Scherzo Op 4 Brahms

[plk4life]

For some reason I have fallen in love with this song and would love to play it.  I am a beginner(Working on Invention no 1) and am curious of the length of time I should wait before starting this piece.  Does anyone know the grade level for this piece?  It seems incredibly difficult at tempo (Assuming Katchen plays it at tempo and not faster)

Also, would this be a good piece to play for an audition as a 19th century piece?

Thanks,
Brian

[pianogeek_cz]

Hah. Long ago, at the lovely naive time of Beethoven 10/1 and heaps of attempts at way too difficult pieces, I thought I'd be able to learn it. I've worked rather hard since, and still, no friggin' way.
Grades are not applicable, it's simply a pro piece. My advice is write the title on a post-it and stick it on your piano as a long-term motivation. Long-term being, I'd say, roughly three to eight years, depends on how hard you work.

It might make a good central piece of an ambitious university audition programme, if you -really- master it. At the conservatory entrance exams over here, it would be probably considered somethink like an overkill.

You're welcome.

[viking]

I commend your admiration of this piece - it seems that it hasn't found it's way into as much popularity as some of Brahms' other works.  That being said, it is a very difficult piece that brought an entirely different set of challenges to my technique as I learned it.  It is a rather awkward piece to play, requiring the pianist to fully explore many different fingerings in an attempt to get the right sound.  It is also difficult in that the type of instrument it was composed for is quite different than the modern day piano, and I believe this should be noted in the interpretation of the piece.  The post-it suggestion is probably a good one. 

Sam