Top 10 Most Difficult Piano Pieces

This list was made with my opinion, so you can choose to agree or disagree, if you know any other piece that you think should've made this list, please feel free to comment it, I'd love to discover new pieces.

I'd say the first 7 pieces don't really belong in their ranking, they're interchangeable, but the top 3 are definite.

I do not own any of the videos that were featured, I'm not making any money of this, but you may copyright claim this video if you must.

As promised here are the videos featured:

Ravel - Scarbo (Gaspard de la nuit)

Réminiscences de Don Juan // LISZT

Le Chemin de Fer [Étude Op.27 in D minor]|| ALKAN

Franz Liszt - Rondo Fantastique "El Contrabandista"

Alkan: Allegretto alla barbaresca / 12 Etudes in All Minor Keys (Op.39 No.10)

Liszt-Études d'exécution transcendante d'après Paganini, S.140 No. 3 "La Campanella" (Synthesia)

Mereaux: No.24 'Bravura' from 60 Etudes(Trial Recording)

Franz Liszt - Grande fantaisie de bravoure sur La clochette

Hamelin Etude n.4 D'Après Alkan Synthesia

Alkan: Le preux (1844)

Alkan - Scherzo Diabolico op. 39 no. 3 // Piano Video

Jean-Amédée Lefroid de Méreaux - Etude No. 45,Scherzo alla Napolitana. Vivacetto (A minor)

Paganini / Liszt - Études d'exécution transcendante d'après Paganini, S.140/4 | Piano Tutorial

[Medtszkowski]

Now for the hardest pieces that sound like actual feces:
Barlow Cogluotobusletismesi
Barrett Tract
Bussotti Pour Clavier
Cage Etudes Australes
Cognizetti Pentaphonic Etude
Diaz-Infante Solus
Finnissy all.fall.down.
Finnissy Solo Concerto No. 4
Flynn Trinity
Fox Twenty-Four Etudes
Fox Sonata No. 2
Hoban When the Panting Starts
Martino Pianississimo
Rzewski "The Road"
Scelsi Action Music
Skalkottas 32 Piano Pieces
Sorabji Sequentia Cyclica Super "Dies Irae" ex Missa pro Defunctis
Sorabji Sonata No. 5 "Opus Archimagicum"
Sorabji Symphonic Variations
Stockhausen Klavierstucke X
Xenakis Evryali
Xenakis Sieben Klavierstucke
Xenakis Synaphai
Yim :[ten]dril
Zimmermann Wunsterwanderung

[stou]

there isnt really a "hardest/difficult" piano piece, but in terms of technical difficulty these are incredibly challenging. in any case, nice list -- and its nice to see alkan and mereaux on it

[AshnerTV]

Isn’t it funny that La Clochette (S. 420) starts at 4:20 in the video? I’m probably the only one who noticed that 😂

[redfishplayz]

finally an ACTUALL "hardest piano pieces" list that is not a list full of overplayed pieces

[Whaijorhujishkomunyk]

WHEN RONDO FANTASTIQUE IS 10th THE LIST WILL BE HARDER

[edwardh]

nice list thanks for not putting in the flight of the bumblebee

[pawncube]

My thoughts on the video:
On Alkan honestly I think his hardest or one of them is op 39 no 1, comme le vent. Has very weird technique at extreme speeds I haven't seen many reach.

Glad you used Liszt S 140 instead of the simplified versions :)
On Mereaux, I'm quite a fan of him and I did a lot of research on his music. I'd say Bravura deserves to be on the top 3, not the scherzo 45. I'll talk more on that later.
On la clochette I just want to note that this midi had some extra octaves that makes it impossible at some points.
Hamelin etudes are pretty hard. I love how in that one he mixed a bunch of alkan pieces and it all made sense!
On Le Preux a virtuoso(Arthur Cimirro, who is also recording Méreaux complete 60 etudes!) said that he doesn't get impressed with Alkan that much, mainly because sometimes people exagerate the speeds. He said "(Several people claim the difficulties of playing some Alkan pieces in the “right tempo” and it seems they never checked the real “right tempo” as written in the score - for example, as in “Le Preux”, where “dans un bon mouvement” and “carrément” do not means “presto” in any sense!) "
On honorable mentions you put Don Juan. That remembers me of the tons of transcriptions Liszt made that could possible get in there.
Alkan le chemin de fer pretty hard as well. One pianist said that chopin prelude 16 is almost just as hard.
Alkan scherzo I have seen some saying it is one of the easiest out of op 39. Honestly I agree, many of the pieces you put before it could easily get its place.
I would say that Méreaux 24, 15, 20, 60, 37, 58 and probably some others are harder than 45.
And finally in top 1 the typical etude 4. Its the same thing as méreaux 45. Liszt gave no tempo marking, MIDI and synthesia "tutorials" exaggerate it to an extreme. The only tempo marking for it was by an editor, which is iirc about just 5% faster than petrov playing, so its completely doable.


Btw just a curiosity: Did you know méreaux actually composed not only 60, but 97 etudes? 60 on his op 63, on a later opus he made a Romance etude and iirc his opus 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119 are each one of them a bundle of 6 etudes composed in a specific style. I can only hope one day we will have the sheets for them :/ Currently there isn't, they are all just sitting there in a library in france.


After all I think its very hard to choose the hardest pieces, there are too many pieces that are very hard each one with their own difficulties.

[juniorvaldez]

0:05 Franz Liszt - Rondo Fantastique "El Contrabandista"
0:57 Alkan - Allegretto alla barbaresca
1:58 Liszt - Etude d' Éxecution trascendante "Original Campanella etude"
3:07 Mereaux - No.24 "Bravura" from 60 etudes
4:20 Liszt - Grande fantaisie de bravoure sur la Clochette
6:05 Hamelin - Etude n.4 D' Áprès Alkan

[hakore]

As someone who has played both Le Preux and Scherzo Diabolico, I have to say Le Preux is by far more difficult. Playing the whole piece at midi speed is a workout and near impossible to hit every correct key. When learning Scherzo Diabolico after I learned Le Preux it was very noticeably easier and only took me a few days to play the most difficult section, while learning the Le Preux octaves took several months.

[clox]

Those massive chords in the s140 no. 4 etude makes me wonder if Liszt even had to jump in La Campanella (the popular one) considering he can reach those massive chords

[voaneves]

Damn, when it started on El Contrabandista...

[persol]

IN MY OPINION i think tht ALKAN'S LE CHEMIN DE FER on MIDI actually sounded very good and contrary to other pieces on MIDI

[yorkzie]

its always nice to see la campanella excluded from the list

[sigmaballz]

Here are some that I think could've made the list depending on who you ask (Only Solo Piano Pieces):
-Beethoven/Liszt-Symphony no. 9: aside from how insanely hardest some of the movements are on their own the whole Symphony is like 50 minutes which would require incredible stamina.
-Godowsky- Passacaglia in B minor
-Godowsky- Ignis Fatuus (study on Chopin Opus 10 no.2): A very short piece however, the whole piece is played as a 3 against 4 polyrhythm and aside from technique already being extremely challenging, achieving proper voicing for some of the melodic lines in the left hand with your 4th and 5th fingers seems damn near impossible with everything else going on.
-Godowsky Study no 36. on Chopin Opus 25 no.6: Rapid double thirds in the left hand, enough said.
-Liszt- Mazeppa s.138 and s.137: They are slightly different but the both share the same absurd technique that makes them insanely difficult. I not even sure if it's humanely possible to play it with Liszt's 2-4 fingering for all the thirds while keeping a recognizable tempo. Easily one the hardest etudes Liszt wrote and it rivals the s.140 no.4 (that you put in the video) in unplayability.
Liszt- s.700 Clochetter et carnaval de venise: another piece involving the La Campanella theme, probably harder than the s.420.
Alkan- Scherzo Focoso
Brahms- Paganini Variations. Hard variations on the theme from Caprice 24.
-Hamelin Etudes 1 and 3 are on par with no. 4 I would say.

[franzliszt]

the hardest piece is Rondo Fantastique, because this piece was composed to be played in approximately 8-9 minutes.

[teodorb.p.composer]

Liszt, Alkan, Liszt, Alkan, Liszt, Alkan, Liszt, Ravel, Alkan, Hamelin, Mércaux, Liszt 😁

[persol]

i also think tht NICOLAI MEDTNER with his 14 SONATAS absolutely should be included, at least his MONUMENTAL NIGHTWIND SONATA OP. 25 NO.2 AT 30 MIN +, AND IT TAXES TO THE FULL THE PERFORMERS SKILLS THROUGHOUT ALL MOVMENTS...

[Katsariss]

i was gonna learn all of these but is the hamelin etude even possible with 2 hands
i guess ill put my progress here
30th aug 2022
i have been playing piano for 8 months, maybe even less than that because i started playing seriously like 3 months ago
keep in mind that ill learn honorable mentions aswell
currently learning scarbo
im using my reference for scarbo with rousseaus video
ive learnt the first 2 minutes of scarbo
somewhere in between October-november:
got some good progress and stopped scarbo
started learning mereaux-bravura

somewhere in November:
good progress on bravura
uploaded a video
10th of Dec:
I think bravura is easier than scarbo
I mean, the technique is pretty difficult, but scarbo is literally like 9 mins of pain
6th of February:
Broke my thumb nail while playing mereaux - bravura
8th of February:
bravura became way easier, i think I'm about 70% done.
also I started le chemin de fer and about 30% done with it.
but I'm getting pretty demotivated

more than a year later (june 1st):
i’m back! i started learning no.9 (allegretto alla barbaresca)
it’s probably gonna be done in a month or so.

[boi]

3:07

How much hand crossing and staccato with chords did Mereaux made in Etude op 63 no 24???

Cuz that guy is a beast at piano

[easypianotutorial]

The most difficult peice must have hard techniques and good melody