Repertoire Progression

[dreamaurora]

I was thinking on one day perhaps I should create a thread to aid forumers here in learning piano repertoire. I will list the most popular composers in the piano repertoire and group some of their most popular pieces for different levels so students can use this guide to provide them a good standard repertoire progression in their studies. Mod, if you can , please make this sticky. I will continually update this list and other forumers can suggest me pieces to be included in the list in the replies.

Level explanation ( based on UK examination system ):
- Beginner : Beginner at piano, typically around the first  1-3 years of piano study. Grade 1-3 standard.
- Intermediate : Around grade 4-6 standard.
- Late Intermediate : Grade 7 standard. Reasonably matured and decent technical capability
- Advanced : College level or undergraduate level of music study. Grade 8 to first tier diploma. Mature musicianship and secure techniques.
- Late Advanced : Graduate and post graduate level. Second tier diploma upwards. Require very mature musicianship and virtuosic techniques.

Johann Sebastian Bach

Beginner
- Notebook for Anna Magdalene :
 - Minuet Anh 114, 115, 116, 120, 121, 131, 132
 - Marche Anh 122
 - Musette Anh 126
- Prelude BWV 939

Intermediate
- Notebook for Anna Magdalene :
 - Minuet Anh 113, 118,
 - Marche Anh 124, 127
 - Polonaise Anh 117a, 119, 123, 125, 128 , 130
 - Praeludium BWV 846 ( aka Prelude in C Major )
- Two Part Inventions no 1, 2, 4, 8, 10

Late Intermediate
- Two Part Inventions no 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
- Three Part Inventions/Sinfonias no 1, 3, 6, 10, 11, 15
- Fugue BWV 953
- 6 small Preludes BWV 933-938

Advanced
- Three Part Inventions/Sinfonias no 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14
- French Suites no 1-6, BWV 812-817
- Well Tempered Clavier Prelude and Fugues
 - Book 1 - 1, 2, 5, 6, 9,12, 14, 16
 - Book 2 - 5, 6, 9, 11, 16, 17
- Toccata no 3 BWV 912, no 5 BWV 914

Late Advanced
- Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue BWV 903
- Partita no 1-6, BWV 825-830
- Well Tempered Clavier Prelude and Fugues
 - Book 1 - no 3, 4, 7, 8, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
 - Book 2 - no 3, 4, 10, 14, 16, 18, 21, 22 , 23, 24
- Toccata no 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 (BWV 910, 911, 913, 915, 916)
- Italian Concerto BWV 971

Ludwig van Beethoven

Beginner
- Sonatina Ahn 5, no 1 and 2
- Ecossaise WoO 23 , WoO 86
- Two Russian Folk Songs, Op 107

Intermediate
- Fur Elise, WoO 59
- Allemande WoO 81
- Six Ecossaises, WoO 83
- Minuets WoO 10, woO 82
- Bagatelle op 119
- 1st movt of Sonata op 27 no 2 "Moonlight"
- Sonatina WoO 51

Late Intermediate
- Variations on a Swiss Song , WoO 64
- Bohn Sonata WoO 47 no 1-3 ( no 2 most popular )
- Sonata op 49 no 1 and 2
- Bagatelle Op 33
- Rondo a capriccio "Rage over a lost penny" op 129

Advanced
- Sonata op 2 no 1
- Sonata op 13 "Pathetique"
- Sonata op 10 no 1, 2
- Sonata op 14 no 1, 2
- Sonata op 26
- Sonata op 27 , no 1 , 2 "Moonlight"
- Sonata op 79
- 32 variations , WoO 80

Late Advanced
- Sonata op 2 no 3
- Sonata op 7
- Sonata op 10 no 3
- Sonata op 22
- Sonata op 28 "Pastorale"
- Sonata op 31 no 1
- Sonata op 31 no 2 "Tempest"
- Sonata op 31 no 3
- Sonata op 53 "Waldstein"
- Sonata op 57 "Appassionata"
- Sonata op 81a "Les Adieux"
- Sonata op 106 "Hammerklavier"
- Sonata op 109, op 110, op 111
- Eroica Variations op 35
- Diabelli Variations op 120  

Frederic Chopin

Beginner
- None

Intermediate
- Prelude op 28 no 4 , 6, 7 , 20
- Mazurka op 7 no 5
- Mazurka op 68 no 2, 3
- Waltz in A Minor, posth
- Waltz in E-flat major, posth
- Waltz in B Minor, op 69 no 2

Late Intermediate
- 3 Ecossaisses, op 72c
- Prelude op 28 no 15 "Raindrop"
- Waltz op 64 no 1 "Minute"
- Waltz op 69 no 1
- Nocturne op 9 no 2
- Nocturne op 15 no 3
- Nocturne op 37 no 1

Advanced
- Nocturne op 62 no 2
- Nocturne op 72 no 1 , posthm
- Fantasie Impromptu op 66
- Berceuse op 57
- Polonaise op 40 no 1 "Military"
- Waltz op 64 no 2
- Mazurka op 17 no 4
- Etude op 10 no 3,  6
- Etude op 10 no 12 "Revolutionary"
- Etude op 25 no 2
- 3 Nouvelles Etudes no 1, 2

Late Advanced
- 4 ballades, op 23, op 38, op 47, op 52
- 4 scherzi , op 20 , op 31, op 39, op 54
- Etudes op 10 no 1-12
- Etudes op 25 no 1-12
- Sonata op 35
- Sonata op 58
- Barcarolle op 60
- Nocturne op 48 no 1

Claude Debussy

Beginner
- None

Intermediate
- None

Late Intermediate
- Reverie
- Valse Romantique
- 2 Arabesques
- Le petit Negre
- Morceau de Concours
- Children's Corner
 - Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum
 - Jimbo's Lullaby
 - Serenade of the Doll
 - The Snow is Dacning
 - The Little Shepherd
 - Golliwog's Cakewalk
- Prelude Book 1
 - No 8 : La Fille aux cheveux de lin

Advanced
- Suite Bergamasque
 - Prelude
 - Menuet
 - Clair de lune
 - Passepied
- Suite 'Pour le Piano'
 - Prelude
 - Sarabande
- La plus que Lente
- Ballade
- Nocturne
- Prelude Book 1
 - No 1 : Danseuses de Delphes
 - No 3 : Le vent dans la plaine
 - No 6 : Des pas sur la neige
 - No 10 : La Cathedrale engloutie
 - No 12: Minstrels
- Prelude Book 2
 - No 5 : Bruyeres

Late Advanced
- Estampes
 - Pagodas
 - La soiree dans Grenade
 - Jardins sous la pluie
- Images Book 1 and 2
 - Reflets dans l'eau
 - Hommage a Rameau
 - Movement
 - Cloche a travers les feuilles
 - Et la lune descend sur la temple qui fut
 - Poissons d'or
- 12 etudes
- L'Isle joyeuse
- Suite 'Pour le Piano'
 - Toccata

[RiskyP]

This is a fantastic idea! Just one suggestion. Could it be broken down to movements for sonatas and such. For instance, the moonlight sonata third movement is supposed to be very hard (I wouldn't know) but the first movement isn't that advanced is it?! I realize this would make it a lot messier, but it would help people like me, who don't neccessarily want to learn an entire sonata, just the easier movements.  

[dreamaurora]

Good suggestion, I will try to include popular individual movements from sonatas whenever I can. Okay, the beethoven list is up, hopefully i can get another composer , most likely Bach , up as soon as I can.

[NetherMagic]

Argh seems like I can only make it to advanced, not late advanced

Is it all right if you also include some of Chopin's and Liszt's and Mendelssohn's and Bach's and Mozart's works please?

[RiskyP]

@ dreamaurora:

I can't express how great it is that you are doing this! Listings like this should've been made a long time ago, but I guess there was probably conflict of opinion/criticism about this among teachers.

Anyhow, I think this should be made sticky and expanded to as many composers as possible. For people like me, who are on there own, this list is a must - it gives me a good idea of what my possibilities are, and therefore I have greater diversity than otherwise.  

Keep up the good work! (wish I could help, but I only know 3 pieces lol).

EDIT: Someone please make a listing of Rachmaninoff's works, specifically his preludes, Op. 3 works and perhaps etudes.

[Hmoll]

Nice list. I agree with most of the rankings. Op. 28 should be under "late advanced" since it is so deceptively difficult, and hard to interpret. You might as well add op22 and op10#3 to the "late advanced" category as well.

Also, this is pretty obvious, but readers here should be cautioned against regarding pieces grouped in the same categories as being necessarily the same level of difficulty. For example, Op7 is under late advanced, but it is certainly not as difficult as Op 106.

[Stral]

This list is excellent, great work!  I'd love to see it expanded to other composers though.. *hint hint*  

[Garfield]

I agree : this is truly a very very great idea !
Thanks to you I know what level I am now, and eventually which piece I'll play next.

Again, Thank you very much, and (please) continue this great work!

[dreamaurora]

Hi, guys, thanks for the response and feedback. A note to remember, this list is meant to help you in choosing your repertoire, however, ultimately your teacher is the one that knows best what repertoire suits you. And do not attempt any of these pieces especially those of advanced and late advanced categories on your own.

Another note, I will repeat some pieces for a few levels as I feel some pieces may require another level to play it to higher standard. Example, Chopin etude op 10 no 3, any early advance students with some hard work can play this piece decently, but it takes a pianist with much more experience to intepret it well.

Anyway, I'll try to add a new composer soon, while updating the rest. Chopin is especially rather tough for me to categorise since so many of his pieces are popular, it may take some time before the Chopin list is fully complete.

[RiskyP]

I have a suggestion about how to make this thread more efficient and less work for dreamaurora.

Everyone who is interested in a specific piece or pieces by one or more composers should post their request and those who know which level that piece is, should merely state the level. This way, it doesn't take much effort for those who know the level to post, since they only have to utter a few words, and also the information could later be compiled in an updated list, which will be oriented toward the people here at PF.  

Any comments?

[Irock1ce]

Cool with me.. ill start it off...
Debussy - Clair de Lune
Schubert - Impromptu op.90 no. 4
Bach - Italian Concerto all 3 movements
Bach- French Suite no.5
Liszt - La campenella

[Garfield]

Well, instead of listing the pieces I'd want you to put on your list, I'll ask you a question :

You say that the Chopin's Waltz in E flat major, i.e the op. 18 n°1 (the very well-famous one), is in the intermediate grade : are you really sure of that ?
Because I'm finishing the first movement of the "Moonlight sonata", and it'd be miraculous for me to be able to play this waltz, as I see these two pieces are in the same grade : intermediate.

So, is the op.18 n°1 Waltz really "intermediate", and is it playable by someone who has just finished the 1st movement of "Moonlight sonata" (which seems to be intermediate too) ?

Sorry if my words were confused, and have a nice day !

PS : And what about the op. 32 n°2 and op. 69 n°2 (i.e the two other waltz that are "intermediate" in your repertoire progression) ?

[dreamaurora]

For your information, I'm not referring to op 18 no 1, instead I am referring to one of the two posthomous waltzes ( no 2 to be exact ) , that is actually considered to be the easiest of all chopin waltzes.  

Note that when I categorise the pieces, I do take into consideration the musical difficulties of these pieces, hence I put Moonlight Sonata 1st movt under "intermediate" category. I know that any beginners with hard work can play out this piece, but I do feel at least an intermediate level is needed to intepret this movement decently. Anyway, do keep the posts coming in. I'll put in Bach and R.Schumann in quickly, and also finish the Chopin list. Post the pieces you want to know the level , and I will try to reply to you or put in under miscelanneous heading in the list.

[dreamaurora]

Hey, I need help, can someone help me rate the missing prelude and fugues and also the English Suites ?

[dreamaurora]

Debussy is up. For now perhaps I will try to fill in the gaps of the missing pieces, I need to sort out a lot of Chopin pieces to fill in the missing gaps and also the rest of the composers.

[ThEmUsIcMaNBJ]

I love this I'm reading through it a lot.  I know it might be a lot more work but could you seperate some more of them into the movements?  For example I'm guessing Italian Concerto's 3rd movement is the one in the late advanced, and that the 2nd movement is probably much lower.  Just a suggestion!

[dreamaurora]

Italian Concerto 3rd movement is surprisingly considered the easiest out of all 3 movements. I guess this is because it is perceived as a virtuosic piece. Do note that just because a piece is more 'black' or is very fast it doesnt mean it is a very difficult piece. I know that most pianists try to play this movement as fast they can, but do listen to Alicia de Larrocha's recording of it, which I think is superb and has a much slower tempo, but she really bring out that baroque feeling instead of making it sound like a show-off piece.

Anyway, I am a firm believer that individual movements of a long work such as a sonata should not be attempted individually. If I want to play a sonata, I will learn all 3 movements, because each movement has different musical characteristics and different challenges. But most importantly, each movement is interlinked to each other, learning an individual movement breaks that musical flow. That's why I do not bother to separate each movement into different categories.

[RiskyP]

Wow... I am going to make a PDF file out of this list and keep updating it as the list is updated... fantastic job dreamaurora!

BTW, are there any more beginner pieces from Beethoven...  perhaps something on sheetmusicarchive.net?

Oh yea, this is probably an idiotic question: are there any "easier" pieces from Rachmaninoff?

[ThEmUsIcMaNBJ]

That's very very interesting dream.  I'm glad to hear the 3rd is considered the easiest.  I finished the first 2 movements and am currently working on the third and did find that actually learning it was much easier than the first.  I don't know exactly why, the first sounds so much easier, yet took me quite a while to be able to play confidently.  While as the 3rd is already getting there in less than half the time.  It just sounds so much more virtuostic that I could only assume.

[Irock1ce]

wow thats a really good list.... keep it up!.. but how come debussy doesnt have any really easy pieces? i seem to remember him writing some really easy pieces....

[RiskyP]

What difficulty is Chopin's Mazurka Op. 63 No. 3?! I mean technically, not musically... it obviously requires a lot of musical maturity.  

BTW. I got this off a sheetmusic website--->

Chopin

Prelude: <very easy> 7, 20, 4, 6, 2, 15, 21, 11, 9, 17, 13, 10, 23, 3, 14, 1, 18, 5, 12, 19, 22, 24, 8, 16 <very hard>

Marzuka: <very easy> 5, 9, 43, 4, 47, 11, 41, 18, 6, 44, 45, 49, 14, 31, 16, 8, 12, 39, 14, 42, 22, 46, 24, 19, 34, 15, 20, 50, 25, 36, 3, 2, 1, 27, 10, 48, 40, 29, 7, 37, 30, 23, 28, 17, 13, 21, 26, 32, 33, 38, 51 <medium>

Waltze: <easy>12, 9, 3, 10, 7, 8, 6, 13, 11, 14, 4, 5, 1, 2 <hard>

Ballade: <medium> 3, 1, 2, 4 <hard>

Scherzo: <very hard> 2, 4, 3, 1 <very hard>

Might help.

[RiskyP]

I would like to learn one of the Clementi Sonatinas, someone please rate their difficulty.

[eddie92099]

What a fantastic idea! If you need any help on the difficulty of any pieces of course let us know and we will give our opinions. I think the next composers listed should be Liszt and Rachmaninov, since they are both so popular and wrote so much great music (and then Prokofiev and Ravel perhaps?). If you want help with doing these let me know, keep up the great work, it is much appreciated,
Ed

[dreamaurora]

Well, I need help on the missing prelude and fugue, and also the english suites. Next composer to be up I think will be either Robert Schumann or Felix Mendelsohn, since they write many great beginner and intermediate pieces. And oh yeah, RiskyP, don't follow the rating for those Chopin pieces, they are totally off, even in terms of technical difficulty wise.

[MrPiano]

hi i'm new to this forum.

when you say grade level, what system are you referring to?

[bachopoven]

Dreamaurora,

Great work!

Is there a book or a series containing these pieces by level? I would be interested in the score of the beginner and interemediate levels specially.

[dreamaurora]

Well, there are many many different compilations out there. The one I use is by Keith Snell, the compilations come in order of grade ( 1-10 ) and grouped into 3 different types, baroque & classical, romantic & 20th century, and etude. The other popular I think is the 'Big Book' series. There are many other popular ones, can't remember their names, but I think one of them have very colourful paintings as their covers and the other one have a plain drawing of piano as their covers. Henle's piano albums are great too. And if you are feeling stingy, Hal Leonard has many compliations such as 'Great Piano Literature' , etc, but the downside is they have poor editing and no fingerings.

[dreamaurora]

Oh yeah, I follow the UK system of grading for the pieces.

[Rach3]

Just an observation, are the Bach partitas really "late advanced"? I think late intermediate is closer as well as for the French suites, at least relative to the WTC.

Irock1ce, in response to your unanswered question, I'm sure no one will disagree that La Campanella is a "Late Advanced" piece. I think Schubert 90.4 is actually a "Late Intermediate" piece, based on the technique it uses.

A request for dreamaurora: Can we add higher levels to distinguish things like late Beethoven sonatas and Transcendental etudes? Titles something like "concert artist", or "unplayable".

[NetherMagic]

just a quick note, add Chopin's "Heroic" Polonaise in !-flat major Op.53 into late advanced =]

you forgot Liszt! well I guess they're all late advanced but haha newayz yea

[Phantasmagoria]

hey this was a good idea!

[BoliverAllmon]

yes, it was I wonder why it stopped happening?

[Hamfast]

You must take into consideration that all Chopin's works isn't musicaly easy.
You think that children can play 5, 9, 43 or 4 Mazurkas???  Nonsense!!!

[lenny]

are all chopins etudes really late advanced?

[chopinisque]

Actually, most of the Chopins have been done.

Bernhard's definitive lists of links.
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,5078.0.html

[SteinwayTony]

are all chopins etudes really late advanced?

Yep.  Chopin's students weren't allowed to touch his etudes until they had finished all of the Clementi etudes, which have basically fallen by the wayside.

[Rockitman]

i don't know how many of you have played Beethoven's Ronda Capprissio (rage over the lost penny), but I would definitely place that piece in advanced and not late intermediate.  This piece is plain tough to play at speed.
And I wouldn't considerChopin's Nocturne 72 1 as advanced.  Late intermediate at most.  But I do appreciate your initial list. 
Where would you place Lequona's Malaguena?  I'm practicing that one right now and I would definitely call that one advanced.
Also practicing Chopin's Nocturne 9 1,  advanced or late intermediate?  What a beautiful piece.  I wasn't even aware of it until a month ago.

[lenny]

Yep.  Chopin's students weren't allowed to touch his etudes until they had finished all of the Clementi etudes, which have basically fallen by the wayside.

funnily enough my 1st piece was a chopin etude