Rach Etudes Op.39 no.5 and no.9

[instromp]

I am given the chance to learn one of these beauties, but cannot chose which one is better for me in terms of developing a better technique.I've listened to them numerous times, if someone would care to elaborate a bit on them in terms of technique development would be appreciated. Thanks

[gerry]

Instromp: If indeed you have reached the technical level to tackle either, I'm not sure why you have to ask such a question. First of all, what do you mean by "given the chance to learn"? If you mean that your teacher/coach/professor (whatever) has said that you must choose one or the other and learn it, then the answer to your inquiry lies somewhere in their reason for doing so. Your instructor obviously sees some deficiency in your technique that can be addressed by learning one or the other of these particular Etudes and your question should be directed to him/her.

I admire your concern with approaching these Etudes with the goal of improving your technique and not just to add a crowd-pleasing dazzler to your repertoire. I would suggest that you stop listening to your recordings, carefully read through each piece several times, and make your own decision based on the areas where you feel you need to develop--they should become apparent. These are both works that demand the ability to play forcefully without tensing up. In the spirit of at least offering a response to your question, I feel that of the two, #9, being somewhat more kaleidoscopic, offers the better variety of technical challenges, particularly for the left hand. But please have enough confidence in yourself to make this choice on your own and at least vet the responses based on the fact that no one respnding to your question has any idea of your specific technical needs, etc.
Good luck.