Is This the Toughest Piano Piece? | Balakirev - Islamey | Classical Music Reaction 

Actually it was considered the hardest piano piece by many pianists at the time! Until Ravel came along several decades later - he wrote that he was in the process of composing a piece he thought would be even harder than Islamey. And then he dropped... Gaspard de la Nuit :))

8:55--It is a really full page of notes, but the pianist is playing only half of it. You'll notice the 1st and 3rd piano staves are smaller than the 2nd and 4th. The smaller staves an "ossia", or alternative, which is just a different arrangement of the notes. Piano composers, particularly in the 19th century, would write ossias, usually to make the part easier or harder, so the pianist can choose which one to play.

This piece really sounds amazing arranged for orchestra. You should check it out too.

It IS tough -- and a virtuoso showpiece that can thrill audiences. No doubt about that. But there are plenty of more difficult works that present musical and other challenges (Beethoven's late sonatas, esp Op. 106, and the Diabelli Variations; Brahms Paganini Variations; Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit; etc. But for me, perhaps the "hardest" to play accurately (notes, durations, rests, dynamics, tempi, etc.) and to memorize and to communicate with to an audience would be Xenakis's "Herma." Listen to its INSANE last 30 or so seconds! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-R7x8_6TE8JI.html

Mily Balakirev (1837-1910) - great Russian composer. He was the leader of a group of Russian composers known as "The Mighty Five" (or just "The Five"). Among these composers, you also previously reacted to the compositions of Modest Mussorgsky and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (I don’t remember whether you listened to compositions from Alexander Borodin and Cesar Cui). "The Mighty Five" set as their goal the creation of Russian national music, but each composer also composed music on other themes. Interestingly, they all had some compositions based on “Eastern” motifs (Middle East, India, East Asia) (in general, such music is classified as “Orientalism” style). For example, Mily Balakirev wrote a number of compositions based on Caucasian musical motifs (musical motifs of the peoples who lived in the Caucasus Mountains region, in southern Russia). Therefore, the tune that sounded at 1:39 might seem familiar to you - it was taken from a traditional Caucasian dance. By the way, speaking of “eastern” Russian music. I remember that you did a reaction to Rimsky-Korsakov’s "Scheherazade", which you really liked. But you made a reaction to only two of the four parts of this symphonic suite. More than a year has passed since then (you did that reaction in January 2023). In addition, you began to make longer videos more often. Can you make a new reaction to the full suite, with your more experienced ears? ))) As a fan of this suite, I can recommend this version of the performance for the future reaction. It is very good in terms of tempo and melody performance (and good sound quality of course) - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MpZ7jLpA5yg.html

t sounds like the end of'Sheherezade'. Still reccommending Janacek Sinfonietta.

It is not the most difficult., but Ravel's "gaspard de la nuit" is the most difficult but also one of the greatest pieces ever written.

Sh*t’s nice and all but give Sonetto del patrarca 104 by Liszt a try

awesome! if you like balakirev, i suggest his second piano sonata. just a hidden gem. i especially love the last movement (:

It is highly difficult, but not even close to being the hardest. Not even in the romantic era.

Would love to hear some medtner Any of his sonatas ! Especially sonata tragica

Check yuja wang playing ravel's la valse

I think this piece is definitely hard but not really enjoyable to listen to, and prolly not play lmao. I've got some piece recommendations too; please listen to Schubert-Liszt Ave Maria, and Yunchan Lim playing both Chopin La Ci Darem Le Mano, and Beethoven Eroica variations! Been a longtime sub, love the clsssical reactions.

I like pieces like this. They're just fun

nah dude you are not exaggerating this is actually one of the hardest pieces in the piano repertoire. And in fact, ravel took that fact personally and feel attacked so he composed a piece named "gaspard de la nuit". Which is again one of the hardest pieces in the piano repertoire. Well this piece is actually a suit, so there is multiple movements in the piece but the last movement (named as "scarbo") is the hardest movement in the piece AND in the WHOLE piano repertoire. You should react to that piece, especially that movement

alongside with gaspard de la nuit, this is considered to be one of the most diffucult piano pieces. You have already reacted to gaspard de la nuit by ravel, and I would love to see a revision of this piece, since you've been quite sceptical back then and it would be interesting to see how your thoughts may have changed. I recommend grosvenor's recording

Hey Gidi, great watch 😊 I find Islamey to be one of those pieces which can be played in a wide variety of different ways yet still be effective if played well. Many really good recordings sound quite different from each other in tempo, volume, contrasts etc

As a pianist, this is a nightmare. But hearing someone pull it off is magic. Respect for all that practice sheesh 👏

Can you react to Bach's harpsichord concerto D minor? (Bwv 1052) It's so metalic and so beautiful!

Thank you 😊😊😊 i love your content can you react to Liszt Reminiscense De Lucrezia Borgia ??? ❤❤

Back than it maybe was the toughes piece. Nowadays I would say it's in the Top 25 of the most toughest piano pieces. Ravels Scarbo is more challenging, Stravinskys Petrushka Suite of course, many of the Godowsky arrangments of Chopins Etudes for example must be insanely hard to play and so one.

Yo I recommend Schubert fantasy in c major for violin. Yura lees is beautiful. W piece

Hey Gidi! I wanted to leave a suggestion for a piece to listen to, its the ligeti cello sonata. Hope you're gonna appreciate it!

That's a question for pianists in the audience, though it sounds like a hard piece to play

8:55 If you look closely the top bars are smaller which means it's an Ossia, the composer is giving two options for the player to choose.

Gidi u should listen to Saint Saens 2nd piano concerto, ur gonna love it. Trust

Extremely hard, or not so hard, it’s a nice piece to listen to. 😊

Gave it a second chance...heard better.

hi 😉

Islamey is certainly one of the tougher pieces, at any rate. The composer couldn't play it. The difficulty is that it's not exactly 'pianistic'...it's quite awkward to perform. To my ear, there are Alkan pieces considerably harder, and then there are things like Sorabji that are harder still.

Hammerklagier is harder imo

You should re-listen Beethoven 7th Symphony, in any decent performance, but I recommend Szell's, it's magnificent. That Klemperer version you listened to was horrid. The difference between them is a universe. Generally, Szell is a good choice no matter what he's conducting, but his Beethoven is special.