Top 10 Most Difficult Piano Pieces | Pianist Reacts

There are a lot of very difficult pieces to play on the piano, and Rousseau made a video listing the top 10 most difficult piano pieces, so I reacted to it. I have played some of the pieces before but for others I haven't ventured near them, but they are all great choices and great pieces!

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[matticawood]

I focussed a lot on the technicalities of playing in this video because most people think (and potentially why these pieces were chosen) that the hardest pieces to play are difficult because of how difficult they are to physically play.

The most important part and the real challenge with playing any music is how you play it and what a piece of music is trying to convey emotionally. There are a lot of pieces that are technically less challenging but much more difficult to play due to interpretation and conveying that interpretation 😊

[dekka]

Rousseau actually had a pinned comment on this video as it was meant to be a joke. Obviously, these pieces are just what sounds ‘the most difficult’ to the uneducated audience. There are so many other more underestimated pieces and composers - be Islamey or Gaspard de la nuit. You should react to Twoset Violin’s B2TSM Music Video next :)

[RetroPianist]

Something else to bear in mind: There is a lot more that goes into mastering a classical piece than simply playing the notes. I think some people manage to play the right notes of a concert piece and then declare they've learned it without taking into account voicing, phrasing, dynamics, managing multiple lines of melody, tone, smoothness of technique, evenness, appropriate rubato, etc. The reality is that properly learning an advanced piece can take many months. Playing a piece is one thing; playing it WELL is another. A lot of the challenge of performing classical repertoire is the musical side of things, not just the technical side.

[JosStudiosPiggy]

"That's not difficult". My good man, i would break my fingers if i play the first piece.

[charliegold]

The hardest piece I have played is by far Liszts transcription of the 4th movement of Beethovens ninth. Then I would go with Rach 3, Goldberg Variations, Douze Grande Etude No.5 and Alkan Concerto for Solo Piano.

[justajk]

As someone who is able to play fantaisie impromptu I have to be honest with you it's really not too difficult you just have to be a little patient with the polyrhythms but then it's very manageable

[dmwalker]

Very interesting insights for those of us who aren't pianists. Chopin has always seemed to me like it must be quite daunting to play. The rubato, the emotional expression, and the way it flows. It's not improvisation, but it almost feels like it sometimes when listening. Like there are more things you'd have to be mindful of than if you were playing something more structured like Beethoven, or Bach.

[Ichi.Xiong]

The Moonlight Sonata thrid movement you said break it into chords so you can play and that's what I started to doing and it's going well and i'm getting there, you gave me a good big hope and confidence so thanks!

[jamshidbekqodirov]

The hardest pieces Iʼve played were Chopinʼs Op. 64 No.2 and Ballade no. 1. Yeah, they may not be difficult for professional pianists, but learning to play them perfectly was quite a challenge for me)

[cowzilla]

There's a piece that Cziffra transcribed based on his performance, that he titled "Fantasy on William Tell". The piece that he transcribed to is a bit different from his performance, since he added more notes to the transcription, making it more difficult than it already was, to the point of it being very close to virtually impossible. There's a synthesia video on YouTube that plays what was transcribed, and you'll see just how insane the piece is.

[enricozincani]

You explained exactly what I thought the first time I listened to op 10 n 1. Since the previous year I performed the 3rd movement of moonlight sonata I thought that op 10 n 1 would have been the same thing. I realized I was wrong when I first attempted the waterfall etude

[kookoo]

As a non pianist i would guess stuff like Ravel's piano pieces would be some of the most difficult with all the craziness and dynamics. All that stuff is amazing to listen to, majorly hypnotic, you just get lost in this blank state while listening to his piano works.

[Jemima]

Im also a pianist and I know how scales and arpeggios are not just there for love and charity its there to help us play difficult pieces

[fanofsomethingiguess]

I’d say the hardest piece I’ve tried is either
1. Étude No. 4 in E major (Liszt Arpeggio 1838) from
Études d'exécution transcendante d'après Paganini

2. Feux follets from Douze grandes études

Both are relatively short, but the first is just really difficult to play at 60bpm, with the technical difficulties,
lightness, dynamics,

(the intended speed, though there’s debate).


The second one just has a painful amount of fingering, and takes ages to learn.


Both are definitely not the hardest, (some pieces are hours long, which is probably why they’re what I consider hardest).

But they are definitely not pieces you can just play and say your done with,

You may be able to do that with most other pieces (Reminiscence De Juan, hope I spelt that correctly).

But some pieces are harder than others to different people, what may seem hard to another (Mazeppa) may not be to you

[ziqueee]

Hey man, stumbled onto your video randomly. Awesome content. I’ve always loved Chopin’s pieces, and I appreciate the knowledge. Insightful

[mr.trollincidents]

you are actually so talented at piano wtf. im assuming you have perfect pitch but rousseau is crazy and you're able to break down his hardest pieces (there are harder ones, he just made that video since everyone knew those songs) but yeah man you earned my subscription

[deanpappas]

Try Ives first piano Sonata on for size ... Really! Other than that try Ravel's Gaspard de le Nuit Ondine.

[jeremyoren]

These are the most difficult songs that people have heard somewhere. Yuja Wang’s performance of the adaptation of Flight of the Bumblebee is the most technically difficult piano piece I have ever seen played. There are many songs like that, but people want the hits. Enjoy this channel very much. Keep up the great work👍

[cgonzt]

I love that Chopin piece Fantaisie.. always hearing it in keyboard demo song 😂 Flight of bumblebee I guess is always amongst the top ten. Oh boy, look at that left hand for the Little red riding hood piece, a killer!

[slendydie]

La Campanella is my favorite piano piece and nothing will ever top that for me. Such an amazingly well composed piece