Fantasie Impromptu op.66 is a piece that sounds a lot more difficult than up it really is, once you get the hang of the poly rhythm it’s not so much if a challenge, especially section B.
Yeah, you're right, not on the same level. When coming up with the tiers I had to make decisions, right. If a perfect world I'd have 10+ tiers, but that's too many considering the number of pieces. So it's pretty easy to find pieces that should move up or down 1 space or that seem to not belong together. I did try to mention when things were on the line though. So the Mozart rondo is barely in that tier in my mind. Hope that clears it up a bit.
Changes i definitely would have done to the list: - Rondo alla turca is more like a in-between intermediate and upper int piece, atleast nowhere near the difficulty of Pathtique, Impromptu or Liebestraum😂 - The intermediate pieces (except for raindrop) should also be moved down as they are possible to learn for a beginner in a few weeks…
Yeah, but they sound like shit then. There's a huge difference between somehow being able to play a piece and truly being able to play it. I heard too many "I just started to play the piano, here's Rondo alla turca". But I'd agree it's not advanced, but on level lower
@Helmut_Kohl I agree waltz in a minor is a killer example note wise it is fairly simple, but the difference between a begginer and pro is so blatant in the dynamics and expression.
As a young piano student I tried learning rondo alla turca. I managed to get through it, but I always felt like it just didn't sound good. I think in terms of being able to play the notes, it's easier for sure, however the gap between "being able to play the notes" and "being able to play it well" is much bigger than for the other 3. Whereas with Liebestraum or Impromptu there's just so much going on that you can "hide" your mistakes a lot easier.
I'm not sure it counts as modal, but his conception was really unique for the time. He just gets derided because it's not traditional in a genre that values tradition over everything. But hey, we've got Mozart with his mindless scale runs, so that's awesome. Let's play the same four composers over and over because nothing else exists.
I'm sorry, I cannot accept that Canon in D is known more as a piano piece. As a pianist and violinist, that is, at its heart, a string quartet piece, even if it wasn't originally written for that. That is not to say arrangements are bad, I absolutely love making it possible for people (especially on their wedding day, as this is normally played at) to be able to hear their favourite songs when they may only have a keyboard available, or a violin and cello, or whatever the case may be. Just wanted to say Canon is not at its core a piano piece.
@@katttttt Sorry for the confusion. I was referring to him saying that it "feels like a piano piece," which I disagree with. Before he started playing Canon, he prefaced it by saying there would be pieces on the list that weren't written for piano but have "almost become known as piano pieces," so that's where I got my original statement. I also hold this position for Flight of the Bumblebee, which he says the same thing about, but not as strongly as, like Ryan, I don't love that piece, mostly just because of the culture around it and context it's usually played in.
Fur Elise is definitely a beginner piece, even when considering the whole piece. Mainly, because the most difficult part is so short that it only takes some extra practice.
The most “simple” pieces are the most difficult to play exceptionally well. It needs maturity and experience in how to capture an audience’s emotions (because they would have heard it so often) It’s like poetry…the silences are the most important thing to get and let it linger for just the right amount of time. That takes years to master.
I agree, I've always said that Für Elise is a good litmus test to see how well someone plays. It's a simple piece every pianist can play but very few will do it homage.
19:57, actually just decided to learn a bit of this piece for fun, I find the repeated note section more problematic than the octaves(except the coda section.) although the octaves are the most scary since they’re placed after all the other technical requirements
Oh that's true. The repeated note section is pretty scary. I personally would probably order it like 1. Repeated note octaves 2. Repeated notes 3. Ending octaves (the very end where the octaves aren't repeated) Obviously, I think repeated notes are hard 🤣 Liszt had an insane ability to do so many of them though. I played his Tarantella and when they show up in the middle section is probably the hardest part for me. Not saying the rest is a walk in the park though .
La Campanella is a piece that reveals how bad your technique is as your hand, wrist and fingers become increasingly inflamed lol. When I first learned it it was impossible for me to get through it without stopping to shake my arms out
You could not be more wrong about Liszt! Spend some time listening to some of his other works like La Lugubre Gondola and La Notte and you will find a deep sincerity and seriousness. Top it off with the B minor sonata where the 'flair' supports some very powerful ideas
Hmm, I definitely didn't mean to imply he was "only" flair. What did I say that came off that way? I would say he is known for flash and flair, but I don't consider him shallow. I mean, there are some shallow pieces by Liszt for sure, but I'm with you, Liszt is awesome. Definitely a top composer all time for me. And one where the impressive virtuosity is justified.
@@RachManJohn oh man, that's a strong take, haha. We all have our own opinions (obviously not everyone agrees with mine and shouldn't) but just wondering what you don't like about Brahms. Are you viewing him for more his piano music, orchestral, everything. Just curious. For me Brahms has a lower hit rate than Beethoven Like, I'd have a harder time finding Beethoven I don't like than Brahms. But I still love his music.
The Satie has been used so many times in cheesy ways, like the bed music for feminine hygiene product commercials, that it becomes difficult to listen to it strictly as music, fully separated from that context. If you do though, it is insanely beautiful and introspective. At once gorgeous and quite sad, imo, and almost unlistenable if really paid attention to.
😳 TH-cam has gone too far this time, that's wild! I'm going to say it's cause my 5 minutes of practice was so good they thought the listener must be in this for Satie.
Thanks. Whenever I get a comment from you TH-cam always gets excited because you have a channel with subs 😅 Always takes me a second to remember who you really are, Fresh Rides.
Hi Ryan, I love the video. I was wondering where you would put the Chopin preludes in B, C, and E minor. My piano teacher gave a piano party for her adult students last night, and I played these Chopin prelude's plus the a major. I laughed out loud at your comments about the Satie. I think learning to play the piece was almost easier than learning to pronounce the title with a good French accent. Keep up the good work!
Here are a lis(z)t of pieces a few levels above upper-advanced (Sorry for my lack of variety of composers): 3. Rachmaninoff Concerto 1 & 2, Chopin Ballade no. 4, Liszt Transcendental Étude 5 & 12, Ravel "Mirroirs", Beethoven Sonata 29 2. Chopin Sonata 2 & 3, Liszt Sonata in B, Liszt Étude S. 140 no. 4 version B, Chopin-Godowsky Étude 42 (Op. 25 no. 11), Ravel La Valse for Piano, Alkan Étude "Le Preux" 1. Prokofiev Sonata 7, Rachmaninoff Concerto 3, Islamey (idk the composer), Ravel Gaspard de la Nuit (especially mvt 1 & 3)
Nice list for those interested! Thanks. I wonder which of the pieces you listed would be the most popular (the most likely candidate to appear of this tier list). I didn't include concerti, if I did I guess Rach 2 might be. After that maybe the Liszt sonata might be the most famous. Chopin Ballade 4 for sure amongst us pianists, but I feel it's not in the mainstream enough, at least not in the USA. Interesting to think which super hard pieces are popular outside of classical music. For the most part our most difficult pieces aren't the mainstream popular ones. I tried to compile my list first by popularity, then rank them afterwards, which explains the high quantity of middle tiers here. Thanks for checking out the video and chiming in!
I've played some of these and I’ll just say that Beethoven 29 is SO much more difficult than Prokofiev 7 it’s crazy And Chasse-neige (Liszt S.139 no. 12) shouldn't even be on this list
@@Literalistic Really? I played Proko 7 but not Beethoven 29, I just named a couple of pieces, some of them I haven't played but just went by the ratings of what the others think. Thanks for informing me though
Hi Ryan! Love the video! Thanks for taking the time since I was looking for a thoughtful list just like this and you did a great job. It’s a long way to the top if ya wanna rock n roll it’s been said, and you’ve helped shorten mine. Appreciate it! ESS
Hey there, I remember seeing this comment a bit ago but just forgot to respond. Sweet! I'm super glad it was just what you were looking for. Did you end up picking anything from the list?
I played Mozart K 545 (1st mvt only) in a recital when I was in 3rd grade. Everybody was like, "Ooooohhhh" because I followed 9 students who played very simple pieces. Personally, I felt like a beginner until I'd been playing for 10 years. Chopin is my favorite composer for the piano, but I never attained the level of dexterity to play more than just a few short works, mostly Mazurkas and Waltzes, a couple Nocturnes, Impromptu #1 in A-flat. (I later devolved into a dulcimer and accordion player so, goodbye to Chopin.) I've heard that Balakirev's Islamey is the hardest piece ever written for the piano, but it's not well-known enough to have made this video. My favorite piano piece by Satie is the sadly underplayed Jack in the Box. I've heard all the pieces on this video many times and most, if not all, have become hackneyed and trite to me, but for someone just getting interested in serious music, these are good choices. Thanks for posting!
You know... that's a good point. I don't think he has a piece as popular as some on the list, but probably as much as others. I just missed it i guess.
@@ryanabshier Well, not a piece for solo piano at least. He has some wildly popular pieces like his 2nd piano concerto. You could still certainly learn that to play by yourself. The middle movement is not too difficult to play and is uber-famous.
Corrected list: Upper Advanced/Diploma level: HR2, La Campanella, Ballade, Liebestraum Advanced: Pathetique, Clair de Lune, Flight of the bumblebee mid int/very early advanced: Fantasie Impromptu, Rondo Alla Turca, Fur Elise, Nocturne in Eb, Raindrop Prelude Intermediate: K545, Canon in D, Gymnopedie No. 1 Beginner: Prelude in C bach, Prelude in A major chopin.
put fantasie impromptu in advanced, clair de lune in early advanced, fur elise in intermediate, gymnopedie and canon in D in beginnner, and then you got it actually correct.
@@kurthayes2743 Fantasie impromptu is not advanced, most learners who start as kids learn it at around ages 7-10, I myself did at 11🧐Also, Gymnopedie No. 1 has larger jumps for beginners, getting the expression right is also a challenge for beginners too, piano isn’t just the notes themselves
I really enjoyed this video. It is very timely for me as I slowly make my way out of early intermediate into more solid intermediate level, with so many of the pieces mentioned being inspirational for me. Thank you - subscribed!
Awesome, so glad it was helpful. It's really fun to get to where you're at with piano because a lot of pieces start opening up and you get more options. I've done a couple videos where I talk about Chopin and Beethoven's easiest pieces (I think 4-5 pieces in each) so those may give you a few more ideas as well. Let me know if you have trouble finding them and I'll give you a link.
@@ryanabshier Thanks Ryan, I moved straight to watching the Chopin video after this one, and will seek out the Beethoven one too. Love it or hate it, I am self taught using (mostly) the Alfred Adult All in one books. After 2 and a half years I am at the first section of Level 3, where things are starting to get interesting. At the end of this book the 'stretch' pieces include: Chopin - Prelude in A Major op 28 no 7, Moonlight first movement, Fur Elise and Bach Toccata in D Minor, so lots of overlap with your popular list. I hope to get to these in about a year's time. Watching your Chopin video gave me hope of maybe a few more Chopin pieces for later and I was pleasantly surprise that 'Raindrop' might be achievable for me one day. Thanks again. I'll be sure to comment more as I work my way through your catalog of recordings. Greetings from Australia. Stephen
Fur Elise is such a beauty of a piece. It's an intermediate level piece as he said which I agree with, but it gives the player such phenomenal opportunities to explore the music. Lang Lang's performance of it is otherworldly. The piece can really show the difference between playing the notes and exploring the music. Love it!
There is a lot of popular easy pieces for piano. A couple: - Bach Minuet in G Major. A very famous piece from Album Ana Magdalena. - Twinkle twinkle litle star. Is a lullaby but is famous as a piano piece for the Mozart variations. - Schuman Wild Horseman. Everybody has strougled with Wild Horseman in a early stage of piano learning. - Mozart minuets. Ok, this are not popular, nobody will recognize the melody of the minuets. But is a very know fact that Mozart composed those minuets at five years.
Thanks for the additions! Yes you're right, for sure there are easier pieces than what I ranked, that's actually why I didn't put any in the "Easy" tier, because there are other pieces easier than the ones here (many comments are saying I should drop the lowest 3-4 pieces into beginner but there are many simpler pieces).. But this tier list in particular worked the other way around, I started off by collecting the most popular 20 or so pieces, and then ranked them. So I wasn't looking for the hardest popular piece, or the easiest popular piece, just the most popular. I talked about it a couple of times in the video how it seems like our most mainstream "famous" pieces tend to be bunched in the middle. Hope that clears things up and thanks again for mentioning a few pieces for people to seek out if they are interested.
This was really fun. I have played most of these including Chopin’s first ballade. Currently working on Liszt’s “Un Susspiro”. Wonder how you would rank that.
Frrrrrr Claire de lune is much harder to piece together than fur Elise. I learned fur elise at 13 years old but was completely stumped trying to learn the middle part of Claire
I am currently trying to acomplish La campanella like everything slow as it should and its so hard and i am happy you putted that in the video and when you said repeted octives i am getting flashbacks of me trying that a hour ago
Really well done. Agreed with everything. I was surprised how difficult HR #2 was. I thought it would be just showy, hard sounding stuff, but some of those passages are really awkward. Chopin can go the other direction, where things can sound insanely difficult, but they’re not that bad. Otoh someone like Beethoven (or especially Brahms) can write stuff which sounds not bad but is actually very difficult to do well.
Ahhhh!!!! This is my biggest omission of the video. Some famous pieces have been suggested but this is the first obvious miss for me. The annoying thing is I believe I wrote it down at some point and lost it in the transfer somewhere. Thanks for bringing it up. To answer your question, I would put it in intermediate or maybe as one of the easier pieces of late int/early advanced. It feels clearly harder than most of the Int pieces here, but not as hard as most early advanced pieces. However, a lot depends on your tempo. This is a piece I've heard from chill, relaxed 70-90s, and also one that's often played as a blistering allegro. If it's fast, the moving 6ths in the RH and the jumps in the LH would put it in upper intermediate/early advanced category. However, I kinda like it with a more chill vibe, so I probably would teach it at the intermediate level.
That's a great question. I've played that one and I think it's easier than Pathetique, but similar. I would say the main technique is harder than Pathetique sonata, but it doesn't have 47 different problems to worry about quite like a full sonata. So I guess that would put it in Advanced, harder than some, less difficult than others. Thanks for asking and checking out the video!
Bar for bar, the etude is harder than Pathetique, but it is only 2 minutes long (or a little less). You have works like Chopin Op. 25 no. 11 which is one of his hardest etudes, you need a lot of stamina to get through, but is still only about 3.5 minutes long. How do you compare that against, say, the Appassionata which is 25 minutes long? As an absolute difficulty scale, the etude is harder, because there is no way anyone can sustain that intensity of playing for a 25 minutes, so it's an argument between absolute difficulty versus difficulty due to length, which requires not only endurance, but musicality to maintain the audience's interest for a prolonged period.
Gymnopedies are amazing works of deep soul moving consequence. Yes, they're easy to play..not so easy to create, but they take you there for sure. Thank you for adding La Campanella:) Just curious, where would you rank Rachs' 2nd?
Great video. I’d love to see one that does a similar analysis but with lesser known works. I’m looking to learn intermediate pieces that are still awesome but less familiar. Any suggestions?
Of course you realize that any such list is a giant invitation for criticism of A) the rankings you gave the chosen pieces, and B) the thousands of pieces you didn't choose. OK, so I thoroughly enjoyed watching this, and here's my 2¢. • No "Beginner" level pieces? Well, I suppose there's always Chopsticks. ;-) • I'm so glad you included _La Campanella;_ there's a superb video of it, from several years ago, in a practice room (?) by Tiffany Poon on her YT channel. I highly recommend it. It blew me away! (I wish my hands worked as acrobatically as that!) • I guess the only pieces I can think of that feel "left out" to me, are the two most famous Chopin Polonaises - Militaire in A and Heroic in A♭ • Or might you have considered Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin? It's originally for piano & orchestra, but piano-only also works quite well for it. • As a Chopin enthusiast, there are so many of his compositions that would go well here, but there really are just too many. Waltzes, Mazurkas, Preludes, Études, ... I personally favor the Etude in E, Op. 10 No. 3. It gets progressively more "interesting" in the middle. Hey, thanks again for making & posting this video. Ciao! Fred
Hello Fred. Glad you enjoyed it and for mentioning things you would change in such a positive cheerful way. Very refreshing. I agree with you about Chopin, he simply wrote so many pieces that are famous in the mainstream culture. Some other composers feel left off (Schumann for example) I feel a few more Chopin pieces would still make the list before Schumann. I do feel a little bad about having no beginner pieces. I suppose I could have at the end gone back and added a few, but then I would feel slightly dishonest. My goal was to rank the most famous pieces, not find something for every level. And there are certainly less popular pieces that are easier than my easiest pieces here. Yes, I considered Rhapsody in Blue but decided against orchestra-piano pieces (I guess that could have gotten Schumann and Grieg on the list too). The biggest miss I've seen mentioned so far is Scott Joplin, especially considering I grew up within a couple hours of one of his homes. He's pretty famous around here with Ragtime festivals still in honor of him. Thanks again for checking out the video and for the fun conversation!
@@ryanabshier How could I not be positive & cheerful about such a marvelous collection review? So thanks for the reply, and for some further insight into what had to be your struggle to put this together. And yes, I'm glad you mentioned Joplin; I love several of his ragtime pieces, too - they're pure fun music. I hadn't thought of him for this, because I think of this type of music as too recent to be classical; but on second thought, it's more than a century old now, so, why not? It's been said that rag begot jazz, which begot rock...and that therefore, the Maple Leaf started it all!
I'm not a scholar, I don't play the piano, but what about MacDowell's Woodland Sketch N° 1, Couperin's Les Barricades Mystérieuses or Petzold's Menuet from Anna Magdalena's Notebook for the beginner's category... I know it could maybe mean relaxing a bit on the 'wildly' popular bit condition, but...
Hello!! I just discovered your channel. I like it!! 4:55 i would say that many composers considered the best one to be J. S. Bach. nice piano, which model do you use? about Liszt and "easy", there is one that can go into intermediate level: Nuages gris (Grey Clouds), S.199
Chuck Rondo allá Turca down, shouldn’t be above Claire de lune. I’d argue you should put Claire de Lune in Advanced. Also I would’ve added another category above upper advanced for HR2 and La Campanella
Definitely agree on both points - Claire de lune is definitely in a different difficulty category from Rondo. And Ballad has some tricky parts and is lengthy, but those Liszt pieces are more technically demanding for sure. But then we also need a category above those Liszt pieces for the truly demonic pieces like the Godowsky-Chopin Etudes, Hamelin's Triple Etude, and almost anything by Alkan
Hey man, I was wondering what you would rate “The Lark” by Glinka. It isn’t that popular, but you REALLY need to give it a listen if you haven’t heard. Great vid!
I can't imagine that there are any classical pieces that a beginner could play well if they're using the original arrangement. However, there are countless simple arrangements of many classical pieces. That's what I use, then over time I gradually use slightly more advanced arrangements as my skill level increases.
Although some of Clair de lune might be intermediate, I think to play the entire piece, including that pesky middle section, "properly" - you'd better be relatively advanced player. To make the point, I was recently at a restaurant that had a professional piano player, whose bio included teaching piano. He played Clair de lune and notably omitted that middle section from his rendition. It probably was noticed by myself and any other serious piano players present but I thought it was funny.
I'd have Liszts Mazeppa in the upper advanced section. And the Wanderer Fantasy by Schubert. I'd have placed Clair de Lune in a higher difficulty section than you did, but otherwise you did a good job in ranking the pieces.
Thank you for video! From love with Russia! I like your humour. In our country there is good kind phraseological unit The tongue has no bones, it mean man can talk endlessly and very fast it is about you). I want next time to see same video part tho with composers like Rahmaninov, Tchaikovsky more chopen and Bach please❤
Hi there! Thanks for checking out the video. Yes, I can talk well and often and fast. hahahaha. Yeah, I feel like a lot of people would like a list like this but including even more pieces. I tried to pick out just the most famous 20 or so pieces, but I'm down for more variety.
It took me two days to learn fur Elise and two days to learn moonlight sonata 1st movement but I practiced a lot, and I think I'm just like an upper intermediate rn but I can play la campanella coda somehow Edit 1: btw I teach myself watching TH-cam videos with no teacher and I'm 13 lol
Great video, however I would very much disagree with a lot of the rankings. Love the channel tho!! also, thank you for not putting bumblebee in advanced!!!
Since you have nothing in the beginner's category, you might as well shift everything down a category, so the top category could contain works that are GENUINELY at the highest level of difficult - works like Rachmaninoff 3rd Piano Concerto, Brahms 2nd Piano Concerto, the most difficult Liszt Transcendental Etudes, Liszt Piano Sonata, Chopin Spianato & Grande Polonaise, Beethoven Hammerklavier Sonata, etc.
1st off, pineapples are very yummy. Basically the greatest fruit in existence! I want one now. Yeah, I thought about doing that. But in the end I didn't mind showing that our most popular pieces in the rep aren't things you'll be playing well as a very beginner. But yeah, the top got very crunched due to this.
How would you rate The Poet and the Peasant? It took me forever to learn the whole thing! I started at 15 and put it aside till I was 70! The sheet music looks tired now!
I wish what u were saying was true cuz that would practically already make me a professional Pianist and all that awaits is the big checks I'll soon be cashing in 😂
If you could play them all perfectly, how would you go about getting this big check your talking about? Teach classical piano? I don’t think there’s a big check involved.
I love how as a self-thought pianist some intermediate/beginning advanced pieces are hard for me while upper advanced pieces are easy (easiER)… and yes I learned to actually play the piece and not only touch the notes, I know the difference lol
Haha, thanks, you are super kind for mentioning that. It's a combo, some I played before, many I've taught more recently so at least a few measures were still stuck in my brain. Memory has always been a strong suit for me, but don't worry, most of the pieces I couldn't play the whole thing without reviewing them. Also, a couple I looked up and rememorized during the video like the Satie clip, 🤫
Thanks a bunch, glad you've been enjoying them and I really appreciate the nice comment. It's always nice to hear encouragement and to know people are enjoying what's being put out. Thanks!
Great video. My problem as a pianist after taking lessons from 9 to 14 in age, I only can play slow moving pieces from Chopin to Rachmaninoff. I just can't play fast despite my enormous physical energy even at 68. Fortunately, I can sing and sight read most music. Sure, I can create an emotionally attractive Chopin Raindrop and Brahms Lullaby. My sister who took lessons less seriously, plays every instrument in the orchestra, is a operatic quality alto with recordings and solo singer with major performances and can play piano up to advanced. I'm stuck on Intermediate level. It's okay with 10,000s of piano recordings in my listening collection.
I can relate to that Stephen. At 72 my hands are stiffening with arthritis in places and a stubborn trigger finger. I enjoy playing some easy jazz, slow pieces, great American songbook. I also don't aspire to Chopin or Beethoven etc, I like Baroque. Again, at my own tempo. 😊 Happy playing!
Mozart sonata K545 is literally titled "for the use of beginners". You don't get much more beginner than that. Also, the rondò a' la turca is something that you play on the second/third year of learning, so between intermediate and beginner. I feel like this list is very squeezed up. How do you differentiate between Chopin's studies, that are plenty advanced, and unplayable things like liszt's transcriptions of beethoven?
People are missing out on really amazing works, think of Chopin's Scherzos, Preludes. Bach's WTC (besides the first prelude). Beethoven/Mozart Sonatas (besides Turkish march & moonlight lol)
I'm disappointed you didn't rank 3rd movement of moonlight sonata. That one never gets old. Composition requires you to be technically sound, as well as it has a great melody.
Learning the first arpeggios run now. Wow, this shit is hard (speed is the hard part). I’m struggling to do it at 25%. If I ever succeeded learning this piece, I will no longer have problems with arpeggios lol.
Bro, libestraum to play at preformance level takes as much time as playing chopin etude or smth. BUT THE FACT THAT U PLACED RONDO ALLA TURCA ON THE SAME LEVEL IS INSANE
Putting Liebestraum in the same category as rondo a la turka is insane
and he put ronda alla turca higher too... i also dont see ballade no 1 being harder than hungarian rhapsody no 2 tbh
@@TiimoDZN ive played both, i think ballade is way harder than the rhapsody
@@TiimoDZNhe didn’t order the lines
@@jordans415 ah then im probably wrong, ive only learned the first quarter of ballade 1
I didn't play Liebestraum. Do you think its harder or less hard? (But I wouldnt put Rondo alla Turca in advanced)
He put the fantasy-impromptu in the same level as the rondo alla turca. I'm literally dying right now lol
Fantasie Impromptu op.66 is a piece that sounds a lot more difficult than up it really is, once you get the hang of the poly rhythm it’s not so much if a challenge, especially section B.
@emptyarms6113 You're absolutely right, but still...
Yeah, you're right, not on the same level. When coming up with the tiers I had to make decisions, right. If a perfect world I'd have 10+ tiers, but that's too many considering the number of pieces. So it's pretty easy to find pieces that should move up or down 1 space or that seem to not belong together.
I did try to mention when things were on the line though. So the Mozart rondo is barely in that tier in my mind. Hope that clears it up a bit.
@@ryanabshier Yeah, but pathetique and fantasieimpromptu are like 5 times more difficult than Alla Turca
It makes sense, but personally, I could never get the hands on the rythem, so I'd say it's harder too
Changes i definitely would have done to the list:
- Rondo alla turca is more like a in-between intermediate and upper int piece, atleast nowhere near the difficulty of Pathtique, Impromptu or Liebestraum😂
- The intermediate pieces (except for raindrop) should also be moved down as they are possible to learn for a beginner in a few weeks…
Yeah, but they sound like shit then. There's a huge difference between somehow being able to play a piece and truly being able to play it. I heard too many "I just started to play the piano, here's Rondo alla turca". But I'd agree it's not advanced, but on level lower
@Helmut_Kohl I agree waltz in a minor is a killer example note wise it is fairly simple, but the difference between a begginer and pro is so blatant in the dynamics and expression.
I am outraged that this guy thinks rondo alla turca is just a level below la Campanella lol
In a few weeks??!! Nah
As a young piano student I tried learning rondo alla turca. I managed to get through it, but I always felt like it just didn't sound good. I think in terms of being able to play the notes, it's easier for sure, however the gap between "being able to play the notes" and "being able to play it well" is much bigger than for the other 3. Whereas with Liebestraum or Impromptu there's just so much going on that you can "hide" your mistakes a lot easier.
Hey, don't diss popular pieces like Gymnopedie and Bumblebee; they are popular for a reason. Gymnopedie in particular sounds way ahead of it's time.
I'm not sure it counts as modal, but his conception was really unique for the time. He just gets derided because it's not traditional in a genre that values tradition over everything. But hey, we've got Mozart with his mindless scale runs, so that's awesome. Let's play the same four composers over and over because nothing else exists.
"K 545, this is upper intermediate"
Mozart "I will call this 'For Beginners'"
Gymnopedie is beautiful and fun. I don't understand the bashing of it.
Mindless music snobbery
Gnossienne 1 is even better. But yeah, agree totally.
@@l.w.paradis2108 that was my first piece. it holds a special place in my heart
If you see the rankings that he gives I would say it's just general ignorance
Popular pieces of composers are not usually their hardest pieces.
Ravel: Let me introduce myself
🤣 hold my french wine.
scarbo: hey😎
@@markitoswolfGaspard de la Nuit 😎😎😎
@@Dylonely_9274 yeeaaa😎😎
@@Dylonely_9274 That was gives nightmares :D
I'm sorry, I cannot accept that Canon in D is known more as a piano piece. As a pianist and violinist, that is, at its heart, a string quartet piece, even if it wasn't originally written for that.
That is not to say arrangements are bad, I absolutely love making it possible for people (especially on their wedding day, as this is normally played at) to be able to hear their favourite songs when they may only have a keyboard available, or a violin and cello, or whatever the case may be. Just wanted to say Canon is not at its core a piano piece.
Um sorry but did you watch the whole video?
4:23
@@katttttt Sorry for the confusion. I was referring to him saying that it "feels like a piano piece," which I disagree with. Before he started playing Canon, he prefaced it by saying there would be pieces on the list that weren't written for piano but have "almost become known as piano pieces," so that's where I got my original statement. I also hold this position for Flight of the Bumblebee, which he says the same thing about, but not as strongly as, like Ryan, I don't love that piece, mostly just because of the culture around it and context it's usually played in.
@@stirlingclark5430 thanks for explaining, I get it 👍
He didn't even play the melody correctly 💀
@@stirlingclark5430mom no no
Don’t be a beginner. You’ll never play anything.
Oops 🤣
Philip Glass says hello
@@ryanabshier Chopin > Beethoven
not even close
Fur Elise is definitely a beginner piece, even when considering the whole piece. Mainly, because the most difficult part is so short that it only takes some extra practice.
@@Potent_Techmologyif you're referring to difficulty, I think sonata 32 is on par with some of the hardest chopin pieces
Thank you for this delightful journey through classical music history and difficulty. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire video. Well done good sir. ❤❤
The most “simple” pieces are the most difficult to play exceptionally well. It needs maturity and experience in how to capture an audience’s emotions (because they would have heard it so often)
It’s like poetry…the silences are the most important thing to get and let it linger for just the right amount of time. That takes years to master.
I think it was the legendary Artur Schnabel who said it’s not how you play the notes, it how you play the pauses between them. 😊
I agree, I've always said that Für Elise is a good litmus test to see how well someone plays. It's a simple piece every pianist can play but very few will do it homage.
19:57, actually just decided to learn a bit of this piece for fun, I find the repeated note section more problematic than the octaves(except the coda section.) although the octaves are the most scary since they’re placed after all the other technical requirements
Oh that's true. The repeated note section is pretty scary. I personally would probably order it like
1. Repeated note octaves
2. Repeated notes
3. Ending octaves (the very end where the octaves aren't repeated)
Obviously, I think repeated notes are hard 🤣 Liszt had an insane ability to do so many of them though. I played his Tarantella and when they show up in the middle section is probably the hardest part for me. Not saying the rest is a walk in the park though .
I'm forcing myself to play it everyday😢
La Campanella is a piece that reveals how bad your technique is as your hand, wrist and fingers become increasingly inflamed lol. When I first learned it it was impossible for me to get through it without stopping to shake my arms out
Play repeated octaves with a loose wrist
This video is so entertaining, so informative, and so humbling for this viewer.
Thanks a bunch. Super glad you liked it! My goal is to make it fun to listen to too, not just a dry ranking.
You could not be more wrong about Liszt! Spend some time listening to some of his other works like La Lugubre Gondola and La Notte and you will find a deep sincerity and seriousness. Top it off with the B minor sonata where the 'flair' supports some very powerful ideas
Hmm, I definitely didn't mean to imply he was "only" flair. What did I say that came off that way? I would say he is known for flash and flair, but I don't consider him shallow.
I mean, there are some shallow pieces by Liszt for sure, but I'm with you, Liszt is awesome. Definitely a top composer all time for me. And one where the impressive virtuosity is justified.
Liszt is the most misunderstood of all the major composers
@@iCrimsonKingI think amongst pianists he is understood perfectly fine, or at least to those with an understanding of music generally
@@iCrimsonKing Actually Brahms is the most misunderstood because people are under the delusion that he is a good composer.
@@RachManJohn oh man, that's a strong take, haha. We all have our own opinions (obviously not everyone agrees with mine and shouldn't) but just wondering what you don't like about Brahms.
Are you viewing him for more his piano music, orchestral, everything. Just curious. For me Brahms has a lower hit rate than Beethoven
Like, I'd have a harder time finding Beethoven I don't like than Brahms. But I still love his music.
The Satie grabs me harder than any of the others. It's inexplicable. And I think that's a good thing.
The Satie has been used so many times in cheesy ways, like the bed music for feminine hygiene product commercials, that it becomes difficult to listen to it strictly as music, fully separated from that context. If you do though, it is insanely beautiful and introspective. At once gorgeous and quite sad, imo, and almost unlistenable if really paid attention to.
@@mjcs6399don't watch those commercials and you won't have that association
During gymnopenie 1, I got a flowkey ad playing gymnopedie😂
😳 TH-cam has gone too far this time, that's wild! I'm going to say it's cause my 5 minutes of practice was so good they thought the listener must be in this for Satie.
I got the same ad at the same time too 😂
with each video your editing is getting better and better! keep up the good work, bro!
Thanks. Whenever I get a comment from you TH-cam always gets excited because you have a channel with subs 😅 Always takes me a second to remember who you really are, Fresh Rides.
great video, definitely learned about some of these pieces i never heard before!
Hi Ryan, I love the video. I was wondering where you would put the Chopin preludes in B, C, and E minor. My piano teacher gave a piano party for her adult students last night, and I played these Chopin prelude's plus the a major. I laughed out loud at your comments about the Satie. I think learning to play the piece was almost easier than learning to pronounce the title with a good French accent. Keep up the good work!
these r some hot takes ngl
Here are a lis(z)t of pieces a few levels above upper-advanced (Sorry for my lack of variety of composers):
3. Rachmaninoff Concerto 1 & 2, Chopin Ballade no. 4, Liszt Transcendental Étude 5 & 12, Ravel "Mirroirs", Beethoven Sonata 29
2. Chopin Sonata 2 & 3, Liszt Sonata in B, Liszt Étude S. 140 no. 4 version B, Chopin-Godowsky Étude 42 (Op. 25 no. 11), Ravel La Valse for Piano, Alkan Étude "Le Preux"
1. Prokofiev Sonata 7, Rachmaninoff Concerto 3, Islamey (idk the composer), Ravel Gaspard de la Nuit (especially mvt 1 & 3)
Nice list for those interested! Thanks. I wonder which of the pieces you listed would be the most popular (the most likely candidate to appear of this tier list). I didn't include concerti, if I did I guess Rach 2 might be. After that maybe the Liszt sonata might be the most famous. Chopin Ballade 4 for sure amongst us pianists, but I feel it's not in the mainstream enough, at least not in the USA. Interesting to think which super hard pieces are popular outside of classical music.
For the most part our most difficult pieces aren't the mainstream popular ones. I tried to compile my list first by popularity, then rank them afterwards, which explains the high quantity of middle tiers here.
Thanks for checking out the video and chiming in!
Anything by Schumann LOL
I've played some of these and I’ll just say that Beethoven 29 is SO much more difficult than Prokofiev 7 it’s crazy
And Chasse-neige (Liszt S.139 no. 12) shouldn't even be on this list
oh and btw Balakirev wrote Islamey
@@Literalistic Really? I played Proko 7 but not Beethoven 29, I just named a couple of pieces, some of them I haven't played but just went by the ratings of what the others think. Thanks for informing me though
Hi Ryan! Love the video! Thanks for taking the time since I was looking for a thoughtful list just like this and you did a great job. It’s a long way to the top if ya wanna rock n roll it’s been said, and you’ve helped shorten mine. Appreciate it! ESS
Hey there, I remember seeing this comment a bit ago but just forgot to respond. Sweet! I'm super glad it was just what you were looking for. Did you end up picking anything from the list?
Great vid!
I played Mozart K 545 (1st mvt only) in a recital when I was in 3rd grade. Everybody was like, "Ooooohhhh" because I followed 9 students who played very simple pieces. Personally, I felt like a beginner until I'd been playing for 10 years. Chopin is my favorite composer for the piano, but I never attained the level of dexterity to play more than just a few short works, mostly Mazurkas and Waltzes, a couple Nocturnes, Impromptu #1 in A-flat. (I later devolved into a dulcimer and accordion player so, goodbye to Chopin.) I've heard that Balakirev's Islamey is the hardest piece ever written for the piano, but it's not well-known enough to have made this video. My favorite piano piece by Satie is the sadly underplayed Jack in the Box. I've heard all the pieces on this video many times and most, if not all, have become hackneyed and trite to me, but for someone just getting interested in serious music, these are good choices. Thanks for posting!
Wheres our boy Rach? like c sharp minor prelude or moment musiceux?
You know... that's a good point. I don't think he has a piece as popular as some on the list, but probably as much as others. I just missed it i guess.
Which moment musicaux? I'm assuming no. 4, imo that goes to advanced tier, close to upper-advanced but not quite.
@@ryanabshier Well, not a piece for solo piano at least. He has some wildly popular pieces like his 2nd piano concerto. You could still certainly learn that to play by yourself. The middle movement is not too difficult to play and is uber-famous.
Not to mention his Prelude in G minor
Where does musical mom 3 go? The funeral march. Technically not so difficult, but musical? I'd say pretty close to advanced! 😊
I think of Karl Haas' theme for "Adventures in Good Music" when I hear the 2nd movement of the Pathetique
Corrected list:
Upper Advanced/Diploma level: HR2, La Campanella, Ballade, Liebestraum
Advanced: Pathetique, Clair de Lune, Flight of the bumblebee
mid int/very early advanced: Fantasie Impromptu, Rondo Alla Turca, Fur Elise, Nocturne in Eb, Raindrop Prelude
Intermediate: K545, Canon in D, Gymnopedie No. 1
Beginner: Prelude in C bach, Prelude in A major chopin.
Impromptu advanced
put fantasie impromptu in advanced, clair de lune in early advanced, fur elise in intermediate, gymnopedie and canon in D in beginnner, and then you got it actually correct.
More like corrected Liszt
@@kurthayes2743 Fantasie impromptu is not advanced, most learners who start as kids learn it at around ages 7-10, I myself did at 11🧐Also, Gymnopedie No. 1 has larger jumps for beginners, getting the expression right is also a challenge for beginners too, piano isn’t just the notes themselves
PART 2 PLEASE
I have a question, what would you guys rank nocturne no.20 and waltz in b minor op.69 no .2
I really enjoyed this video. It is very timely for me as I slowly make my way out of early intermediate into more solid intermediate level, with so many of the pieces mentioned being inspirational for me. Thank you - subscribed!
Awesome, so glad it was helpful. It's really fun to get to where you're at with piano because a lot of pieces start opening up and you get more options. I've done a couple videos where I talk about Chopin and Beethoven's easiest pieces (I think 4-5 pieces in each) so those may give you a few more ideas as well. Let me know if you have trouble finding them and I'll give you a link.
@@ryanabshier Thanks Ryan, I moved straight to watching the Chopin video after this one, and will seek out the Beethoven one too. Love it or hate it, I am self taught using (mostly) the Alfred Adult All in one books. After 2 and a half years I am at the first section of Level 3, where things are starting to get interesting. At the end of this book the 'stretch' pieces include: Chopin - Prelude in A Major op 28 no 7, Moonlight first movement, Fur Elise and Bach Toccata in D Minor, so lots of overlap with your popular list. I hope to get to these in about a year's time.
Watching your Chopin video gave me hope of maybe a few more Chopin pieces for later and I was pleasantly surprise that 'Raindrop' might be achievable for me one day.
Thanks again. I'll be sure to comment more as I work my way through your catalog of recordings.
Greetings from Australia.
Stephen
im edging too!
Fur Elise is such a beauty of a piece. It's an intermediate level piece as he said which I agree with, but it gives the player such phenomenal opportunities to explore the music. Lang Lang's performance of it is otherworldly. The piece can really show the difference between playing the notes and exploring the music. Love it!
There is a lot of popular easy pieces for piano. A couple:
- Bach Minuet in G Major. A very famous piece from Album Ana Magdalena.
- Twinkle twinkle litle star. Is a lullaby but is famous as a piano piece for the Mozart variations.
- Schuman Wild Horseman. Everybody has strougled with Wild Horseman in a early stage of piano learning.
- Mozart minuets. Ok, this are not popular, nobody will recognize the melody of the minuets. But is a very know fact that Mozart composed those minuets at five years.
the Wild Horseman took me back! the MEMORIES!!!
stuff from Burgmuller's Op. 100 too!
Thanks for the additions! Yes you're right, for sure there are easier pieces than what I ranked, that's actually why I didn't put any in the "Easy" tier, because there are other pieces easier than the ones here (many comments are saying I should drop the lowest 3-4 pieces into beginner but there are many simpler pieces)..
But this tier list in particular worked the other way around, I started off by collecting the most popular 20 or so pieces, and then ranked them. So I wasn't looking for the hardest popular piece, or the easiest popular piece, just the most popular. I talked about it a couple of times in the video how it seems like our most mainstream "famous" pieces tend to be bunched in the middle.
Hope that clears things up and thanks again for mentioning a few pieces for people to seek out if they are interested.
So interesting. Thank you
Glad you liked it!
This was really fun. I have played most of these including Chopin’s first ballade. Currently working on Liszt’s “Un Susspiro”. Wonder how you would rank that.
No way do Fur Elise and Claire de Lune belong on the same level.
Bro Clair de lune is fucking difficult man, it should be in advanced at least.
@@bobbycrio8936 not difficult, but definitely more than fur elise. On a scale of 10 fur elise would be at 2 and claire de lune 4 for me.
@@bobbycrio8936it's extremely easy to play the notes however even for advanced pianists it stays a hard piece to play with emotion
Frrrrrr Claire de lune is much harder to piece together than fur Elise. I learned fur elise at 13 years old but was completely stumped trying to learn the middle part of Claire
Agreed, this was ridiculous
5:47 been working on this for about 2 months now, got the whole thing pretty much done and I've only been playing piano for 3 months.
Nice! You must be loving it and super motivated. Sounds awesome. What got you into piano?
I am currently trying to acomplish La campanella like everything slow as it should and its so hard and i am happy you putted that in the video and when you said repeted octives i am getting flashbacks of me trying that a hour ago
Really well done. Agreed with everything. I was surprised how difficult HR #2 was. I thought it would be just showy, hard sounding stuff, but some of those passages are really awkward. Chopin can go the other direction, where things can sound insanely difficult, but they’re not that bad. Otoh someone like Beethoven (or especially Brahms) can write stuff which sounds not bad but is actually very difficult to do well.
same with bach
Where would you rank the difficulty level for "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin?
Ahhhh!!!! This is my biggest omission of the video. Some famous pieces have been suggested but this is the first obvious miss for me. The annoying thing is I believe I wrote it down at some point and lost it in the transfer somewhere. Thanks for bringing it up.
To answer your question, I would put it in intermediate or maybe as one of the easier pieces of late int/early advanced. It feels clearly harder than most of the Int pieces here, but not as hard as most early advanced pieces. However, a lot depends on your tempo. This is a piece I've heard from chill, relaxed 70-90s, and also one that's often played as a blistering allegro. If it's fast, the moving 6ths in the RH and the jumps in the LH would put it in upper intermediate/early advanced category.
However, I kinda like it with a more chill vibe, so I probably would teach it at the intermediate level.
If you're looking for one that's fairly easy, try Pineapple Rag. It's much easier than the The Entertainer, which I had trouble learning.
I'd be curious of your view of Ragtime or Stride Piano?
What do you think Chopin Etude op.10 no.1 would be on this list?
That's a great question. I've played that one and I think it's easier than Pathetique, but similar. I would say the main technique is harder than Pathetique sonata, but it doesn't have 47 different problems to worry about quite like a full sonata. So I guess that would put it in Advanced, harder than some, less difficult than others.
Thanks for asking and checking out the video!
@@ryanabshierno way really 💀 to me 10/1 is 100x harder than pathetique
Bar for bar, the etude is harder than Pathetique, but it is only 2 minutes long (or a little less). You have works like Chopin Op. 25 no. 11 which is one of his hardest etudes, you need a lot of stamina to get through, but is still only about 3.5 minutes long. How do you compare that against, say, the Appassionata which is 25 minutes long? As an absolute difficulty scale, the etude is harder, because there is no way anyone can sustain that intensity of playing for a 25 minutes, so it's an argument between absolute difficulty versus difficulty due to length, which requires not only endurance, but musicality to maintain the audience's interest for a prolonged period.
I'm ten years old and I play turkish march and mozart's sonata in c major.
Gymnopedies are amazing works of deep soul moving consequence. Yes, they're easy to play..not so easy to create, but they take you there for sure. Thank you for adding La Campanella:) Just curious, where would you rank Rachs' 2nd?
Great video. I’d love to see one that does a similar analysis but with lesser known works. I’m looking to learn intermediate pieces that are still awesome but less familiar. Any suggestions?
Where do you think you would put chopin's wrong note etude on this list
How would you rate “Traumerei” by Schumann?
Pachelbel’s Canon-played at every wedding since the beginning of time.
Of course you realize that any such list is a giant invitation for criticism of
A) the rankings you gave the chosen pieces, and
B) the thousands of pieces you didn't choose.
OK, so I thoroughly enjoyed watching this, and here's my 2¢.
• No "Beginner" level pieces? Well, I suppose there's always Chopsticks. ;-)
• I'm so glad you included _La Campanella;_ there's a superb video of it, from several years ago, in a practice room (?) by Tiffany Poon on her YT channel. I highly recommend it. It blew me away! (I wish my hands worked as acrobatically as that!)
• I guess the only pieces I can think of that feel "left out" to me, are the two most famous Chopin Polonaises - Militaire in A and Heroic in A♭
• Or might you have considered Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin? It's originally for piano & orchestra, but piano-only also works quite well for it.
• As a Chopin enthusiast, there are so many of his compositions that would go well here, but there really are just too many. Waltzes, Mazurkas, Preludes, Études, ... I personally favor the Etude in E, Op. 10 No. 3. It gets progressively more "interesting" in the middle.
Hey, thanks again for making & posting this video. Ciao!
Fred
Hello Fred. Glad you enjoyed it and for mentioning things you would change in such a positive cheerful way. Very refreshing.
I agree with you about Chopin, he simply wrote so many pieces that are famous in the mainstream culture. Some other composers feel left off (Schumann for example) I feel a few more Chopin pieces would still make the list before Schumann.
I do feel a little bad about having no beginner pieces. I suppose I could have at the end gone back and added a few, but then I would feel slightly dishonest. My goal was to rank the most famous pieces, not find something for every level. And there are certainly less popular pieces that are easier than my easiest pieces here.
Yes, I considered Rhapsody in Blue but decided against orchestra-piano pieces (I guess that could have gotten Schumann and Grieg on the list too). The biggest miss I've seen mentioned so far is Scott Joplin, especially considering I grew up within a couple hours of one of his homes. He's pretty famous around here with Ragtime festivals still in honor of him.
Thanks again for checking out the video and for the fun conversation!
@@ryanabshier How could I not be positive & cheerful about such a marvelous collection review?
So thanks for the reply, and for some further insight into what had to be your struggle to put this together.
And yes, I'm glad you mentioned Joplin; I love several of his ragtime pieces, too - they're pure fun music. I hadn't thought of him for this, because I think of this type of music as too recent to be classical; but on second thought, it's more than a century old now, so, why not?
It's been said that rag begot jazz, which begot rock...and that therefore, the Maple Leaf started it all!
What would you rank Maple Leaf Rag?
What about Chopin minute waltz? I started learning the piano so i can play that piece, and I'll just be satisfied when I'll be able to play it 😅
I'm not a scholar, I don't play the piano, but what about MacDowell's Woodland Sketch N° 1, Couperin's Les Barricades Mystérieuses or Petzold's Menuet from Anna Magdalena's Notebook for the beginner's category... I know it could maybe mean relaxing a bit on the 'wildly' popular bit condition, but...
great list and great video!
Hello!! I just discovered your channel. I like it!!
4:55 i would say that many composers considered the best one to be J. S. Bach.
nice piano, which model do you use?
about Liszt and "easy", there is one that can go into intermediate level: Nuages gris (Grey Clouds), S.199
Thank you for the video! There should be a sixth category "Insane" reserved especially for charles-Valentin Alkan.
sorabji would be in its own category
putting fantasie impormtu behind ballade is wild
😂😂😂😂 u funny
Chuck Rondo allá Turca down, shouldn’t be above Claire de lune.
I’d argue you should put Claire de Lune in Advanced. Also I would’ve added another category above upper advanced for HR2 and La Campanella
Definitely agree on both points - Claire de lune is definitely in a different difficulty category from Rondo. And Ballad has some tricky parts and is lengthy, but those Liszt pieces are more technically demanding for sure. But then we also need a category above those Liszt pieces for the truly demonic pieces like the Godowsky-Chopin Etudes, Hamelin's Triple Etude, and almost anything by Alkan
Hey man, I was wondering what you would rate “The Lark” by Glinka. It isn’t that popular, but you REALLY need to give it a listen if you haven’t heard. Great vid!
waiting for recommended classical pieces for beginners!
I can't imagine that there are any classical pieces that a beginner could play well if they're using the original arrangement. However, there are countless simple arrangements of many classical pieces. That's what I use, then over time I gradually use slightly more advanced arrangements as my skill level increases.
IMO
Very advanced: Chopin Op. 23, S.244/2, S. 141/3, bumblebee (Cziffra)
Advanced: Beethoven Op. 13, Beethoven Op. 27/2 (all movements), Liebestraum 3, Chopin Op. 66
Late intermediate: Mozart K. 331 (all movements)
Intermediate: Mozart K. 545 (all movements), Chopin Op. 9/2, bumblebee, Fur Elise, Clair de lune
Beginner: Bach Prelude in C, Chopin Prelude in A, Raindrop prelude
The raindrop preludes is intermediate
Can he rank ode to joy and valse KK IVB Nr.11
Great video! Could you do a video ranking chopin etudes? Lemme know what you think of this idea
Although some of Clair de lune might be intermediate, I think to play the entire piece, including that pesky middle section, "properly" - you'd better be relatively advanced player. To make the point, I was recently at a restaurant that had a professional piano player, whose bio included teaching piano. He played Clair de lune and notably omitted that middle section from his rendition.
It probably was noticed by myself and any other serious piano players present but I thought it was funny.
Oof I just got a little hit of secondhand embarrassment for that pianist 😂🫠
My guess is that he omitted it because that part is not well-known or popular among Joe-average restaurant goers.
It’s a tricky piece to play well. It is ‘graded’ Grade 8. I’d put in the advanced bracket. Not intermediate.
I'd have Liszts Mazeppa in the upper advanced section. And the Wanderer Fantasy by Schubert. I'd have placed Clair de Lune in a higher difficulty section than you did, but otherwise you did a good job in ranking the pieces.
Have you heard Feinberg and Szymanowski and Medtner piano sonatas? They’re my favorites
Too difficult lmao.
I don't really know anything about them, but I'll give them a listen. I love finding more unique music.
@@ryanabshier Feinberg, Medtner, Szymanowski, and Sorabji are my favorite composers
@@ryanabshier i would start with feinberg sonata 1 or 3 first, and the later sonatas like 8 are really mysterious
@@bbvv2967 agree
Underrated channel
Thanks 😊 Glad you like it!
Thank you for video! From love with Russia! I like your humour. In our country there is good kind phraseological unit The tongue has no bones, it mean man can talk endlessly and very fast it is about you). I want next time to see same video part tho with composers like Rahmaninov, Tchaikovsky more chopen and Bach please❤
Hi there! Thanks for checking out the video. Yes, I can talk well and often and fast. hahahaha.
Yeah, I feel like a lot of people would like a list like this but including even more pieces. I tried to pick out just the most famous 20 or so pieces, but I'm down for more variety.
It took me two days to learn fur Elise and two days to learn moonlight sonata 1st movement but I practiced a lot, and I think I'm just like an upper intermediate rn but I can play la campanella coda somehow
Edit 1: btw I teach myself watching TH-cam videos with no teacher and I'm 13 lol
Can you do the same with pop songs?
I loved listening to your sections of Beethovens Pathetique Sonata, just reminds me what a fantastic composition it is.
Thanks! Hearing Beethoven always makes one want more Beethoven.
I'm currently learning the andante of the K545.
Great video, however I would very much disagree with a lot of the rankings. Love the channel tho!! also, thank you for not putting bumblebee in advanced!!!
Since you have nothing in the beginner's category, you might as well shift everything down a category, so the top category could contain works that are GENUINELY at the highest level of difficult - works like Rachmaninoff 3rd Piano Concerto, Brahms 2nd Piano Concerto, the most difficult Liszt Transcendental Etudes, Liszt Piano Sonata, Chopin Spianato & Grande Polonaise, Beethoven Hammerklavier Sonata, etc.
1st off, pineapples are very yummy. Basically the greatest fruit in existence! I want one now.
Yeah, I thought about doing that. But in the end I didn't mind showing that our most popular pieces in the rep aren't things you'll be playing well as a very beginner. But yeah, the top got very crunched due to this.
How would you rate The Poet and the Peasant? It took me forever to learn the whole thing! I started at 15 and put it aside till I was 70! The sheet music looks tired now!
It’s an orchestral piece. No way to know what transcription you played.
Nice list ! I would also add God level and would place Mazeppa , Feux Follets and the other Liszt's Transcendetal Studies !
no
Yes, I agree.
I wish what u were saying was true cuz that would practically already make me a professional Pianist and all that awaits is the big checks I'll soon be cashing in 😂
🤣 Well, a quick youtube search will show you thousands of people can play advanced music. But few play it well. Haha.
If you could play them all perfectly, how would you go about getting this big check your talking about?
Teach classical piano?
I don’t think there’s a big check involved.
Is it compulsory to make faces when playing classical music?
@@moveuself yes. The better you are the crazier the face. Just watch the world's top performers, my dream is to look that crazy someday 🤣
@@ryanabshier Thank you for taking my comment with humour 😂
How is alla turca early advance
I would have put For Elise and Canon in D at the beginning section (personally I play those pieces one or two years after I started play the piano)😊
I do not agree with most of the things but still a great video!
I love how as a self-thought pianist some intermediate/beginning advanced pieces are hard for me while upper advanced pieces are easy (easiER)… and yes I learned to actually play the piece and not only touch the notes, I know the difference lol
Rondo alla turca is easy to learn but very difficult to master. I kinda agree with your ranking
How do you have in your memory all of those pieces ? Have you learned them couple of years ago and you still remember them very vividly ?
Haha, thanks, you are super kind for mentioning that. It's a combo, some I played before, many I've taught more recently so at least a few measures were still stuck in my brain. Memory has always been a strong suit for me, but don't worry, most of the pieces I couldn't play the whole thing without reviewing them.
Also, a couple I looked up and rememorized during the video like the Satie clip, 🤫
I’ve watched a handful of your videos and it’s all great content man. I appreciate your creative mind and skills. Keep it up!!! God bless!
Thanks a bunch, glad you've been enjoying them and I really appreciate the nice comment.
It's always nice to hear encouragement and to know people are enjoying what's being put out. Thanks!
Hey - where's one for the beginner please?
Twinkle twinkle
JS bach 's Minuet in G major is beginner level
I learned it first...if you are just starting it might take some time
J. S. Bach prelude in C Major is also for a Beginner
Great video. My problem as a pianist after taking lessons from 9 to 14 in age, I only can play slow moving pieces from Chopin to Rachmaninoff. I just can't play fast despite my enormous physical energy even at 68. Fortunately, I can sing and sight read most music. Sure, I can create an emotionally attractive Chopin Raindrop and Brahms Lullaby. My sister who took lessons less seriously, plays every instrument in the orchestra, is a operatic quality alto with recordings and solo singer with major performances and can play piano up to advanced. I'm stuck on Intermediate level. It's okay with 10,000s of piano recordings in my listening collection.
But for super advanced, Alkan (although he did write a more accessible to play Barcarolle) and Bartok.
I can relate to that Stephen. At 72 my hands are stiffening with arthritis in places and a stubborn trigger finger. I enjoy playing some easy jazz, slow pieces, great American songbook. I also don't aspire to Chopin or Beethoven etc, I like Baroque. Again, at my own tempo. 😊 Happy playing!
The 3rd movement and also in a lesser degree the 2nd mvmt of the Moonlight are rather in the advanced category if you ask me
Watch the full video and you will get what he meant about that ;)
Mozart sonata K545 is literally titled "for the use of beginners". You don't get much more beginner than that.
Also, the rondò a' la turca is something that you play on the second/third year of learning, so between intermediate and beginner.
I feel like this list is very squeezed up.
How do you differentiate between Chopin's studies, that are plenty advanced, and unplayable things like liszt's transcriptions of beethoven?
gotta let Alkan on the list too, his concerto for solo piano is amazing
How high would u rate moments musicaux no. 4 in E minor by radhmaninoff in the scale of difficulty (also asking u guys)
Interesting evaluations. Some pieces that you classify as intermediate requires a maturity to play them with intelligence. I did enjoy your video.
How is William tell overture not in hear?
i can play just an entrance from Tchaikovsky piano concerto.. the first 40 second before first piano solo ;D ;d
People are missing out on really amazing works, think of Chopin's Scherzos, Preludes. Bach's WTC (besides the first prelude). Beethoven/Mozart Sonatas (besides Turkish march & moonlight lol)
I'm disappointed you didn't rank 3rd movement of moonlight sonata. That one never gets old. Composition requires you to be technically sound, as well as it has a great melody.
i learnt rondo alla turca 6-7 months in and now just learning liebestruam after finishing fantaisie impromptu at 1.8 years
Where does Moonlight Sonata movement 3 fit into this? Question for viewers of this video
I'd say it only slightly harder than Pathetic's first movement
Learning the first arpeggios run now. Wow, this shit is hard (speed is the hard part). I’m struggling to do it at 25%. If I ever succeeded learning this piece, I will no longer have problems with arpeggios lol.
Bro, libestraum to play at preformance level takes as much time as playing chopin etude or smth. BUT THE FACT THAT U PLACED RONDO ALLA TURCA ON THE SAME LEVEL IS INSANE
I saw Chopins gravesite in Paris. It’s much nicer than that of Jim Morrison who is interred in the same cemetery, on the West Bank of Paris.
Hey, how hard do you think maple leaf rag and the entertrainer are?
Entertainer probably upper intermediate and maple leaf rag probably advanced
You are very easy to listen to. Appreciated!!