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difficulty level confusion

Repertoire: how do they classify pieces?

From Pratik Desai
Posted January 31, 2005 at 05:53 AM

hi all,
i had a question and was wondering if anyone had some insight- i've noticed, with all the discussions of difficulty levels of pieces, that some websites/resources tend to put certain concertos in the easier levels, while others put them in the harder levels- i've especially noticed this with the mozart concertos, haydn, bruch, and kabalevsky, among others... how do they "classify" these levels- is there a rubric, and is there a certain resource that is accepted over most, or is it just an opinion thing? thanks,
-pratik

From John Lanceley
Posted on February 1, 2005 at 04:44 AM

I would suspect that the more black ink there is on the page, the more technically difficult the piece is.

From Henry Liao
Posted on February 1, 2005 at 05:04 AM

Technically...
but musically
I'd say paganini is easier than tchaikovsky :D

The balance between technical and musical difficulty is quite subjective.

From Nick Bleisch
Posted on February 1, 2005 at 06:35 AM

There are lots of different classifications of levels of pieces. ASTA levels are based on technique, position, bow techniques, etc. The concerti you mention I'm getting the impression are the bridge concerti to the BIG ROMANTIC concerti like the Tchaikovsky and Beethoven and Brahms. I was just looking up things in my handy Royal Conservatory of Music syllabus and they list the Kabalevsky, Bruch, Mozart D, Spohr and Viotti at level 10, right before Performer's level which is where they have the BIG concerti.

From Nick Bleisch
Posted on February 1, 2005 at 06:38 AM

By the way, one violinist's difficulty is another one's piece of cake. We each have different strengths and weaknesses so that means that the levels are not one size fits all. Also, in some syllabi, only the first and second movements are mentioned. That could make a huge difference! I'm looking at that Bruch 3rd movement and listened to Accardo play it last night and that has got to be a level up (at least) from the first two movements.

From One-Sim Lam
Posted on February 1, 2005 at 05:21 PM

I agree with Henry, the word difficulty applied to music has different meanings. There is the technique issue to do with it-lots of notes and various hard techniques such as difficult chords. Pieces that you would often relate to Paginnini.
Then there's the musical aspect to it and how to make it interesting and always engaging the audience, though it not necessary be difficult technique wise to play. For example, Mozart in technique is not that hard to play but to make it always sound interesting is very challenging;as I am experiencing with a current Mozart piano sonata-I can't make it Mozartish!!!!

One-Sim

From John Lanceley
Posted on February 1, 2005 at 09:29 PM

Whoaah - I just heard some old bones turning over in a grave in Genoa!
Its spelt Paganini.

From Henry Liao
Posted on February 2, 2005 at 06:15 AM

You sure he's in his grave ;-) ?

Yes, Perlman's current tour repertoire includes Mozart Sonatas :)

From John Lanceley
Posted on February 3, 2005 at 01:21 AM

Last time I looked

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