Op. 27 No. 1 or No. 2?

[sissco]

I want to play Op. 27 from chopin but wich one is the easiest?

Thx, Jordy

[eduard]

I think Op. 27 No. 1.

[sissco]

Hmmm ok...I like no. 2 more...   But thx anyway 

[kreso]

I didn't played them, but I think it is easier op.27/2, and more beautifull for me....

[sissco]

Ohw yeah...thats great....just confuse me haha...i think they are both the same difficulty if i look at it...but maybe somebody played them both?

[nicolaievich]

Both are challenging for the left hand, but No.2 has lots of difficulties for right hand too. I would start by No.1 too.
Best wishes.

[sharon_f]

I've played both  and they are about the same level as far as overall technical and musical difficulties. However, that said, each one poses very different demands.

I found No.2 harder musically. It is more well known and more played than No. 1. It requires so much control. It has to sound absolutely magical, one mistake, one note out of placed or accented wrong and the whole can just fall apart.

[quantum]

I find No.2 more difficult because of the various ornamented double note sections in the RH.

[mainpiano]

i think no.2 is easier for the beginner pianist...

[quantum]

Probably because no 2 is more straight forward to listen to.  No 1 sounds more virtuosic, but its musical demands are not as intense as no 2. 

[herma48852]

Interesting .. for me its not even close .. no. 1 is significantly easier than no. 2. The later requires an insane amount of control which frankly I will never have and therefore have correctly abandoned further futile attempts to improve on it.

Fortunately no. 1 is also so extraordinary that its far more than consolation prize. I should add here that I'm intermediate player with big holes in my technique which probably explains why I find it incomprehensible that some of the posters here feel the two pieces are of the same level of difficulty.

[transitional]

Necroposting because I'm surprised so many people are saying that no. 2 is harder than no. 1. No. 2 is quite easy as long as you play the whole piece delicately and very, very, very, very slowly. (as long as you can be musical about it) and those runs (48 and that other one on the same page) are nothing. No. 1, meanwhile, has impossible octave jumps in the Piu mosso section that I don't think I'll ever be able to fully get them down. Since the whole Op. 27 No. 2 is slow, there's not any difficulty with that aspect which I completely struggle with. Must be why I keep learning the chopin nocturnes rather than other music I enjoy much more, such as the mozart/beethoven sonatas

[anacrusis]

Necroposting because I'm surprised so many people are saying that no. 2 is harder than no. 1. No. 2 is quite easy as long as you play the whole piece delicately and very, very, very, very slowly. (as long as you can be musical about it) and those runs (48 and that other one on the same page) are nothing. No. 1, meanwhile, has impossible octave jumps in the Piu mosso section that I don't think I'll ever be able to fully get them down. Since the whole Op. 27 No. 2 is slow, there's not any difficulty with that aspect which I completely struggle with. Must be why I keep learning the chopin nocturnes rather than other music I enjoy much more, such as the mozart/beethoven sonatas

Those jumps are an issue but they get way worse if you anticipate that they will be hard. The way I do them is focusing on the ascending "melody" that the thumb has, and sort of trust that my body can successfully tuck in the lower note with the 5th finger in between. The melody is more important and it doesn't matter that much if you hit a stray key when playing the lower note. Sort of like playing any "um-pah" accompaniment, you have to trust that your body can find the lower note for you. And if you tense your hand out of fear of the difficulty you're way more likely to fail, you really have to keep it supple.