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Topic: Chopin Scherzos?  (Read 2005 times)

Offline chopincrazy23

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Chopin Scherzos?
on: December 17, 2012, 07:58:45 PM
I really enjoy Chopin's music and I have played many of his pieces, but I have been wanting to try something harder like one of his scherzos. So I was wondering, any ideas on which scherzo to start with? And are there any difficulties I should look out for in the piece?

Offline blazekenny

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Re: Chopin Scherzos?
Reply #1 on: December 17, 2012, 11:09:50 PM
I really enjoy Chopin's music and I have played many of his pieces, but I have been wanting to try something harder like one of his scherzos. So I was wondering, any ideas on which scherzo to start with? And are there any difficulties I should look out for in the piece?
I remember I was offered the 2nd Ballade. I didnt feel like I would do justice to it, so I asked my teacher for something else, and I was assigned the B minor scherzo, while my classmate played the b flat one. The E major one is more like a ballade rather than a scherzo and requires alot of musical maturity. The beautiful middle part of the 3rd scherzo also requires a more experienced pianist (after all, all scherzos do).
Although it may be extremely difficult to make the most out of them, the 1st and 2nd scherzi are do-able

Offline chopincrazy23

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Re: Chopin Scherzos?
Reply #2 on: December 17, 2012, 11:17:45 PM
Thanks for the advice!

Offline danhuyle

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Re: Chopin Scherzos?
Reply #3 on: December 18, 2012, 12:58:16 AM
They're too difficult to play.

Perfection itself is imperfection.

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Offline j_menz

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Re: Chopin Scherzos?
Reply #4 on: December 18, 2012, 01:20:41 AM
They're too difficult to play.



A plethora of recordings, concert and competition performances would appear to attest otherwise.  If you mean too difficult for you, that is neither helpful nor even very interesting.
"What the world needs is more geniuses with humility. There are so few of us left" -- Oscar Levant

Offline blazekenny

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Re: Chopin Scherzos?
Reply #5 on: December 18, 2012, 05:38:32 PM
A plethora of recordings, concert and competition performances would appear to attest otherwise.  If you mean too difficult for you, that is neither helpful nor even very interesting.
Actually, they are manageable, but very difficult. The Christmas song part of the first scherzo is a pain to play like a pianist.

Offline thesuineg

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Re: Chopin Scherzos?
Reply #6 on: December 20, 2012, 01:53:32 AM
christmas song? like a pianist? so you usually play like a guitarist...or?....

no the 1st scherzo isn't too challenging. you'll live.
practice the technical part slow, and just make sure you understand the structure, giving time between phrases, consious of whats before and after that section..blah blah

its too hard for me tho lol, i tried but my fingers just wont move fast enough on my cardboard piano with slowmotion-action

Offline j_menz

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Re: Chopin Scherzos?
Reply #7 on: December 20, 2012, 02:28:46 AM
blah blah

An excellent summary of the whole post, really.

"I can't play it but I think you can and this is how you do it"

Are you a troll or just a complete moron?
"What the world needs is more geniuses with humility. There are so few of us left" -- Oscar Levant

Offline thesuineg

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Re: Chopin Scherzos?
Reply #8 on: December 20, 2012, 02:56:02 AM

Offline blazekenny

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Re: Chopin Scherzos?
Reply #9 on: December 20, 2012, 08:14:00 AM
christmas song? like a pianist? so you usually play like a guitarist...or?....

no the 1st scherzo isn't too challenging. you'll live.
practice the technical part slow, and just make sure you understand the structure, giving time between phrases, consious of whats before and after that section..blah blah

its too hard for me tho lol, i tried but my fingers just wont move fast enough on my cardboard piano with slowmotion-action
Actually, the presto con fuoco sections are much easier, but still, its chopin. You cant just rush there and smash the upper bīs and eīs.
About the middle part, if you make something just a little different than you wanted, you can easily lose the audienceīs focus on your playing

Offline chopincrazy23

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Re: Chopin Scherzos?
Reply #10 on: December 20, 2012, 11:48:02 AM
Actually, the presto con fuoco sections are much easier, but still, its chopin. You cant just rush there and smash the upper bīs and eīs.
About the middle part, if you make something just a little different than you wanted, you can easily lose the audienceīs focus on your playing

I have looked at the Scherzo no. 1, but I seem to gravitate more towards the Scherzo no. 2 the one thats in in b flat minor. I see that there are a lot of runs in the right hand to end most of the sections the piece, do any of you know how to tackle those? Otherwise I would gladly take any other advice you have for it.
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