Asking opinion about playing Scherzo nº2

[kolmogorov]

Hi,

I would like to know your opinion about  if I am prepared for studying Chopin Scherzo nº2 in B flat major.

 The most difficult pieces I play are Chopin etudes 25 nº1 and nº2, and first mvt of Beethoven's
Pathetique Sonata (this one only at 140). How is Scherzo compared to these works?

I've read a post by Berhnard dividing its first part into chunks, so I would like to give it a try.


thanks

Javier

[lung7793]

You may be ready...it's difficult to tell when i don't know you and have never heard you play.  Pick out the hardest sections.  Give it a try and if you're not ready, you're not ready and you'll find out fast!

[pianowolfi]

You may be ready...it's difficult to tell when i don't know you and have never heard you play.  Pick out the hardest sections.  Give it a try and if you're not ready, you're not ready and you'll find out fast!

Some sections are really not easy. I found a video with Michelangeli  on youtube and even he misses up a little bit at one spot http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvu05oT7UB8 around 3.16. I find this passage in the right hand one of the the most difficult things in this piece.

You may be ready...it's difficult to tell when i don't know you and have never heard you play.  Pick out the hardest sections.  Give it a try and if you're not ready, you're not ready and you'll find out fast!

I don't agree completely. Sometimes it needs a lot of trying before you realize something is too hard. But give it a try though. No practise time is wasted if you keep relaxed and patient!

[franz_]

Honestly I don't think you're ready. The finale is difficult.

[arbisley]

I started learning it when I was at about the same stage, and I think the first two sections or so are very manageable. On the other hand now, one year afterwards, I still have not completely learnt the finale, but now that I've advanced quite a lot technically, I think I'll try to finish it and possibly perform it at school
You should give the first section a try at least, it's great to play when you feel a bit out of it, and the second section is so beautiful.

I don't agree completely. Sometimes it needs a lot of trying before you realize something is too hard. But give it a try though. No practise time is wasted if you keep relaxed and patient!

Yep, had a lot of difficulty on that one!
After a while it gets much easier though, somthing to practice every few months and then leave it.

[kolmogorov]

Many thanks to all!

I have not tried the finale, I am looking at first 6 pages and I found I could play it.

What is so difficult in the finale, the long descending runs?

[arbisley]

The difficult bit is the third- and second-to-last page. The large stretches in the different ending to the arpeggiated bit for instance, and the leaps in the left hand on the 2nd to last page.
The last page isn't too bad, but I never really practiced that last bit much, so maybe it is actually more manageable!
Good luck!

[kolmogorov]

Thank you very much, arbisley.

I am trying and I think I could play both hands separate at speed at the sections you say . But I'm afraid that coordination is going to be difficult (each hand alone is quite difficult ).

Thanks again

[lagin]

The hardest piece I could play was the first movement of the Pathetique as well!  In fact, I could only go about 140, too!  My teacher (who yes, is very good and experienced) recommended the 2nd Scherzo to me as an option for learning this next year or two.  So I say, go for it.  I picked a different Scherzo because I liked it better, but the second one is awesome.   It will probably take us both a good while to master our scherzos, especially depending on how much other stuff we have on the go simultaneously, but as long as we are learning and developing in the process, who cares.  Just my 2 cents.   What does your teacher say?

[kolmogorov]

The hardest piece I could play was the first movement of the Pathetique as well!  In fact, I could only go about 140, too!  My teacher (who yes, is very good and experienced) recommended the 2nd Scherzo to me as an option for learning this next year or two.  So I say, go for it.  I picked a different Scherzo because I liked it better, but the second one is awesome.   It will probably take us both a good while to master our scherzos, especially depending on how much other stuff we have on the go simultaneously, but as long as we are learning and developing in the process, who cares.  Just my 2 cents.   What does your teacher say?

I'm sorry but these last years I'm almost autodidact (that's why put my post there) . Because I travel and pass two or three months without a piano, I just study pieces when I have the time. When I come  back to my country, I go to a public music school where i have a different teacher each year, half an hour a week . Last teacher told me I  was ok for the pathetique. But it has taken me almost a year just the first mvt, along with studies of chopin , a choipn difficult vals (14 in E minor) and troika from tchaikovsky. I myself choose the pieces to study. It is a good thing.

It's a funny coincidence you played pathetique also when you began your scherzo. Thank you for your reply.

[quasimodo]

I'm sorry but these last years I'm almost autodidact (that's why put my post there) . Because I travel and pass two or three months without a piano, I just study pieces when I have the time.

You might consider getting a portable digital piano. Being on and off this way, progress will be so slow and frustrating.

[lagin]

It took me about a year to learn it too (Pathetique - 1st mvmt.).  I had a few more pieces on the go than you, but to counteract that, I also had longer lessons, and more free time.  It's still one of my favorite pieces.