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 K.120
3:39 CPE Bach: Keyboard Concerto H.427
4:02 Haydn: Keyboard Sonata Hob XVI:52
4:39 Clementi: Keyboard Sonata Op.26 No.2
5:05 Mozart: Piano Concerto No.15, K.450
5:39 Beethoven: Piano Sonata No.29, Op.106
6:12 Hummel: Piano Concerto No.2
6:57 Schubert: Wanderer Fantasy, Op.15
7:36 von Weber: Konzertstück, Op.79
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, Op.52
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 Op.25 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: https://calebhupiano.com/levels-of-di...