Piano Forum

In my opinion (though I haven't played all the pieces on the list yet) -

Almost sight-readable
- Debussy, Clair de lune
- Debussy, Arabesque 1

Fun to play and not too difficult
- Debussy, Doctor gradus ad parnassum
- Chopin, Etude op. 10 no. 9
- Chopin, Etude op. 25 no. 1
- Bartok, Romanian Folk dances
- Khachaturian, toccata op. 11
- Schubert, impromptu op. 90 no. 3
- Copland, the cat and the mouse


Hard to get right until you do
- Chopin, Etude op. 25 no. 2
- Chopin, Waltz in E Minor, op. posth., B 56
- Schumann, Arabeske
- Prokofiev, Sarcasm no. 3
- Brahms, Romance in F Major, op. 118, no. 5

Lots of dedication and I still can't get it right
- Mozart, 12 variations of "Ah, vous dirai-je Maman"
- Chopin, andante spianato

This ranking is based on my personal challenges. The first category is almost sight-readable in the sense that I can sightread those pieces at 50% speed and decent accuracy. The second category is pieces that I consider to be much harder than they sound, with simple patterns or technique and easily comprehensible interpretation. The third category has some of the most technically challenging ones, but more generally they are pieces that take some grappling with until you figure them out. I had to give the Mozart and Andante Spianato their own category because of how delicate those pieces are and how frustrating they can be to interpret.