Combining Chopin’s passion for the music of his native Poland with his bent for groundbreaking structures, it is a concentrated, meditative piece that constantly defeats those trying to nail its significance once and for all. Most of Chopin’s piano music deserves to appear in this list, but the Polonaise-Fantaisie (published in 1846), one of the best solo piano pieces, remains unique in his output. And while as wide a range of composers as possible has been included in terms of era and nationality, you’ll still find two entries for Chopin and three for Beethoven it would, indeed, have been tempting to draw the whole list of best solo piano pieces from their unparalleled output. While their best solo piano pieces are undoubtedly rewarding, they are not necessarily representative of any of them at their greatest and are difficult to hold up in comparison with such works as Schumann’s Fantasie in C and Beethoven’s ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata. You’ll notice major names that are missing, though – notably Mozart, Haydn, and Tchaikovsky.

Therefore, we ask you please to treat this list not as a definitive assembly, but rather as suggested starting points for explorating the most beautiful piano pieces. Consider the range: from Bach’sgreat contrapuntal keyboard works to the visionary cycles of Messiaen from Beethoven and Schubert’s greatest sonatas to the boundary-busting achievements of the finest 20th-century composers the world of the pianist-composers Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninov and Scriabin the possibilities feel endless. The piano repertoire often feels limitless in its size and scope.

Advanced piano repertoire list