[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 (41–50)
Years of Pilgrimage, Second Year – Supplement: “Venice and Naples,” S.162, No. 3: “Tarantella”Franz Liszt
The third piece, Tarantella, from Franz Liszt’s Venezia e Napoli, S.162—an appendix to the second year of Années de pèlerinage—could be called nothing less than a culmination of his work.
Composed intermittently from his twenties through his sixties, it allows listeners to experience the transition from Romanticism to Impressionism.
As one would expect from a work by Liszt, it is highly demanding.
The passages with continuous intricate ornamentation are especially challenging; however, because they also produce a striking performance effect, the piece is extraordinarily captivating to listen to.
Etudes for Piano, Book II, No. 13 “The Devil’s Staircase”György Ligeti
György Ligeti, a great composer who left behind numerous experimental works.
He is a leading figure in contemporary music and produced many pieces of extremely high difficulty.
Among them, the work said to be especially challenging is The Devil’s Staircase.
It is the 13th piece in Book II of his masterwork, Études for Piano.
As its title suggests, the level of difficulty is truly diabolical: despite demanding delicate touch, the piece repeatedly requires enormous leaps.
Opus ClavichenbalisticumKaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, a modern composer known for his experimental works.
His compositions are famous for being extremely difficult to perform.
Among Sorabji’s works, one of the most challenging piano pieces is the Opus Clavicembalisticum.
Once recognized as the longest piano piece in the world, it demands not only extraordinary endurance but also mastery across a staggering range of technical and musical elements.
Very few pianists can play this piece, which makes it well worth a listen.
In conclusion
This time, we introduced a wide range of piano pieces said to be difficult even for advanced players and professionals, from famous works to lesser-known ones.
Both technically demanding pieces and artistically challenging ones have their own appeal, so they are well worth attempting.
While technical difficulty and expressive difficulty can’t be easily compared, these works often require extensive finger use, hand crossings, complex rhythms, and a very high level of proficiency.
Highly difficult, experimental pieces are found mainly in the late modern and contemporary eras, while many works whose difficulty stems from artistic depth can be found from the Baroque period through the Romantic era.
Be sure to check them out!