I heard this piece for the first time at the finals of the IKIF competition. To the best of my knowledge it is played very infrequently in the solo version and I am curious why. So for those familiar with the piece, is it:

1. not considered a good piece
2. so difficult it's not worth the trouble(my impression was it was up there with Liszt's most difficult works)
3. "good" but too long or too much f,ff ,and fff playing
4.something else?

Thanks

It is more difficult than the piano-orchestra version. I've "played at it" enough to consider it a "Transcendental-Tanz" as it certainly has it's Lisztian hurdles to overcome to make it smooth and effective.

I always thought it was a great set of modulations/variations on that "Dies Irae" theme; puts me right into the European Black Death days when I "play at it" or listen to it.

I would eliminate your first reason and give more weight to the other three even though your last reason is an undefined variable. How's that for clearing the mist?

Here's valentina lisitsa playing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUMR_D6G_Sw

looks astonishingly difficult. Just by looking at the video I'd say it's definantely up there with the most difficult transcendental etudes.

Hinson says that it doesn't have any passages of excessive difficulty and only ranks as an "M-D."

I think it's harder than the other concerti, but it's not Brahms 2 by any means.

I've read some critics saying they thought it was real junk. But I think they're clueless, and don't really understand to what extent it is supposed to sound weird and grotesque and maybe even unpleasant. It is true that it doesn't quite hang together from beginning to end altogether convincingly, but a lot of wonderful music doesn't. It is definitely unusual in tone for its time - to me, there's something hard-edged and almost modern about it, as if it's a precursor of some the late Liszt. A good performer can give it a fairly creepy and disturbing atmosphere while still providing virtuoso razzle-dazzle, which is sort of unsettling in itself. It has a few fairly difficult spots, but overall I think it is quite playable.

i was in Korea in 2006 for a week-long summer piano academy thing and a Korean girl played this at one of the nightly concerts. about halfway through the piece her left pinky started to bleed ( !!!) but she kept going and finished it. there was blood all over the lower register and my teacher went up after the girl was done and wiped it with her handkerchief.

never saw anything like that in my life!

she was AMAZING.