>> Doesn't sound very difficult. But Jesus, I'm twisting my hands into
>> knots trying to follow all these crazy notes!
> 
> That's often the most difficult music.  Some of the most technically 
> challenging music I've played are pieces like the Barber Adagio for 
> Strings - its simplicity makes it very difficult because (a) it's so 
> recognisible and (b) its subtlety makes mistakes in performance glaringly 
> obvious.

Heh. I never really liked that thing very much...

>> Paganini was a violin virtuoso, so it probably wasn't that hard for
>> HIM...
> 
> He did write them to showcase his own talents, but for most others things 
> like left-handed pizzicato thrown in with bowed elements (such that it 
> would be physically impossible to do the pizz with your right hand even 
> if you wanted to) or double-stop artificial harmonics (single-stop 
> artificial harmonics are a challenge on their own because the interval is 
> so precise).  The speed isn't the killer, it's the precision and mix of 
> elements that will drive you insane. ;-)

...left-handed pizzicato?? O_O

OK, that's just frightening.

(Then again, I suck at playing the violin, so...)

-- 
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