A highly avant-garde composition by Shigeru Kan-no that explores extreme ranges of the piano. The piece is characterized by its sparse texture and sudden, visceral dynamic shifts.
At Henle 7 this is a late-advanced work — the technical demands are serious and sustained. The main demands: sharp dynamic and character contrasts held together in one arc; chord voicing — bringing out one note inside a handful of others; and big chords that need weight without harshness.
Focus on extreme dynamic control and the ability to project sound across the entire register of the keyboard.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
A level or two down with the same spirit — ideal if this piece is still out of reach.
Where this piece's skills lead: slightly harder works making similar technical demands.
Lesser-known works by the same hand, at a comparable level.
Extrem, WVE-29j is rated Henle level 7 of 9 — late advanced repertoire, roughly ABRSM grade 8 and above. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 9.
You should be comfortable at Henle level 7 — meaning you can already play level 6–7 pieces cleanly. Learning it one level early is possible as a stretch piece, but more than that usually leads to months of frustration.
A typical performance of Extrem, WVE-29j lasts about 5 minutes.
Extrem, WVE-29j is available as free public-domain sheet music on IMSLP — the score is linked directly from this page.
Pieces at a comparable difficulty and character include Extrem by Shigeru Kan-no, Fantaisie et Variations sur 'Euryanthe' de Weber by Sigismond Thalberg, Die Lorelei by Franz Liszt — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.