Taking on Ravel

At Charles' suggestion, it is appropriate that the first posts be about Gaspard de la Nuit.  Having just got back from a very successful trip to perform and study at the 2012 Internationales Klavierfestival Lindlar, I took it into my head that I could learn any piece in the world, whatever I wanted.  Talking with Falko, my piano teacher at the University of New Mexico, Gaspard de la Nuit came up.  Here goes nothing! I bought the Henle edition in Cologne and set to work right away because I didn't have enough to do already with preparing for my first international piano competition, the brand-new International Keyboard Odyssiad and Festival in Fort Collins, which takes place in 10 days.  I need to get back to practicing pretty soon, but I wanted to set the stage for learning Gaspard.

It's a composition by Maurice Ravel, about 30 minutes, I believe, written at least in part with the purpose of creating the most difficult piano piece yet.   Balakirev's Islamey, the final revision having been published in 1902, was all the rage in European concert halls during the early years of the 20th century because it was considered (not without good reason) to be the hardest piece for piano.  Ravel published his Gaspard de la Nuit in 1908.  While it's tough to say definitively which pieces are the most technically challenging, you can still say with confidence that piano music doesn't get more difficult than Gaspard. 

It's not performed often, except by teenage virtuosos from China.  Other pieces that are supposed to be "the hardest ever", like Scriabin's 5th Sonata, the first Chopin Etude, or Beethoven's Sonata Appassionata are played much more frequently. I feel like the number of people who attempt a piece and then give up should be taken into account when determining something that is truly difficult. Then you also need to take into account the people who play a piece badly.

Enough of my rambling. These thoughts aren't unique; they're just wasting space on a hard drive somewhere in San Jose.  But I want to lay out an overture to what my learning Gaspard de la Nuit will look like:

• Phase 1 - I'm not so sure about this.  But Argerich learned it in 5 days... so maybe I can learn it in a month or so.
• Phase 2 - Hey! It's just scales and arpeggios! Easy! [where I am now, but only for the next couple of hours]
• Phase 3 - You know, playing a couple of these scales and arpeggios in a row isn't so easy...
• Phase 4 - %#&#@(*&!& RAVEL!!
• Phase 5 - Hey, this isn't so bad. I think I'm getting the hang of this. [this phase totally without warning and lasts only a few days]
• Phase 6 - Wait. This has to be musical? Crap.
• Phase 7 - %#&#@(*&!& RAVEL!! [the final phase]

Usually there is another phase inserted somewhere in this list called the "you know, I really shouldn't have cut so many corners when I started learning this piece" phase.  I don't know when that will come up, but I can guarantee it will.

Phase 1 - passed with ease. Josh-1, Ravel-0
Phase 2 - doing pretty well. I'm at the 2 yard line, 1st down.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, good night and good luck.   We'll be seeing more of each other.