Every Major Composer’s Hardest Piece for Piano

Have you ever thought, “Gee, I wonder what every composer’s hardest piece for piano is?“ Have you ever tossed and turned at night because of this dearth in knowledge? If so, then today’s your lucky day! Here is every major composer’s hardest piece for piano—yes, all 116 major composers, from Bach to Xenakis. I was pretty liberal in who I considered to be a “major composer“, so I don’t want to hear any complaints about such-and-such not making the list—in which case they either didn’t have any significant works for piano (e.g. Berlioz) or they simply weren’t a significant composer (e.g., Czerny). 0:00 Couperin: Le Tic Toc Choc 0:30 Rameau: Suite in D 1:29 Handel: Keyboard Suite in Em 2:09 Bach: Goldberg Variations 3:03 Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonata 3:39 CPE Bach: Keyboard Concerto 4:02 Haydn: Keyboard Sonata Hob XVI:52 4:39 Clementi: Keyboard Sonata No.2 5:05 Mozart: Piano Concerto , 5:39 Beethoven: Piano Sonata , 6:12 Hummel: Piano Concerto No.2 6:57 Schubert: Wanderer Fantasy, 7:36 von Weber: Konzertstück, 8:12 Glinka: Divertimento brillante on “La Sonnambula“ 8:41 Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No.2 9:23 Chopin: Piano Sonata No.3 10:03 Schumann: Toccata 10:50 Wagner: Piano Sonata in A, WWV 26 11:18 Liszt: Beethoven Symphony No.9 Transcription 12:28 Alkan: Concerto for Solo Piano 13:22 Franck: Symphonic Variations 13:52 Smetana: By the Seashore 14:23 Bruckner: Sonata in Gm 14:45 Brahms: Paganini Variations 15:21 Saint-Saëns: 6 Études, 15:57 Balakirev: Islamey 16:47 Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition 17:24 Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.2 17:58 Dvořák: Piano Concerto 18:46 Massenet: Piano Concerto 19:48 Grieg: Ballade 20:15 Rimsky-Korsakov: Piano Concerto 21:16 Fauré: Ballade 21:53 Janáček: On an Overgrown Path 22:27 Elgar: Concert Allegro 23:05 Chaminade: Piano Sonata 23:36 Albéniz: Iberia 24:28 Delius: Piano Concerto 25:22 Debussy: Etudes 26:03 R. Strauss: Burleske 26:37 Nielsen: Chaconne 27:05 Sibelius: Piano Sonata 27:36 Glazunov: Piano Concerto No.2 28:22 Busoni: Piano Concerto 29:30 Satie: Vexations 30:21 Granados: Goyescas 31:09 Beach: Piano Concerto 31:38 Joplin: The Cascades 32:21 Leopold Godowsky: Passacaglia 33:02 Scriabin: Piano Sonata No.8 33:34 Vaughan-Williams: Piano Concerto 34:19 Reger: Bach Variations 35:09 Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.3 36:27 Schoenberg: Piano Concerto 36:51 Holst: 2 Pieces for Piano 37:15 Ives: Piano Sonata No.2 37:59 Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit 38:42 de Falla: Fantasia Bética 39:12 Medtner: Sonata No.2 39:43 Bartók: Piano Concerto No.2 40:41 Stravinsky: 3 Movements from Petrushka 41:15 Szymanowski: Piano Sonata No.3 41:59 Villa-Lobos: Rudepoêma 42:38 Berg: Piano Sonata 43:08 Price: Piano Sonata 43:48 Martinů: Piano Concerto No.3 44:23 Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.2 45:23 Still: Kaintuck’ 45:57 Hindemith: Ludus Tonalis 46:17 Korngold: Piano Sonata No.3 46:43 Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F 47:43 Poulenc: Piano Concerto 48:17 Copland: Piano Sonata 48:39 Khatchaturian: Piano Concerto 49:03 Kabalevsky: Piano Concerto No.2 49:38 Shostakovich: Piano Sonata No.1 50:07 Rózsa: Piano Concerto 50:35 Carter: Night Fantasies 50:59 Messiaen: Vingt Regards 51:36 Barber: Piano Concerto 52:21 Hermann: Concerto Macabre 53:02 Cage: Etudes Australes 53:26 Lutoslawski: Piano Concerto 54:23 Britten: Piano Concerto 55:07 Dutilleux: Piano Sonata 55:43 Ginastera: Piano Concerto No.1 56:21 Ustvolskaya: Piano Sonata No.6 56:50 Xenakis: Synaphaï 57:17 Ligeti: Etudes 57:51 Boulez: Piano Sonata No.2 58:14 Berio: Piano Sonata 58:40 Feldman: Triadic Memories 59:16 Stockhausen: Klavierstück X 59:45 Rautavaara: Piano Concerto No.1 1:00:38 Penderecki: Piano Concerto 1:01:26 Crumb: Makrokosmos 1:02:05 Takemitsu: riverrun 1:02:49 Gubaidulina: Piano Sonata 1:03:21 Williams: Scherzo for Piano and Orchestra 1:04:08 Schnittke: Concerto for Piano and Strings 1:04:39 Birtwistle: Harrison’s Clocks 1:04:59 Pärt: Lamentate 1:05:33 Reich: Piano Phase 1:06:04 Glass: Tirol Concerto 1:06:40 Kapustin: Piano Concerto No.6 1:07:40 Corigliano: Piano Concerto 1:08:23 Rzewski: The People United will Never be Defeated 1:08:54 Finnissy: English Country Tunes 1:09:09 Adams: Century Rolls 1:09:52 Hisaishi: Fantasia for Nausicaä 1:10:53 Chen: Er Huang 1:11:53 Yoshimatsu: Piano Concerto 1:12:29 Vine: Piano Concerto No.1 1:13:11 Tan: Eight Memories in Watercolor 1:14:10 Chin: Piano Concerto 1:14:42 Adès: Traced Overhead I also assigned a difficulty rating to each work, which is (as always) highly approximate and should not be taken all that seriously. If you’re a hardcore difficulty junkie and would like a breakdown of the difficulty scale, you can find it on my website: