I don't know what is so difficult about this piece, i know you have to jump around everywhere with super speed, but i bet a realy pro player could play it no prob. Its technical level is very difficult but its piano and forte arn't difficult. Are there any other aspects of this piece that are that hard besides the technical work??
Of course. Every piece has it's own musical "value". And that's also the case with Islamey. I can immediately hear the difference between a good performance and a bad one, even if they are both technical terrific. And it has a slow middle section, where you can hear much better how good the pianist plays it. But even fast passages can be played different by different pianists. And furtheron it's not easy to build up the pianos and the fortes sometimes, or play the pianissimo part good and clear but very fast. There are a lot of different things that are hard in the musical interpretation I think.
On the last page or 2nd last page there is a glissando? or something like that where you use fingers 1 and 5 to slide heaps of keys with an octave real fast, How do you do that without breaking your fingers!!!?!? I FOUND AN ISLAMEY VID! http://youtube.com/watch?v=YDOCXcaNdjk