember the name or time exactly.
17:16 the ending sounds similar to Winter Wind's ending
You got some big hands brother
5:27
Everyone: "IT'S VERY HARD, SIX MONTH TO PRACTICE!"
This guy: "Lemme try" *starts cooking in first try*
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
No, it’s from composer Frederic Chopin
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!
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 😊
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: ua-cam.com/video/iPRgCSjQR0c/v-deo.html
Lisitsa slaps a nice Rachmaninoff Prelude in g minor op. 23 #5
What guitar hero is this one ??
you should react to Player Piano
id say le preux by alkan is 100% one of the hardest (even tho its based on a lot of commonly used chords ofc)
Rousseau is a channel I really enjoy. You should never be dramatic. ;-) Oh, wait!
I have a better idea, if you haven't already done it. How about YOU come up with your most difficult pieces list, and demonstrate some of it. We are not the ones getting paid for this.
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
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.
None of these pieces are intermediate level for a classical pianist to even technically play let alone if you were to try and get them up to performance standard, they all require very good technique and a high level of musicality to play. An intermediate pianist is nowhere near this level of playing and would take years for them to achieve such pieces at a good standard. You are underestimating the difficulty of these pieces.
neat stuff
Can you react to to most difficult piano pieces by lord vinheteiro?
Sure! Il check it out 😊
You try and look at the B. Peterson “As the cherry blossoms fly piece.” It’s beyond insane, and he claims it’s only meant for him to play correctly. 😂
Winter wind is easy in comparison to prokofiev toccata lol
15:30 all of the quarter notes are smiling :)
😀
3:08 Chopin turns a corner and a magician turns out to be Nicola Tesla and he shows chopin a wind blower that blows chopin away slowly and Tesla magically disappears
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.
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 👏😍
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
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.
Feux follets
Can try helldivers 2 thame?
try to see ravel la valse on piano or mephisto waltz
The whole time he was playing:
🎹 😬 🎶
Opus 10 #2. Chopin Etude.
for me the hardest piano piece is "death waltz" and i only know 1 guy that had played it
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
I was waiting for something like Balakirev - Islamey as my top choice for the most difficult piece, would you care to comment on it? :D Also Rach 3 but that's a piano concerto so I don't know if I would put them in the same category.
Where are Liszt's Feux Follets, and Chopin's B minor Sonata Op.58?
When will you listen to tigran hamasyan
Anything that you'd heard from Marc Andre-Hamelin but not from (much) anyone else would qualify, e.g. Alkan
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
0:12 ahh yes my CASUAL training
- sun tzu