Need a suggestion to learn a new Chopin's Etude....

[go12_3]

Hello there!
I have been working on Etude 10/1 and 25/8, and pretty well got those down, you know the fingering and playing HT.  I'm at the point I need some suggestions on another Etude by some fine pianists in the forum.  I have small hands with an octave reach.  I don't have the time to look through the entire Etude book either.  I'd like something easier than the ones I have been working on.....thank you!     

best wishes,

go12_3

[tanman]

does it really have to be a Chopin etude? 

[db05]

Though I love Chopin, he's quite overplayed and etudes aren't my cup of tea, generally. If you have a copy of the complete etudes like mine, you could try one of the Trois Nouvelles Etudes (no opus number here). They're short and sweet, imo. Another favorite is Etude 10/3, known as Tristesse.

Otherwise, I'd recommend Scarlatti sonatas if you have some, or Liszt if you want a challenge.

[go12_3]

Hence, my post indicates CHOPIN ETUDE.  Nothing else.  I don't care for Scarlatti nor Liszt(his pieces are horror to me ).   Anyhow, I will take a look at 10/3, as you suggested, db. 

best wishes,

go12_3

[db05]

Yes, Liszt is horrific lol.

[cloches_de_geneve]

I think you can learn a lot from op 10/7 and op 10/8.

[weissenberg2]

Yes, Liszt is horrific lol.

Liszt is great. I can not believe you have the nerve to say something about one of the great composers like that.

[communist]

op.25 no.4 maybe

[go12_3]

Liszt is great. I can not believe you have the nerve to say something about one of the great composers like that.

Oh, yes, I can.  I have an opinion on some of the composers whether he is *great* or not....

best wishes,

go12_3

[cloches_de_geneve]

Oh, yes, I can.  I have an opinion on some of the composers whether he is *great* or not....

best wishes,
go12_3

Liszt had this amazing range of music he created: Besides revolutionizing piano technique (etudes), he composed ravishing romantic pieces (e.g.au bord d'une source), complex and mature works (e.g. sonata), religious music (legends, harmonies poetique et religieuses), fun stuff (rhapsodies, galopp chromatique), and atonal music (e.g. Bagatelle sans tonalité). Had he lived 5 years longer, Schönberg might have had more time to play tennis. And here I am just talking about his piano music.

Of course Chopin was more sophisticated and more refined, but also much more limited.

[go12_3]

Thank you for the responses!  I greatly appreciate that.   
I looked at 10/7 and 10/8.  I do like them both.  So I will learn 10/8 because of the arpeggios;
the favorite thing my fingers love to do.  And then 10/7 will be next in line to learn.   

best wishes,

go12_3

[ramseytheii]

Op 10 no.1 and op.25 no.12 generally go well together, because they are similar in technique.

op.10 no.8 is a fine piece but in my opinion more cliched in the concert hall, and op.10 no.7 is by far the greater challenge.  It is perhaps, the most difficult etude of them all.  I recommend starting on that one, and sticking with it - the technique learned is applicable in so many pieces.

Walter Ramsey

[cloches_de_geneve]

op.10 no.8 is a fine piece but in my opinion more cliched in the concert hall, and op.10 no.7 is by far the greater challenge.
Walter Ramsey

I guess it depends a bit where your natural strengths are. 10/8 has some really nasty passages, and several delicate turns and transitions. I find it almost as difficult as 10/7.

[nanabush]

I'd agree that MANY pieces have the alternating double notes that you'd find in 10/7.  I'd consider learning it too because I've hit a few dead ends in some of the stuff I'm playing just because I can't keep the tempo up with this.  It's an awesome piece, one of my favorites [to listen to] from the Chopin Etudes.

[makeanote]

Hey there go12_3!

For small hands (as you indicate), 25/1 is a good one for extending your reach, as well as the broken chord work - it's also probably one of the easier studies to play. It's quite a beautiful work also.

All the best with your practice
Ian

[go12_3]

Hey, makeanote,

I'll take a look at 25/1 also.  It's a lot to choose from!   And I can add that to my list of Etudes to learn!  lol   Thanks, Ian   

best wishes,

go12_3

[jet417]

Just a side note in reading these... Liszt is fantastic, but to one with small hands such as myself as well, he's incredible difficult to play. I've been trying Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 for quite some time now, but still can't make the reach for most of it.

[go12_3]

I have begun working on the 10/8 and got the fingering down for the right hand.   
It's an interesting piece, with some fingering moments that will take a thought or two.   
The LH will have to wait until I get the RH down, just like I do with 10/1.   

best wishes,

go12_3

[cloches_de_geneve]

Excellent choice -- make sure that when you go down the passage of the 4th finger over the thumb is seamless, and the same when you go up. A good way to practice this is slow and legatissimo, then you will immediately spot any "holes" or "bumps". I would also advise devoting more time to the second part of the etude which is more difficult than the first. Finally, the left hand shouldn't be underestimated. Not that it's difficult, but it needs to be very accurate otherwise the piece sounds disjointed.

[go12_3]

Excellent choice -- make sure that when you go down the passage of the 4th finger over the thumb is seamless, and the same when you go up. A good way to practice this is slow and legatissimo, then you will immediately spot any "holes" or "bumps". I would also advise devoting more time to the second part of the etude which is more difficult than the first. Finally, the left hand shouldn't be underestimated. Not that it's difficult, but it needs to be very accurate otherwise the piece sounds disjointed.

Thanks for your tips,  I appreciate that!   

best wishes,

go12_3

[amelialw]

Yes, Liszt is horrific lol.

talking about that, I have small hands too and i can barely reach an octave but my canada teacher insisted this time that I learn his etudes& other piano works, she gave me no choice and asked me to learn Gnomereigen for my next school exam (that one's still not that bad) and asked me to learn another for her from the Transcedental Etudes as well as 1 or 2 pieces from his Pilgramage Years....... She said she will listen to these pieces when she comes soon along with a few others.

now back to the topic, don't be afraid of liszt, the more horrified you are of him the more he will terrorize you LOL

op.10 no.8 is a good one to learn and it's seldom heard. op.10 no.4 is another one too just that it's kind of overplayed...often played badly