[Ultra-Advanced] Even challenging for advanced players! A curated selection of highly difficult piano pieces
The piano is an instrument that allows a single performer to play an enormous number of notes while skillfully using delicate motor skills in the fingertips and arms, interpreting the composer’s intent along with the notated instructions, and expressing the pianist’s own sensibilities.
There are many pieces that call for beautiful, nuanced expression, as well as passionate works where the keys are struck almost like a percussion instrument.
This time, we’ve selected and will introduce pieces from among the vast piano repertoire that are said to be difficult even for advanced players and professionals.
We’ve picked everything from famous works generally regarded as challenging to lesser-known pieces that may not dazzle in performance but are extraordinarily difficult.
Be sure to check them out!
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[Ultra-Advanced] Even challenging for advanced players! A curated selection of highly difficult piano pieces (21–30)
8 Concert Etudes, Op. 40 No. 3: ToccatinaNikolay Kapustin
A masterpiece selected from a compendium of études that brilliantly fuse classical and jazz.
Composed in 1984, it seamlessly blends Latin rhythms, syncopation reminiscent of Gershwin, and passionate melodies in the vein of Scriabin.
Distinguished by wide-leaping repeated notes and intricate rhythmic patterns, it weaves together styles such as jazz, blues, and ragtime.
Demanding a high level of technical skill, it is ideal for pianists who value the formal beauty of classical music while embracing the expressive freedom of jazz.
Etude ‘Railway’ Op.27bCharles Valentin Alkan
Charles-Valentin Alkan, one of the leading composers of French Romanticism.
His Étude “Le Chemin de fer” (The Iron Road) Op.
27b is considered one of his most difficult works.
The key feature of this piece is, above all, its dramatic shifts in tempo.
Right from the opening, rapid passages evoking a steam locomotive burst in.
Written largely in sixteenth notes, it keeps the right hand relentlessly busy and demands exceptional finger speed.
It’s a straightforwardly high-difficulty piece, so if you’re confident in your fingerwork, be sure to check it out.
Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30Sergei Rachmaninov
Composed by Rachmaninoff in 1909, the Piano Concerto No.
3 is renowned for the extreme technical difficulty and musical demands it places on the performer.
Its duration is about 40 minutes.
Although it is a concerto, the piano plays almost continuously, and the sheer number of notes requires considerable stamina.
Yet it is not merely difficult; it is also a celebrated masterpiece, among the most popular of all piano concertos.
In the first movement’s cadenza, there are two versions; while they do not differ in difficulty, the so‑called “big cadenza” strikes me as the most grand and passionate among cadenzas found in concertos.
Comparing the different cadenzas chosen by performers may be one of this work’s great pleasures.
The first movement develops a single theme in various forms; the second moves from a poignant introduction toward increasing brightness; and the third brims with lively, folk-like Russian character.
In each, one can sense Rachmaninoff’s characteristic beauty, sonorous weight, and monumental architecture—a true masterpiece.
Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka, Op. 214Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II’s 1858 masterpiece, Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka, Op.
214.
It’s characterized by a light, spirited style and is often used at elementary school sports days in Japan.
While it’s not a piece that showcases a wide array of complex techniques, the speed of its passages is unquestionably at an advanced level.
Though it’s a relatively minor work, it has strong performance impact, so I believe it’s perfectly suitable as a piece for recitals or competitions.
Be sure to check it out.
Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 “Appassionata”Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Sonata No.
23 in F minor, “Appassionata,” Third Movement.
This intense, endlessly passionate piece is a work by Germany’s musical titan, Ludwig van Beethoven.
It’s a piece in which you can almost hear Beethoven’s suffering and sorrow as he lost his hearing.
True to its title, “Appassionata,” it captivates with a fervent, magnificent melody.
While it is highly difficult to play, it’s a piece I strongly encourage advanced players to take on.
As you reach an advanced level, you may find you can breeze through many scores, but when it comes to piano sonatas and concerto-level works, the difficulty spikes so dramatically that even professional pianists may not be able to master them despite daily practice.
At this level, even among pianists, simply being able to play it is considered remarkable.
Concerto for piano soloCharles Valentin Alkan
Charles-Valentin Alkan, a composer who represents French Romantic music.
His Concerto for Solo Piano is one of his signature works.
In Japan, it is sometimes translated as “Concerto for Piano Solo.” The most daunting aspect of this piece is, above all, endurance.
The first movement alone spans 72 pages and runs to 29 minutes, making it an exceptionally demanding work in terms of the performer’s stamina.
It’s a piece so exhausting that even listeners may feel tired—but it is well worth hearing at least once.
Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev, a composer who epitomizes the 20th century in Russia.
He was a composer with a gift for creating everything from unconventional, boundary-pushing works to classical, formally traditional pieces, and he also boasted exceptional skill at the piano.
Among his works, one piece renowned for its overwhelming difficulty is the Piano Concerto No.
2 in G minor.
It demands extraordinarily ferocious leaps and immense stamina, and it’s said that even professional pianists cannot play it with ease without a significant amount of practice.