That ”prraaaaaangg” at the beginning of “A Hard Days Night” by The Beatles has long confounded musicians because, apparently, there’s a note (we think it’s the ”aaaaa” in the ”prraaaaaangg”) that John, Paul, and George couldn’t have played in one take. Hear the chord on Wired.com if it’s not coming to mind easily. However, the code’s been cracked by Jason Brown who spent six months and used some advanced mathematical analytical techniques to do so.

But after reading the Q&A we posted last week with pianist Garrick Ohlsson, one gets the sense that he could have sussed it out for Brown. Here’s Ohlsson speaking on the composer Scriabin, who he’ll be playing on November 15 when he comes to the Y.

There’s one more reason why [Alexander Scriabin’s] music isn’t performed more often—it’s hideously difficult. Of course, other composers are exceptionally challenging too, even peers like Rachmaninoff. Yet Scriabin requires a particularly exceptional level of pianistic ability, because with Scriabin, you can’t reach the beauty of his music until you’ve gotten past its difficulty. Only after you’ve met the technical challenges can you find the perfume and poetry.