This, of course, is all done in the spirit of friendly competitiveness. BTW, it's a carryover from another post, "Chopin Sonata" but I thought it might stand on it's own as an interesting topic: What is your most impressive job of learning & memorizing a piece (single or movement) in terms of time. Levels of training at the time will be taken into consideration, of course. How did this all start? BBBworship, in a roundabout way, challenged me to learn & memorize the Chopin 1st movement Sonata No. 2 in 3-4 days. I submit that the more accomplished members here could do it. Let's hear from all members their greatest accomplishment. The criteria should be 1) length (# pages) 2) degree of difficulty 3) time it took to play the piece reasonably well w/o the music. My own submission: in my undergraduate days I learned & memorized for my next lesson (1 week) the 1st movement of the Schumann Sonata No. 2 in g-minor. Course it helped that I knew how the music sounded, having heard the Richter recording since knee-high. But I'd never seen the music until my teacher asigned it to me. So let's hear it, guys!!!!

2 years ago, my teacher wanted me to pick a movement from a concerto by Robert Vandall to play at a small competition. She game me the music, and asked me to look over it during the week and decide which movement I wanted to study.

When I came to my lesson the following week, I had the first and third movements memorized, and I could play the second movement with the music in front of me.

1st mvmnt: 12 pages

2nd mvmnt: 7 pages

3rd mvmnt: 12 pages

At the time, I had been playing piano for about 4 years.

Whilst a freshman in college, I memorized the Waldstein in a week (needed the grade). HOWEVER, be advised that a world-class, first-tier pianist these days needs to be able to memorize a new comp overnight. My friend and coach, Egon Petri, once told me he was on the train from Moscow to St. Petersburg or Petrograd (or whatever they were calling it in those days) and he pulled Abram Chasins' Schwanda Fantasy out of his briefcase, glanced through it, then walked on stage and played it cold...

My my my...

After only playing piano for just over a year, I was asked by my dying grandmother to play Malaguena (the explosive fast solo version) - not even familiar with the piece, I looked it up, told my teacher and started at it.. 3 months later I performed it flawlessly at her funeral after letting her hear it a week prior. Haven't been able to play it quite that well since.

Hmmm, after reading some of these stories you won't see me beaming too brightly anymore over my supposed "accomplishment" w/ the Schumann Sonata.
PS pianojerome's and Auntie Lynn's feat are particularly impressive.

When I was learning Fantasie Improumtou I was absolutely obsessed, I wanted to play it at my schools talent show. I had the whole thing memorized and up to 120 bpm after 4 weeks. I think its 7 or 8 pages but I don't remember.

Auntie Lynn, you knew Egon Petri? Got any Busoni stories for us?

I suppose mine would be that I learned and memorized Liszt's Orage in 1 week, for a lesson; after having played for about 4 years.

Why? I've heard of several musicians doing this (Richter, Rostropovich, and Kreisler come to mind), but why wouldn't they look at their schedule and say "OK. I'm going to perform such and such in three months, so I better learn it"?

Wow. But how did he get himself into that situation in the first place?

I appologize for my ignorance. I'm very young and naïve.

I learned and memorized Scriabin Op. 8, No. 12 over the course of about 5 days earlier this year. I started it Monday night and performed it publically Saturday night. It probably got about 6-10 hours of practice, but I didn't really keep track. I had it memorized by Wednesday.
I wouldn't say I played it perfectly, but it was competent.
Of course, I've heard it about a million times, but I've never actively worked on it before.

Liszt Sonata in two weeks
Ravel Concerto in a week (it's actually a very easy piece)

Mendellsohn Rondo Cappriccioso in 3 days.

Beethoven Sonata Op. 109 in 2 weeks.

Chopin 2nd Ballade in 4 days, Chopin 4th Ballade in 40 days

Black key etude in about three hours or so... Bach prelude and fugue in about four days. Khatchaturian toccata and fourth movement of Beethoven's seventh sonata also took three or four hours total, but that's because they're pretty striaghtforward.

You're the man.

I find everyones feats impressive - yours too, Joe! I suppose the ultimate, though, would be Richter memorizing the WTC in a month.

O MY GOSH! that's insane. I"m so jealous now. But Richter practiced like, 73 hours a day or someting didn't he?

Maybe only 10 hours a day, or so...

Richter himself denied it, of course... "10 hours? Never. Never!"

Beethoven sonata (Pastoral)-- too many months to remember, but I'm getting quicker. Perhaps I win the snail's award.

De Pachman says when he was 17 and first started taking lessons, his teacher told him to do a Bach WTC prelude and fugue. At the next class (a week?), he gave the teacher the first book and asked the teacher to pick any sonata and fugue -- he had memorized and learned them all.

He did the same thing for the next lesson when the teacher gave him the Chopin Etudes.

Talk about gifted?

Ed

I don't think that's true. Richter started with Book 2 in Autumn 1943, and by 1945 he had learned all of Book 1 as well. That's not to say he wasn't capable of learning it in a month.

He did, however, learn the Bartok 2nd concerto in two months, the Rachmaninoff 2nd in a week and the Prokofiev 7th Sonata in 4 days.

Sonata and fugue?

well ok i guess its possible to learn something like the 1st movement of chop's 2nd sonata in 3-4 days? too bad itll sound like crap

So BBBworship might want to rethink his belief that none but the truly gifted can learn & memorize a lengthy piece. Certainly many of the pianists here are not.....wait a sec, let's try that again....certainly many of the pianists here ARE truly gifted...but then that would SUPPORT BBB's theory and blast mine full of holes....so a pianist who's NOT truly gifted can BECOME truly gifted if he learns....if he's never played a washboard...if he truly loves good-looking female pianists who can truly learn & memorize a truly difficult.......doot de doot....

I guess it depends on the pianist, whether or not it will sound like crap (whatever crap sounds like).

Here's how I understand BBB:

"Only guys like Horowitz and Richter can learn a piece like Chopin's Second Sonata 1st movement in 3-4 days and make it sound like the masterpiece that it is."

Sorry, BBB. Not true. Unless you'd like to consider many of us here to be as good pianists as Horowitz and Richter! :p

WTC in a month? Thats insane!

By the way isnt that prelude and fugue?

Mea culpa -- my mistake. Yes Prelude and Fugue from the WTC. He learned at least the first book.

He said this in the book edited by Cooke who intereviewed the famous pianists of the day around 1917.

Sorreeeeee!!!

What would you guys do if I hit a wrong note?