What is the most accomplished piano solo piece?

Answer 1

Considered that this a subjective question, there has been a lot of discussion regarding this question. Below are some examples of hard pieces.

Islamey by Balakirev

Chopin's etudes

Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No.1 and No.2 (No. 2 being the harder of the two)

Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit (Scarbo movement was written with the purpose of being harder than Islamey

Rachmaninoff's third piano concerto

Sorabji's Opus Clavicembalisticum (although it sounds absolutely horrendous in my opinion)

Feux Follets or Grand Galop Chromatique by Franz Liszt

Hammerklavier Sonata by Beethoven (no need to explain, Beethoven's hardest sonata and very difficult to get all the nuance in the unnatural hand positions)

Waldstein Sonata by Beethoven (easy to play, very difficult to play well)

Bach's French/English swite (hardest pieces in the Baroque era.)

Godowsky's arrangements of Chopin etudes, for example 'Aeolian Harp' or 'Badinage'

Chopin's Sonatas

Hamelin's Circus Gallop (while impossible, it was written for Player Piano.)

Frederic Rzewski's The People United Will Never Be Defeated! (theme and variations)

Below is the discussion.

Chopin's etudes are very hard to perform well, but you have to look in the modern era to find the hardest musics, and I'm thinkin of Sorabji's Opus Clavicembalisticum and Scarbo from Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit. Liszt composed hard pieces but not the hardest. Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 is pretty hard, but is much easier than Liszt etudes (I'm thinking of no.4, Mazeppa). However as I said, Ravel composed pieces that are much harder to play than Liszt.

As one advances piece by piece in difficulty as one is learning, the most difficult piece is always "the new one".

Most people find the following very hard indeed:

Chopin's etudes

Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No.1 and No.2 (No. 2 being the hardest concerto)

Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit

Rachmaninoff's third piano concerto

Sorabji's Opus Clavicembalisticum

Also, Feux Follets by Franz Liszt, and Grand Galop Chromatique by Franz Liszt are unbelievable

Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata is by far his hardest piece. (Apart from the last eroica variation). Mozart is fairly easy. All of Bach's French/English suites have some claim to the hardest Baroque piece although the Well-tempered clavier is mentally very difficult. Rachmaninov and Lizst wrote incredibly difficult Romantic pieces. There are tons of contemporary composers, but Sorabji, Scriabin and Szymanoski (sp?) are all fairly difficult.

I'm going to say Frederic Rzewski's The People United Will Never Be Defeated! (theme and variations). If you've listen to this, It is hard and very beautiful.

A very, very hard composer to play is Olivier Messiaen. I am surprised nobody mentioned him yet. His pieces range from learnable (at least to an advanced-level keyboardist) to mind-blowingly hard. I think Alkan's pieces are the most difficult! Some are Comme Le Vent, Le Preux, Le Chemin de Fer, Allegro Barbero, Le Festin D'Esope, ect. Liszt- Transcendental etudes (no. 4 Mazzepa, no. 5 Fuex Follets, no. 12 Chasse-Neige) La Campanella, Un Sopiro, and many more. Chopin- etudes op. 10 and 25. Out of the op. 10 set, I would say no. 2. Out of the op. 25 set, I would say no. 11 winter wind. Rachmaninoff- his 3rd concerto is said to be extremely difficult. The ossia cadenza is very difficult.

Answer 2

Whilst it is virtually impossible to determine the most accomplised piano solo piece (due to large public opinion that will never unanimously agree), it is possible to list some pieces that are considered worthy to be categorised under 'Accomplished piano solo pieces'.

These two pieces are the onesthat I think deserve this title:

"Piano Sonata No.14 'Moonlight' - 3rd Movt: 'Presto agitato'" by Ludwig van Beethoven

"Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise Brillante" by Frederic Chopin

Answer 3

The piece that you haven't learned to play yet is the most difficult one.

What may seem difficult to one is easy to another ... Rachmaninoff is not at all easy to play, but once learned is then easy.

Answer 4

That is a little hard to answer, because everyone has different opinions.

For example, most people think "Fantaisie Impromptu" as a REALLY hard piece, but I consider it pretty easy. Some people think "La Campanella" is extremely hard as well, but I consider it mostly just the stretches that are harder.

Some think concertos are harder than solos, some think it's hard to sightread (sightplay) a piece, some think duets/duos are hard, some think they're easy...it also depends on the person's style.

So if you play the piano, try experimenting around with different pieces and see which ones are hard or which ones are easy for you.

Answer 5

hmmm.... it depends on ur Grade lol.... if ur 2 and above try Pink Panther and James Bond.... if above 4 try My Heart Will Go on.... if above six try Elton John,Robbie Williams.... also try Sonatas and Preludes....

Also you can buy books which specify the grade which you need to play them. If you want to try hard ones get one a grade or few above your current grade.