Most difficult Chopin Etude?

[SteveK]

Which etude do you think is the most difficult one by Chopin?
For me:
Etude no. 11, op. 25 "Winter Wind"
Etude no. 10, op. 25
Etude no. 1, op. 10

[10Fingers]

Hi Steve,

well i think that depends on your technical finesse, for me the last etude of the etudes op. 25 ("ocean-etude)seems to be the most difficult one.
i've played op. 25 no. 2 and op.10 no. 12 but i guess that are the easier ones. right now, i'm learning the butterfly-etude, this pieces is so sweet.

by the way, i visited your homepage and i was really impressed when i heard the pieces.  

[Rachmanoinoff]

Yes, well, I think all of them are hard  :-/

The hardest is probably his second set, (op. 25 no. 6 I think) with the thirds... pain in the neck to play.

Otherwise, maybe op. 10 no. 1, or perhaps even no. 2, because of the extreme care Chopin put into the fingering... if you look at the score, he himself has put fingering for basically every note (except the repeats!) which is quite unusual for a compopser to do.

However, for the hardest etude (generally speaking) every composed, I'd have to say one of the Rach etudes, probably op. 39 no. 1... gosh that's hard.

Anyway, since this is about Chopin I shouldn't be going on about other composers...

Martin

(By the way, I also visited your site and was pretty impressed... I should also start one, one day.... what's the hardest piece you can play?)

[SteveK]

Ravel's Jeux D'eau (Water Games)

[tosca1]

They are all fiendishly difficult,  but the most difficult one would be the opus 10 no. 1.  While the left hand plays the noble, majestic melody, the right hand must execute the dazzlingly fast notes up and down the keyboard.

It is a stupendous piece.

[88keys]

Undoubtedly, the hardest etude is Op. 25, No. 11 - the "Winter Wind".

Not only is it the fastest one, but the figure to played is far from comfortable.

No other etude requires such a fast execution of such a complex figure. Op. 10/1, as hard as it may be, is both more comfortable on the hand and slower. Op. 25/6 is not that difficult if you get the technique right. It is somewhat similar in this respect to the Op. 10/2: If you approach it wrong, it is simply impossible to play at tempo. But if you approach it right, it becomes very doable.

I'll end on a lighter note, with a somewhat bizzare tidbit about the "Winter Wind Etude":

When played at tempo, the right hand goes over nearly 14 notes every second. This results in an infrasound wave pitched at 14 Hz. Certain house pets might actually here this frequency as a low quiet rumble (but the sound will probably be masked by the much louder piano).

[Le-ackt]

Winter Wind Opus 25 # 11 , that is among the extreme
Seems , the most talked about is the 1st Opus 10
But seems the difficult level and content of # 1 is quite similar to # 8 Opus 10 or even OPus 25 #12 Last one Ocean ( this one is double hand Arpeggios ). These are quite similar for there compositional elements , Arpeggios runs . I 've not yet start the #1 yet , so i have no Idea of how the speed is about ( is fast for sure ) . But Ocean Etudes is among my favorite piece because is not only about Arpeggios playing , different Octave and different passage arpeggiated progression has Vivid dynamics which made up the whole melodic structure . And by the use of the Sustain Pedal , it 's gigantic and Overwhelming fashion . It will crash your ear if you play it furious and is like Punching Wave indeed. Masterpiece ~ My favorite Opus 25 # 12 last Etude Ocean