The Advanced Musician: Happy New Year! | Advanced piano pieces part 1

The other day I was working on my ~~New Year's Resolutions~~ goals for 2016 and one of them is to learn some new piano pieces. I used to teach piano full time but quit a few years back to raise a family. I thought I'd look up "advanced piano solos" on Pinterest and see if there were any great things to learn there. Pinterest doesn't usually fail me, but I came up pretty short. And although I have tons of music on my shelves I just am at a loss to work on next. So in case anyone else is in the same boat, I thought I'd share a few of the pieces I've learned (and enjoyed) over the years. Some are ones I learned solely for the purpose of learning them, and others with a specific goal in mind- a studio recital (I used to always perform for my students at the end of the recital), a talent show, an audition for college, etc. This list will likely cover multiple posts since I'm not likely to remember the pieces I enjoy all at once... :)
So without further ado...

My favorite composer is Chopin, so of course I have to include some of his works. My favorite Scherzo is Op. 54, in E Major. I just love the "middle section" ( at about 3:30 in the video) with it's haunting melody. Sometimes when I pull it back out to "re-learn", I just play that part for fun. :) It is a bit lengthy but totally worth the effort.

Chopin Scherzo Op. 54, E Major
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Next is Schumann's Dedication (Widmung) transcribed by Franz Liszt. A fun "show-off" piece but also beautiful. I have to say I like Lang Lang's performance tempo in this video rather than some of the other versions on Youtube that were quite a bit faster.

Schumann Dedication (Widmung) transcribed by Franz Liszt

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Grieg is another composer who I enjoy and would like to learn more pieces by. At a Music Teacher's convention a few years back I heard a Master Class teacher perform Grieg's Holberg Suite (which I hadn't heard before) and loved it. So I learned it a few years later when I was out of college and could choose my own music. :) The first movement (Prelude) is a fun, lively piece and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE mvmt 4 (Air- Andante religioso).