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The most complicated organ piece?

SilverLuna

New member
Does anyone know what the most complicated piece in organ literature is? Like Paganini and his 24 violin caprices? Could it be some kind of Bach?
i know it can also depend on opinion, because when i was 10 i thought the widor toccata was the most complicated organ piece xP. but, is there really the most complicated organ piece?

Just curious :p
Thanks~
~Silver
 
Last edited:

Krummhorn

Administrator
Staff member
ADMINISTRATOR
Interesting question, Silver ...

You are correct on an answer being a personal opinion - all of the organists here have different levels of proficiency. What I may say is complicated may be child's play for another ... but in the sport of things, I will venture to say that for myself, the most technically challenging piece is Mozart's Fantasia in F Minor (k 608). I have yet to fully learn this piece, however.

I have a LP recording of Noel Rawsthorne playing this at Liverpool (England).
 

SilverLuna

New member
I thought about the opinion thing after i posted the original post and was playing widor toccata on my keyboard, how seeing other people play it when I was 10 I was so amazed, and now, 4 years later, I can play it and figure out Geometry homework at the same time xD

Yeah, that Mozart Fantaisa seems pretty mean (both figurtivly and physiclly). I have a recording of it from the Crystal Cathedral and the sound quality was awful, becuase it couldn't bear the sound! O.O

And finally to answer my own question: At the moment, i think Healy Willian's Introduction, Passaglia and Fugue in E minor is not only long, but it seems pretty complicated.
 

Marc

New member
I don't play the organ myself, so .....

But I once read that Bach's Vater unser im Himmelreich BWV 682 is pretty difficult to play.

And concerning Mozart, my guess is: even if a KV piece looks like one that's easy to play, one should realize that it could be a hallucination. ;)
 

Soubasse

New member
I've found a lot of the French 20th century works to be as difficult as they are challenging. Some of the Messiaen Livre d'Orgue is stuff that I look at and don't know where to start (I've only ever conquered two from that collection). Then there are the Vierne Symphonies. I swear these composers found ways of growing an independent brain in each limb!
 

Contratrombone64

Admiral of Fugues
LOL @ Soubasse. I so agree with you about Vierne's symphonies. The only way to learn them, in my humble opinion is with a metronome starting SLOWLY working in 8 bar chunks. I then build the speed up notch by notch (with backsteps in tempo to set the speed again). Once I can play it at tempo I then practise this method on the next 8 bar chunck. It's tedious, I know, but then the music eventuall is programmed into my fingers and feet.

I'm working this method in a vain attempt to learn the first movement of the Third Symphony of Vierne. I love playing it Organo Pleno of course, but use soft stops whilst practising (so as not to drive the neighbours made)
 
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