The most difficult sequence of piano music….maybe ever (ft. Nikolai Lugansky)

There are many contenders for which sequence in the piano literature is most difficult: Hammerklavier fugue, Schumann Fantasie coda, Brahms Paganini variation 14, Liszt Norma climax, Scarbo midpoint, Petrouchka climax.

I would argue that Albéniz’s Iberia is the pinnacle of pianistic difficulty - and this is nowhere more the case than in Triana, the final piece of book 2. The middle section is just about the most disorienting thing one can possibly imagine - insane hand configurations that leap up and down the piano and over each other, all while having to maintain the clear and elegant melody while the accompanimental figures and filigree are kept light and elegant. Lugansky makes this look doable, though to get a sense of just how difficult it is one must look to a less great recording, like that is available of the great Barenboim on YouTube who played it less than ideally. De Larrocha's performance reigns supreme for me, but this video of Lugansky focuses on his hands in a way that lets one appreciate the insane gymnastics that must go into maintaining the illusion of this section: clear melody with dancing figures.

[tiqlzse]

There was a time when this song came out as a korea music college entrance exam song, and I remember that all the students were in agony.

[brospore]

Great vid and channel, what a brilliant concept of focusing in on one passage comparing all the open source material. Keep it up.

[christophera]

Such a beautiful passage. I don't know how many times I have listened to it.

[seanfogarty]

Have played Triana, and once you've got your head around it, it's fine (as in, it's easy to remember where you're going). It's just awkward as all hell - it never gets comfortable.

[christofjoubert]

I actually found that in some respects the F# major section at the end was harder, especially if one does not redistribute. Having said that, this part is still pretty scary

[sqrti]

This is something you'd still need some luck to completely pull off even after practicing it 10 hrs a day for a month.

[anoukimusic]

Triana is my favourite from this suite, and yes it is incredibly difficult!

[jerry_moo]

And then there's the Godowsky paraphrase of this piece...

[benharmonics]

Triana is hard, but I think Lavapies is the hardest. I haven't played any of Iberia, I only say this because Alicia de Larrocha does an amazing job with Triana, but not such a great job with Lavapies. Not that I could do better, obviously 😂

[mcintertz]

This is very hard no doubt, especially at the tempo Lugansky takes it, it’s a lot more forgiving with rubato which works well with the music. However, I don’t think it’s as bad as petroushka though, or even other parts of Iberia (lavapiez as mentioned by another). But at this elite tier difficulty it’s all subjective. Also nice name - Argerich Stan - we do Stan.

[CamilleBraiki]

Triana is horribly difficult but I think Alkan’s concerto for solo piano is even harder…

[SabatSch]

Unbelievably difficult, no doubt... but also nowhere near "the" most difficult piece ever written.

[GingerIndiana]

Triana is hard to learn but once you know it, it's kind of OK. It just stays uncomfortable music if you're not Spanish (and I'm not...). I think there are a few bars in Prokofiev 7th sonata which are really insane regarding technical diffulty.

[michaeledwards]

You mention several piano works by Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Liszt, Ravel, Stravinsky as the principal contenders for containing the most difficult passages in all piano music. You then opine that "Triana" from Iberia trumps them all.
You don't think that certain passages in Godowsky, Sorabji, Feinberg, Roslavets, for example, exceed even these. Perhaps even more extreme are several piano concertos by Ferneyhough, which can be seen on YouTube, with the scores showing, but listening and attempting to correlate what I was hearing with the score, I could barely relate them at all - the score looked impossible at the required tempo, and I wonder if the pianist was just improvising, attempting to approximate what the score says.
I would sooner attempt to learn any of the pieces you named than any of the less known composers I just named. Of course none of these are usually considered to be standard repertoire, so were you considerinly only standard repertoire in searching for the most difficult piano music of all?

[Hitherto]

I've got two words for you:

Mereaux Etudes.

[donaldallen]

There’s a video of Daniel Barenboim playing Triana on YouTube. He is obviously struggling. How Alicia deLarrocha did what she did in this music is a complete mystery. Marc-Andre Hamelin told me that learning Iberia almost killed him. Is there a more perfect technique before the public today than Marc’s? I don’t think so.

[BenSadounJeremie]

I can’t define if this is triana or lavapies which is the most difficult piece of Iberia. What do you think ?

[peter.]

There are a few pieces that I'll say I cannot play, and this is one of them. I tried, and nope. Just a whole lot of NOPE. Granados's Goyescas Los Requiebros is pretty damned hard too, and is another beast I've never been able to play well.

[smalltown]

I can do that no problem, and I can do Chopsticks too.

[jessicaeskebk]

Oh boy, wait until I tell you about contemporary piano compositions