Agreed. If you can't figure it out for yourself, you cant play it.
If you have to ask...
Actually... I wouldn't quite say that. After I did my Licentiate of Music in Piano, I wanted to sit the Fellowship of Music exam. My teacher suggested I learn Stravinsky's Trois Mouvements de Petrushka and Brahms Variations on a theme by Paganini, Op 35. When I watched the video of Alexis Weissenberg playing the Petrushka... My jaw dropped, I clenched up, and I almost froze from watching one of the most horrendously difficult pieces I had ever witnessed. But lo and behold, 18 months later I was playing them. A good teacher can tell if you're capable of surpassing your expectations. Bozzy.. what pieces have you learnt in the past - and do you have a recording of them - so we can see if you are at the level of learning it?
Do i have to be a concert pianist to play Chopin's Ballade no 1? What piece difficulty could it be compared to? The revoloutionary etude perhaps? of maybe Fantasie impromptue. Could you run of the mill piano teacher play it?First question- Nope, but you will need solid musicianship, ability to be independent with your hands, hand coordination, and patience. I will explain in detail how these things come into play.Solid musicianship- VERY ROUGHLY SPEAKING, the piece has an intro, section A, section B, and a coda. The bulk of the piece is about stating the theme and then playing around with them (or, in formal terms, developing them). This piece is about 9 minutes long, so you will have to get creative, which is hard without some musicianship. In particular, you will need some creative long-term phrasing (as I like to call it). For instance, after the intro, you have section A, which opens with the famous C-D-F#Bb-A-G melody and whatever two notes tend to follow them. You need to assemble those recurring C-D-F#-Bb-A-G fragments and make a phrase out of them, and that takes some musicianship. That is only one example, and there are plenty more issues I can think of, such as:Trying not to sound "frantic" in the presto sectionApplying appropriate rubatoMaking smooth tempo changesTrying not to sound too "bangy" in the A Major (well, at least in its tonality) recapitulation of section BAbility to be independent with your hands: In the second page, I think, you have to play a little lick on the right hand that is in free time while your left hand plays in time. Think of the 11th and 22nd 8th note right hand figures in Chopin's Nocturne Op 9 No. 1, or, better yet, have a listen to Chopin's Prelude Op 28 No. 24. That prelude uses free-time-right-hand-against-steady-left-hand A LOT. Second question- No to the Revolutionary etude (this piece is not that left-hand-runny, maybe except for the end?), and maybe yes to the Fantasie-Impromptu in terms of right-hand technique and independence. No to both pieces in terms of demand on musicianship. If you can listen to something like the Polonaise-Fantasie Op 61 and understand it (i.e. you can hear the method to the seemingly disorganized, erratic, improvisational madness), you should not have too much problem interpreting Ballade 1.Third question- I think the run of the mill piano teacher in question can, provided that he/she has continued to worked on it. Any serious self-respecting pianist who delved into romantic-era repertoire will have studied this piece at some point in their lives.I might be wrong, but judging from how you talk, I think you have some work to do before you can handle something like this. Study some shorter, more straightforward pieces first. Study a piece or two that challenges the right hand. Go listen to piano sonatas and/or orchestral symphonies and listen to how the musician handles and organizes such long pieces of music.
I am learning this piece right now. Just curious to know what bars and pages are the most difficult in terms of techniques? I am currently on page 6, so far so good, nothing too discouraging....but wondering if there is something really hard after page 6.... Thanks!To answer your question, I think those pieces you named are not really comparable.. in my opinion, because they require somewhat different types of techniques. If you are trying to figure out if you can play it or not, maybe pick out what seems like the most difficult passages and try it out. Besides the most difficult part, also consider the amount of difficult parts. I would say if <20% is difficult passages for you, go for it. Higher than that, just will take longer, which means it is more likely to give up. But, the more you love a piece, the longer you try.
Do i have to be a concert pianist to play Chopin's Ballade no 1? What piece difficulty could it be compared to? The revoloutionary etude perhaps? of maybe Fantasie impromptue. Could you run of the mill piano teacher play it?