Charles-Valentin Alcan

[mussorgsky]

Hi! It's me again!  I've recently discovered Charles-Valentin Alcan and his Twelve etudes in all of the minor keys. I heard them all and my favourites remained Scherzo diabolico and Le festin d'Esope. I find them quite interesting and I desperately need to play one of them. My question is: Which is easier of those two and good for start knowing Alcan? Thank you for your answers! I'll be glad to hear from you and it will be a great help to me! 

[pianoplayjl]

Well done mate. Perosnally Alkan is one of my fav composers. IMO none is harder than THE other and you would have to check the score to see for yourself. Personally I find that both are just as hard. Perhaps scan the piece and play some sections that are really hard and seee if you can deal with it. The thing I know about Aesop's feast is that  it is an etude and incorporates all the elements of the precending minor key etudes into the variations, from what I've heard. So you might experience a  variety of difficulties at the same time, unlike the Scherzo diablo when you are facing perhaps at most 2-3 factors.

BTW it is ALKAN, not Alcan. maybe it is just your regional variation on his name.

JL

[fftransform]

IMO, no one is harder than any other.

No. 5 = No. 10?

No.


Regarding the original question, both are quite difficult.  Nos. 2, 5, 6 and 11 are considerably easier than either of those; perhaps you should look at them, first.  Honestly, if somebody is asking, "which is harder," then they're both too hard, probably.  I don't think there is too much between them; No. 3 is probably more difficult at tempo, but No. 12 is much longer and more varied.

[mussorgsky]

No. 5 = No. 10?

No.


Regarding the original question, both are quite difficult.  Nos. 2, 5, 6 and 11 are considerably easier than either of those; perhaps you should look at them, first.  Honestly, if somebody is asking, "which is harder," then they're both too hard, probably.  I don't think there is too much between them; No. 3 is probably more difficult at tempo, but No. 12 is much longer and more varied.

About no.12 being much longer: I haven't got problems with longest or shortest. Some of my own improvisations are 20 minutes long! About no.3: I believe that the extended arpeggios in the RH are the hardest thing. But I can't agree with you about no.11 (Ouverture) being easier than those two. (By the way no.7 is quite interesting, too!)

[orangesodaking]

My recommendation: Don't worry about any of the Op. 39's at all. Check out the Op. 22 Nocturne or the second of the Op. 13 Andante Romantiques or one the Op. 38a. No. 1 Chant in E Major. Some of the Op. 35 etudes are worth playing, too.

What is your level of technique? What other repertoire can you play? Do you have any recordings of your playing we can listen to to (roughly) analyze your abilities?