Repertoire difficulty classification

[cuberdrift]

Ok, so I've thought about this for some time, and finally I've come up with a way to 'categorise' pieces according to their level of difficulty, for easy reference in any future 'difficulty comparison'.

It is repeatedly brought up that it isn't exactly fair to compare a 2 minute superhard etude to a 40m easy concerto, so I've come up with this concept of "Tiers" - these refer to the duration of the piece. Basically the best is to compare pieces in the same tier with each other. It is still possible to do the comparison between pieces of different tiers, but the practical way would be to stick to one tier.

Within each Tier are 5 "difficulty ratings" - basically Very easy, Easy, Medium, Hard, and Very Hard. Here it is (example):

Tier I - Short works (under 10 minutes)

1. Very easy - John Thompson pieces, simple Bach minuets, other beginner pieces
2. Easy - Easier Chopin waltzes, Fur elise, Clementi Sonatinas, Moonlight Sonata 1st/2nd mov't, etc.
3. Medium - Flight of the Bumblebee (Rach), Liebestraume no. 3, Maple Leaf Rag, Fantasy Impromptu, fast movement from an average classical sonata, Moskowski etudes, etc.
4. Hard - Chopin Waterfall, other hard Chopin etudes, Transcendental etudes, Scriabin fantasy b in minor, Schumann Toccata, La Campanella, etc.
5. Very hard - 1838 Paganini etudes/douze grande etudes (1837), Le preux, Comme le vent, Cziffra's hardest transcriptions, Mereaux etudes

Tier II - Lengthy works (10-30ish minutes)

1. Very Easy - Collections of beginner rep.
2. Easy - Classical sonatinas, Haydn 6 easy sonatas (?)
3. Medium - Mozart sonatas, many Beethoven sonatas, Bach Partitas, Grieg sonata, Poulenc concerto, Beethoven 1st/2nd/3rd concerto, Benedicion by Liszt
4. Hard - Gaspard de la nuit, Chopin 4th Ballade/Polonaise Fantasy, Beethoven Sonata no. 32, Liszt Sonata in b minor, Liszt et al. Hexameron, Mozart hardest concerti, 1851 Paganini etudes (whole set)
5. Very hard - Liszt's hardest operatic transcriptions, Alkan Solo Concerto mov't 3, 1838 Paganini etudes (whole set)

Tier III - Grand works (30+m-1 hour)

1. Very easy - Collections of beginner pieces
2. Easy - Notebook for AMB (whole set), Chopin complete waltzes, etc.
3. Medium - Rach 2, Schumann concerto, Schumann sonatas/fantasie, Clementi Gradus ad parnassum (complete?)
4. Hard - Hammerklavier, Goldberg variations, Liszt Beethoven transcription of 9th symphony, Czerny 740 (at the tempo)
5. Very Hard - Alkan Concerto for Solo Piano, Rach 3

Tier IV - Epic Music (1-4 hours)

1. Very easy - All Suzuki books (?)
2. Easy - Well-Tempered Clavier (both volumes), etc.
3. Medium - Complete Chopin etudes, Complete Transcendental etudes, Beethoven concerti played as a set
4. Hard - Alkan complete etudes, Douze grande etudes (Liszt) as a set, all 4 Rach concerti performed as a set
5. Very hard - Opus clavicembalisticum, Mereaux 60 etudes

Then there's even longer works, complete works of X composer, etc. but those are too long already I think to practically compare.

The examples above are very rough examples, but I think I said the idea.

Thoughts?

Regards,
cuberdrift