The most complicated organ piece?

[SilverLuna]

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

[Krummhorn]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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)