So if you're looking for the most difficult piece you've ever played (technically that is) well then look no further than Liszt's Reminiscences on Don Juan. You need super human powers to play this. Kind of like Goku who is hovering in the picture above. Who wants to mess with that guy? Reading through Don Juan is not only impossible, it's depressing. When Alex tried to learn this piece he ruined his right hand. You know Alex right? His last name was Scriabin. Anyways, as a result all of Alex's compositions contain left hand passages that are twice as hard as the right hand. Thanks Franz. I must say that despite the technical difficulties, if you can pull it off some jaws may drop, so do it. The only person who I have seen play this that doesn't break a sweat is Lang Lang (in Carnegie). I think it has something to do with the way he practices. Check it out:
Watch Lang Lang Gone Mad!!
Let me carry on. Well, the 3 books of pilgrimage have great music. There are some really great compositions, but let's face it, Franz rocks the house with his sonata. This B minor massacre is a one of a kind. I don't care if Clara and her crazy husband didn't like it, it's on the top of my list of pieces I plan to do in the next 5 years, right up there with Rachmaninov's Second Sonata and the Barber Piano Sonata. Up until this point in piano literature, there might not be a more unstoppable piece. I think that Luigi Beethoven's Appasionata comes close. From the form he used to the harmonic tension, it is not only his greatest work, but the greatest work of the 19th Century piano literature. Just like Luigi he uses many small motives that are twisted and turned until the whole composition closes with a whisper. It's said that Brahms fell asleep when he first heard it. I find that funny because Brahm's slow movement from the f minor sonata is a piece I use to fall asleep. Whatever. . .I like it.
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