Best Czerny? [Bob asks]

[Bob]

What's the best czerny?  Which are most useful?  Are there any you just like?

[Clare]

I played op. 740 no. 2 last semester and I really enjoyed it. I quite like some Czerny studies, actually, though they are quite dry.

Also, there are some Czerny piano concertos, I believe, which I would love to hear. I had a link to an mp3 of a movement of one, but I think I bookmarked it at my parents' house. I'll try and find it when I'm there in a couple of days.

[Hmoll]

What's the best czerny?  Which are most useful?  Are there any you just like?

There isn't a best Czerny, and there isn't a most useful Czerny. It depends on what your level is, and what technical problem(s) you want to work on.
What you want to work on, and how advanced you are will determine which etudes or pieces by Czerny and others will be the best and most usefule for you.

[faulty_damper]

Hey, I've heard one of Czerny's piano concertoes and it sounded like his Op. 740 exercises.

 But on the bright side, he wrote a technical exercise for both piano and orchestra.

[Clare]

Hey, I've heard one of Czerny's piano concertoes and it sounded like his Op. 740 exercises.

Ha ha ha! Oh, well. I still must give them a go.

[bryfarr]

There are YT videos now (almost 20 years after post date), that go through the various Czerny books, now many of them are published by Alfred.  The School of Velocity (299) and The Art of Finger Dexterity (740) are standard books for the developing pianist.  I have played many etudes from both.  The pieces pose technical challenges wrapped in musical elements that make it interesting enough to bear repeated run throughs, which is not something that can be said for exercises (like Hanon or Dohnanyi's Finger Exercises book).  Dynamics and good tone need to be applied to these studies, plus, to play the pieces at a good tempo, you need to resolve hand/finger/arm technique problems.  Czerny was not a genius, like Chopin, so there's no point in comparing them to Chopin's Etudes.  Or Liszt's.  Czerny had the student in mind. 

I'm interested in exploring The New School of Velocity opus 834.  It seems to continue op 299 but with more attention to the LH, and with added challenge.  No one publishes it, but it's available on IMSLP.

[piabanoch]

op 720 ones are the best for learn