William Kapell

[Tegan]

I recently got one of William Kapell's CDs. This one is a recording of Rachmaninioff's 3rd piano concerto. I have heard that this is the hardest piece ever written for piano. Is this true? What do people think of William Kapell?

[Amalie]

Originally posted by Tegan:
I recently got one of William Kapell's CDs. This one is a recording of Rachmaninioff's 3rd piano concerto. I have heard that this is the hardest piece ever written for piano. Is this true? What do people think of William Kapell?

I have read that Prokofiev's Piano concerto no.2 is a difficult piece to play,
The first and last movements have substantial cadenzas for piano solo and the first is one of the most difficult passages ever written for piano.

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~ Courage, so it be righteous, will gain all things ~

[Peter]

There are many contenders for 'most difficult' but it is all relative - to some 'Fur Elise' will be impossibly hard and to others the Hammerklavier sonata easy!

Yes the Rach 3 is formidably difficult but there are many others such as the highly eccentric Kaikosru Sorabji's fiendish Opus Clavicembalisticum; this almost 4 hour long work was completed in 1929–30, and first performed by Sorabji himself. The composer did not allow it to be performed again until the late 1970's.

Alkan's Op. 39 studies - perhaps the finest Alkan interpreter was the late Ronald Smith.
Or how about Godowsky's arrangement of the Chopin Etudes which make the original seem like child's play!

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'Man know thyself'

[This message has been edited by Peter (edited 12-28-2004).]

[Vipercat]

The Rach 3 is hailed as one of the most difficult piano works ever, and it hads been calculated that the energy expenditure of the pianist during the performance is the equivalent of burning several hundreds of kilograms of coal!!

But you know what, there are works I consider to be harder to play not because of their technical demands, but simply because to EXPRESS the music correctly is so difficult! That is a real art in itself. Take the opening chord of Beethoven's 4th Piano concerto (1st mvt). It is very, very difficult to get the desired effect.

[Sorrano]

Originally posted by Amalie:
I have read that Prokofiev's Piano concerto no.2 is a difficult piece to play,
The first and last movements have substantial cadenzas for piano solo and the first is one of the most difficult passages ever written for piano.

After having looked at the score I would have to second this. It looks incredibly hard!

[urtextmeister]

I have a theory about this.

I think there is a direct correlation between the practical difficulties of a piece and the number of performances it receives.
I have only heard one live performance of the Prokofiev #2 and the pianist had the score tucked inside the piano just in case...
The 1st and 3rd concertos are often played and are very effective. I have seen and heard many wonderful performances.
Rachmaninoff #2 is done to death. It is not terribly difficult in relation to most romantic concertos. #3 is not done as often, but it performed and recorded a fair amount. I would guess the difficulties are not insurmountable.

Godowsky's reworkings of the etudes are very rarely performed, but the few that I have heard did not strike me as great music. That, of course, would be the best recipe for oblivion: extreme difficulty and low musical interest.

I wonder if pianists, sort of like olympic athletes, get better as demands increase. Some pieces like the Chopin Etudes were probably considered hugely difficult at the time of publication. Now, just about every pianist plays them. I went to a recital once and the pianist announced that he would play some Chopin Etudes for his encores. Any ones we chose. I tried to stump him, but couldn't. He played them flawlessly. And he wasn't even a well-known pianist. Just an aspiring youngster.

[Sorrano]

Originally posted by urtextmeister:
I have a theory about this.

I think there is a direct correlation between the practical difficulties of a piece and the number of performances it receives.
I have only heard one live performance of the Prokofiev #2 and the pianist had the score tucked inside the piano just in case...
The 1st and 3rd concertos are often played and are very effective. I have seen and heard many wonderful performances.
Rachmaninoff #2 is done to death. It is not terribly difficult in relation to most romantic concertos. #3 is not done as often, but it performed and recorded a fair amount. I would guess the difficulties are not insurmountable.

The Gina Bachauer competition features the Rachmaninoff 3rd as one of the finalist options. I've heard it a few times in the course of my attendance years ago.

[Tegan]

Originally posted by Sorrano:

The Gina Bachauer competition features the Rachmaninoff 3rd as one of the finalist options. I've heard it a few times in the course of my attendance years ago.

Did you compete in the Gina Bachauer competition? Do you by any chance know Alec Chien? He is my piano teacher, and he is an amazing pianist, as well as a winderful teacher. He won the competition in 1986 (I think), and is sometimes on the panel of judges.
Thanks for everyone's responses. They have been very helpful!

[Sorrano]

Originally posted by Tegan:

Did you compete in the Gina Bachauer competition? Do you by any chance know Alec Chien? He is my piano teacher, and he is an amazing pianist, as well as a winderful teacher. He won the competition in 1986 (I think), and is sometimes on the panel of judges.
Thanks for everyone's responses. They have been very helpful!

I might have competed if the competition were a comedy. I am but a novice as a pianist. The name Chien sounds familiar to me. It is possible that I might have heard him play during the '86 competition but I do not remember many details back then, at least in regards to my musical experiences.

[Ellery]

The dificulty is always an interenting topic. If you look at the first measures of the concerto you will not see anything imposible, but when you turn the page you will have in front of you one of the most dificult piano works because of many reasons. Tecnically is very very hard to play: full cords, very open arpegios, hard tonalities, the ritmic (eight notes against 5 in the other hand... its just an example), the speed in general, everything about this concerto is hard, and withouth the correct technic and teacher you will probably never play it or get very serious injuries like tindonitis.

Then you have the problem of learn it. Because of the style this concerto modulates all the time and have a very free structure, its also very large. If you dont have the right school preparation you will take a lot of time to learn it.

In third place you will face the orchestra. Rachmanninov was a very good composer, and in this piano concerto teach us how to do a concerto in the right way. The interaction between the piano and the orchestra is constant and hard. You probable want to play many other concertos with the orchestra, or to do many many chamber music to have the preparation to face this concerto with the orchestra.

Finally, the hardest part: the expression part. Find the correct touch to the first measures is very very hard as somebody says about the first cord of the 4 Beetho. Make the auditorium heard all what you want to say is allways the hardest part of the music, and this concerto is very hard in this aspect. This concerto have a very deep content and will probably afect you in your most deep feelings.

This are the reasons because I think this is the most dificult piano concerto of all... Its just my opinion and I'm just a student.

[urtextmeister]

William Kappell was a great pianist who died at an early age. He died in a plane crash and I remember hearing a story about a trial being held to decide if there was negligence on the part of the airline(?). In support of Kappell, all the attorney did was play his recording of the Schubert Ab impromptu op. 142.

Am I getting this story right at all? Anyone know?

I have a recording of him playing "Nights in the Gardens of Spain" and it is very beautiful, but he comes in wrong at one point, stops, and then comes in at the right place. I always enjoy hearing great artists screw up. Makes me realize we are all human...

[Sorrano]

There is a release of the complete Kappell recordings that I happened upon at a tremendous discount (I don't recall how much, now, but it was a good price). It's been awhile since I listened to the music but maybe I'll have to listen again. I'm sure the boxed set is available still.