liszt ballades

[IgnazPaderewski]

I am currently studying the liszt d flat ballade, and it is horribly difficult... has anyone here played it? the second is several million times easier.... This piece is violently strenuous!

[donjuan]

The 2nd one is easier?  I thought it was the other way around.  I love the first Ballade- It is perhaps Liszt's most heroic piece.  I sort of sightread the first part of it..

[BuyBuy]

I have just started working on the second ballade in B minor. I love that piece, it reminds me a little of his sonata (also in B minor), but on a smaller scale.

I have never worked on the first ballade, neither have I heard it performed. However, from looking at the score and playing here and there, I believe that it's harder than the second one (it's more virtuosic, somehow in the style of an opera paraphrase).

The second ballade is not as easy as it seems at first though. It's not the msot difficult thing in the repertoire, granted, but it has some tricky spots, and some parts are really hard to bring out musically (like the introduction, with RH melody over LF chromatic waves : nothing technically challenging about it, but I still haven't figured out how to make it sound the way I want to).

Anyone around has played either the frist or second ballads ? Any tips ?

[BuyBuy]

I have just started working on the second ballade in B minor. I love that piece, it reminds me a little of his sonata (also in B minor), but on a smaller scale.

I have never worked on the first ballade, neither have I heard it performed. However, from looking at the score and playing here and there, I believe that it's harder than the second one (it's more virtuosic, somehow in the style of an opera paraphrase).

The second ballade is not as easy as it seems at first though. It's not the msot difficult thing in the repertoire, granted, but it has some tricky spots, and some parts are really hard to bring out musically (like the introduction, with RH melody over LF chromatic waves : nothing technically challenging about it, but I still haven't figured out how to make it sound the way I want to).

Anyone around has played either the first or second ballad ? Any tips ?