[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 (31–40)
Spanish Rhapsody, Op. 254Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt, the great composer known for writing devilishly difficult pieces.
Many people are familiar with his high-difficulty works such as La Campanella and Mazeppa.
Among Liszt’s works, however, there is a lesser-known piece of extreme difficulty: the Rhapsodie espagnole.
It not only demands rapid fingerwork and great stamina, but also features fierce leaps throughout every section.
And because it must be performed with lightness at the same time, it can be considered one of the most challenging pieces even among Liszt’s compositions.
Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39Sergei Rachmaninov
One of the works the Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff undertook just before leaving his homeland is a set of nine piano pieces.
Composed between 1916 and 1917, they were conceived not as conventional études but as “pictures in sound” that depict scenes and narratives.
There are two sets, Op.
33 and Op.
39, and the Op.
39 set presented here is said to be more demanding both technically and musically.
Each piece contains its own distinctive mood and technical challenges, with Nos.
1, 3, 5, 6, and 9 often cited as especially difficult.
Beyond their difficulty as études, their allure lies in how, true to the idea of “sound pictures,” they evoke imagery reminiscent of paintings.
Concerto for piano soloCharles Valentin Alkan
Charles-Valentin Alkan, a composer who epitomizes 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 defining challenge of this piece is, above all, endurance.
The first movement alone spans 72 pages and lasts as long as 29 minutes, placing a tremendous physical demand on the performer.
It’s a piece so exhausting that even listeners may feel drained, but it is certainly worth hearing at least once.
Etude Op.10-2 in A minorFrederic Chopin
Among Frédéric Chopin’s works, the masterpiece Twelve Études is said to boast one of the highest levels of difficulty.
This time, I would like to introduce Étude Op.
10 No.
2 from that set.
Although its performative impact is not especially large, it is known for being extremely difficult.
The key point of this piece is, above all, the opening section: because the 1st and 2nd fingers must hold chords, the remaining 3rd–5th fingers have to play the other parts.
For these reasons, it is known as a high-difficulty piece that demands innate hand size and supple fingers.
12 Etudes in All Minor Keys, Op. 39: No. 3 “Diabolical Scherzo”Charles Valentin Alkan
Charles-Valentin Alkan, a composer who epitomizes French Romanticism.
Among his works, one of the most notoriously difficult pieces is Études in All the Minor Keys, Op.
39, No.
3 “Scherzo diabolico.” Semitonal relationships derived from the Neapolitan sixth appear throughout the piece, and in places it demands rapid arpeggios, requiring a very high level of technical skill.
It truly merits the description “diabolically difficult.” Be sure to check it out.
[Ultra-Advanced] Even challenging for advanced players! A curated selection of highly difficult piano pieces (41–50)
Piano Sonata No. 5Alexander Scriabin
Alexander Scriabin, the great Russian composer who had a profound impact on modern music.
He had large hands, and the touch of his left hand was praised as the “Cossack of the left hand.” In composition as well, he leveraged his high-level performance technique and physical advantages to create works of extreme difficulty.
Among them, his Piano Sonata No.
5 boasts overwhelming difficulty.
With irregular rhythms and leaps in the first theme that are extraordinarily ferocious, it is a work intended for only the most advanced performers.
Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13Robert Schumann
This work can be regarded as the culmination of a series of études by Robert Schumann, a composer emblematic of the Romantic era.
It transcends mere technical study and was conceived to make the piano resonate like an orchestra.
While based on a theme-and-variations structure, each étude embodies distinct emotions and technical demands, showcasing an exploration of pianistic technique in Schumann’s time.
Because it aims to create orchestral sonorities with a single performer, it features many chords and counter-melodies; coupled with the variation form, this makes it challenging to maintain a clear sense of the overall architecture in performance.
Including the five pieces known as the “Posthumous” études, the performance length is about 40 minutes, requiring stamina as well.
Celebrated as a masterpiece of piano literature, the work demands both high technical prowess and rich musicality from the performer, while offering listeners a wealth of profound emotional expression.