Piano Forum

Having now played most of the Chopin studies and tackled a few of the Liszt ones I have to say although Liszt often sounds more showy I find them technically easier to learn.  Etudes like op10/2/4/8/10 and 25/3/5/6/8/10/11 just arent comfortable and they are deliberately designed not to be.  they dont let up either they require real technical stamina and flawless RH technique.  Musically they are quite varied some are much more interesting than others - the popular ones are popular for a reason!  Liszzt its ture Donjuan I find sits better under the hand once youve got it and they some how feel less risky (its hard to explain) They tend to have flashy moments more so than Chopin but are not so evenly taxing and i find often less fatiguing. I have to say musically I think many of them have more to say than the Chopin studies but then they were intended more programmatically - the Chopin ones were not - they were by and large abstract compositions as was Chopin's custom.  In terms of value of study I would have to say that you need to study both because where one lacks the other builds - they complement each other well educationally.  Generally speaking Liszt is much better for chords and 8ves as they will be required for repertoire Chopins chord/8ve studies tend towards the extreme and are not hugely profitable beyond their specific goal. Chopin is great for ripping around the piano at great speed and brilliance with fantastic finger work, left hand declamation and extended figuration in legato touches.  I also recommend advanced students to look into debussy studies as these provide gap fillers for Chopin Liszt studies and really equip pianists for the demands of virt 20thC repertoire (and much of 20thc is virtuosic - to extreme)