Piano Forum

i have never heard them compared to each other or even talked about similarly or in relation to one another. interesting comparision there though now that i think about it.

i'm on the back end of the scriabin, my assesment is that the d# minor etude is more difficult to read and the manual acrobatics must be much more rapid and quickly figured out early on or the piece will be frustratingly slow to learn, the chopin has a much more natural feel to it (the key sig genrally lies well under the hands). the chopin probably learns itself faster on the front end and interpreting it comes a bit more naturally on the back side, where as the scriabin i have found it easier to feel the work and connect to it musically and interpret it similarly across a wide variety of tempo(s) but the initial mechanics of the work were very slow to come on in the beginning.

but both etudes become suddenly easier when you crack the technical puzzle and try to quickly integrate and make automatic the correct physical approach.

really like with many of these etudes questions it depends on what your strengths are coming into it. the way im wired up i am still on the fence about approaching the chopin, those things are always to me the hardest things in the lit so my personal assesment is that the chopin etude is harder, for me.