which piece should i learn next

[pianostrawberry]

Hi, i am someone who played piano for quite a long time already. I finished my grade 8. I am done with chopin's fantasie impromptu, i wonder, which piece should i learn next?i tried chopin's etude, but find it quite difficult.

thanks in advance 

[mnmleung]

Congratulations on Chopin's fantasie impromptu and grade 8.

I don't have a specific piece for you, but around the time I was doing my grade 8, I started playing piano duets with school friends, and music written for 2 pianos with my teacher (Milhaud's Scaramouche), as well as accompanying some instrumentalists at school and I really enjoyed it.  Later I joined a violinist and a cellist and we had fun with some piano trios.

They were valuable lessons for me in listening, and working with other people.

[pianostrawberry]

haha. i played scaramouche before too. nice piece. Which etude is the easiest 1?the revolutionary etude?

[mnmleung]

g'day PianoStrawberry,

I hope someone else can answer your question about which Chopin Etude to start on.

I spent about a year on a handful of them (must have been almost 20 years ago), mostly from op 10 but not #12 revolutionary.  I started off working on double notes, plus the Rakhmaninov double notes prelude from op 23, and the Czerny Toccata.  At about the same time, I was also looking at two of the left-handed Godowsky etudes: no 5 based on op 10 no 3, and no 13 based on op 10 no 6.  The left-handed etudes were good for me because I had to really think about pedalling and listening to the sound.  

Every one of the etudes I tried was "hard" for me, but I definitely got something from my lessons and from having a go.  I never played any of them up to speed, just a better appreciation of the piece through getting to know it.  I have recently discovered the Cortot edition of Chopin's and Liszt's works and I find the preliminary exercises interesting and helpful (for pieces I had tried previously).

PS I am currently reading "Ignaz Friedman - Romantic Master Pianist" by Allan Evans. There are about 3 pages on the Chopin Etudes from an interview with Mack Jost who learnt with Friedman. You may want to dig it out from a library for a quick read.  But it does not cover the Revolutionary.