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[Choral Piece] Difficult but cool! A work that overwhelms its listeners
You may have found your way here because you’re looking for a free-choice piece to sing at a choir competition or because you want to improve your choral technique! In this article, I’ll be introducing choral pieces that are quite challenging to sing.
Fast tempos, sudden tempo changes, wide melodic leaps, and complex staggered entries between parts—these pieces have it all.
If you can make it through the works listed here, you’ll surely feel a great sense of accomplishment.
Be sure to read to the end!
[Choral Piece] Difficult but cool! Works that overwhelm listeners (1–10)
Wild horseSakushi: Nakamura Chieko / Sakkyoku: Iwakawa Saburou
When it comes to choral music, attention tends to focus on the vocal section, but the accompaniment section is also an indispensable member of the choir.
“Wild Horses” is a piece whose piano part is so demanding that it can make the pianist—who upholds the very foundations of the ensemble—hold their head in their hands.
It’s a work with drastic shifts in tempo, and compared to the equally fluctuant “Human,” its piano-led structure means it places a particularly high premium on the accompanist’s sense of rhythm.
Of course, the vocal lines themselves are highly challenging as well, making this a piece where you can experience overwhelming power from both the singing and the performance.
Believesakushi:tanikawa shuntarō/sakkyoku:matsushita kō
Believing, with lyrics by the poet Shuntaro Tanikawa and music by Ko Matsushita, is a choral piece that offers a rewarding challenge for junior high school students.
It was composed as the set piece for the Junior High School Division of the 71st NHK All-Japan School Music Competition.
The lyrics, which celebrate the wonder of believing in yourself and in those around you, are perfect for junior high schoolers who are beginning to experience various doubts on their way to adulthood.
Although the first half proceeds gently, the overall impression changes dramatically in the middle section, making that transition a difficult point.
In the latter half, the music returns to a similarly gentle section as in the beginning, so try singing while fully sensing the shifts in melody and lyrics that unfold throughout the piece.
human beingSakushi: Kataoka Akira / Sakkyoku: Suzuki Norio
If you’re in a choir, chances are you’ve heard “Ningen” at least once.
What makes this piece difficult, above all, is the tempo.
High-difficulty choral works are often challenging because of the number of parts or the wide pitch range in the chorus, but that’s not the case here.
Its hallmark is an irregular tempo, demanding extreme shifts between slow and fast.
In choral music, where timing is everything, it’s fair to say few pieces are as difficult as this one.
It’s reputed to be tough even for highly skilled choirs, so be sure to check it out.
Time to Depart ~Asian Dream Song~sakushi: dorian suke kawa / sakkyoku: hisaishi jō
Composer Joe Hisaishi—well known for insert songs and theme songs from Studio Ghibli—wrote the choral piece “Tabidachi no Toki ~Asian Dream Song~.” Although the word “Asian” appears in the title, the melody is crafted to evoke a distinctly Japanese sense of wa, perfectly matching the term.
It even has a faint resemblance to Princess Mononoke, doesn’t it? While the piece was created as a choral work, the melody itself has a contemporary classical flavor, making it fairly challenging.
In particular, the B section features many choral parts, so singers must hold firmly to their own pitches and timing without getting pulled off.
The beauty of the melody is overwhelming, and it’s a work I’d love to see performed by choirs with strong technical ability.
O King of Fire, in your country…Sakushi: Shinkawa Kazue / Sakkyoku: Suzuki Teruaki
A notoriously difficult piece by the celebrated composer Teruaki Suzuki, “O King of Fire, In Your Land…,” which many middle and high school choirs tackle at least once.
In this feature, I’m introducing works that range roughly from B- to S-level in difficulty, and this one is unquestionably in the S category.
It’s a piece where vertical alignment is extremely hard, with many exacting intervals, and the chords in particular are overwhelmingly challenging.
There’s a touch of Ravel-like transparency, but overall the work packs tremendous power—definitely give it a listen.
To the futureSakushi: Tanikawa Shuntarō / Sakushi: Nobunaga Takatoshi
This is a wonderful choral piece that fuses Shuntaro Tanikawa’s profound poetic expression with Takafumi Nobunaga’s delicate melodies.
It sings of the hope contained in the small things of everyday life and portrays the flow of life from past to future.
Premiered in March 2008 at the Kyoto Echo Choir’s 45th Anniversary Concert, the work has since become beloved by many choirs and drew attention as a piece that gives people bearing post-disaster loss and sorrow the strength to look toward the future.
It is a highly recommended song for those who wish to share a sentiment of cherishing the present and the courage to move toward the future.
The Named LeafSakushi: Shinkawa Kazue / Sakkyoku: Iinuma Nobuyoshi
Even within choral music, there are a wide variety of genres, ranging from the so-called orthodox mixed chorus that feels quintessentially choral to works with complex, classical elements.
The piece “The Named Leaves,” famous as a difficult work, falls into the latter category.
While it does feature orthodox melodies, it also includes parts for soprano and alto that resemble wind instruments with extremely wide intervallic leaps, as well as extended long tones in the men’s parts, making it a work that is considerably more challenging than it might sound at first listen.