The ridiculously difficult piece in this post was written in September of 1869 by Russian composer, Mily Balakirev.

Balakirev was deeply nationalistic with his music, writing in the truest of Russian traditions. Such was the inspiration for the virtuosic piano piece, Islamey: an Oriental Fantasy. In surprising contrast to the rest of Balakirev's music it was written in only about a month. The idea for the piece arose from his trip to the Caucasus (geopolitcal region connecting Russia and the middle east along the Black sea), as described in an excerpt from a letter below he wrote of the trip.

"...the majestic beauty of luxuriant nature there and the beauty of the inhabitants that harmonises with it – all these things together made a deep impression on me... Since I interested myself in the vocal music there, I made the acquaintance of a Circassian prince, who frequently came to me and played folk tunes on his instrument, that was something like a violin. One of them, called Islamey, a dance-tune, pleased me extraordinarily and with a view to the work I had in mind on Tamara I began to arrange it for the piano. The second theme was communicated to me in Moscow by an Armenian actor, who came from the Crimea and is, as he assured me, well known among the Crimean Tatars"


Boris Berezovksy in a 2005 Recital in Mexico City

Because of its immense difficulty there are many existing editions featuring numerous ossia (easier alternative) passages. Its technical difficulty made if a natural favorite among virtuosic pianists of the ages such as Nikolai Rubeinstein, who premiered the work, and Franz Liszt who were known to have performed it during their lifetime. In modern times pianists such as Martha Argerich and Vladimir Horowitz have made notable recordings. Balakirev, considered a virtuoso pianist in his time once admitted that there were passages in the piece that he "couldn't manage."

It would be easy to admit that the work is merely a showpiece, but Islamey had its own impact on virtuosic solo piano music in later years. Ravel once remarked to a friend that his goal in writing Gaspard de la nuit was to compose a piece that would rival or be more difficult than Islamey. Alexander Borodin referenced quotations of the piece in his opera, Prince Igor while Nikolai-Rimsky-Korsakov did the same in his Scheherazade.

For your curiosity you can check out a PDF of the score available at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP.org) here.