Chopin Preludes difficulty.

[lontano]

Greetings, all. I haven't been around for a while.
Today I'd like to get opinions on which of the 24 Preludes, Op.28 are the most difficult (like maybe the 5 most difficult), and included therein is the specific thought on how hard #19 in E-flat is compared to the rest.

Many thanks.

Lontano

[nanabush]

The most difficult are probably:

Eb major
Bb minor
D minor
F# minor
G# minor

...I think it really boils down to how patient you want to be with these preludes.  I've never studied them intense, but I've tried bits and pieces of them at times just to get a feel for what they'd be like.  The Eb major hands separately isn't bad, but coordinating the giant leaps would be tricky.

The Bb minor is just fast.  It seems like a tougher version of some of Chopin's etudes (Op 10 #4, Op 10 #8).  The left hand also goes into octave/chord leaps... so it's just hectic.

The D minor has a double thirds chromatic scale... that's not what bothers me about it, but a lot of people have issues with double note scales.  The regular scales going up in the right hand are VERY fast, and the left hand keeps plugging away underneath.  I could see that being the major difficulty.

The F# minor is more relatively awkward passagework (compared to the other preludes) for the right hand.

G# minor is intense, and seems tricky to play cleanly (eighth passages with sustained quarter notes in right hand).

...

This is my opinion, and I have no proof to say that these are DEFINITE answers.  It's what my reaction/impression was when I tried some of these pieces out.  This is a disclaimer for 'fftransform'.

[lontano]

Many thanks Nanabush. Your choices seem logical.
Now can you teach me to play them? 


My best,

Lontano