Which Chopin Ballade was/is hardest for YOU?

[chopinlover01]

It's generally accepted that, although they're all difficult, the general order is (from least difficult to most difficult) is 3-1-2-4. But, of course people are different. My teacher for instance, who graduated from the university of Indiana for his undergraduate, and went to graduate school at the Royal Academy in London, (and who has played and performed all four ballades) said that for him, the difficulty was (from easiest to hardest) 3-4-2-1. He also said Chopin just doesn't fit under his hands well, whereas Schumann and Beethoven do.
So, I'm curious if anyone has other experiences.

[verqueue]

I played all four Ballades in my life (performed 3 of them, but I'll be performing the last Ballade in a month). On the fourth I'm currently working on, so I'm not sure if it counts as "played", but definitely I know its difficulties.

I started from the third Ballade, then the second, first and now fourth. But for me the order is: 3-1-2-4 as you mentioned.

In my opinion the fourth is the hardest one, in every aspect. Building the structure of that piece is hard, it's more complicated than in the rest of Ballades. And an expression is so hard to build, there are so many moods in this, which aren't obvious. That's my opinion of course.

[jlskiles]

for me its 3, 2, 1, 4

[stoat_king]

In 'The Bourne supremacy', a few bars of a piece of music are played while Jason Bourne is in the lobby of the Hotel Brecker.
I became obsessed with finding out what piece it was because I was just starting to learn to play.

I suspected it was Chopin and so, bit by bit I started buying Chopin sheet music.
A waltz? No. Etude, Polonaise, Mazurka ? No, no, no.
Not an impromptu either.
Turns out its Ballade No 4 - the theme that starts 7-8 bars in.

On the plus side, I now have a comprehensive collection of the Chopin sheet music.
On the down side, I doubt I will ever play any of them. I'm still sulking.

[stevensk]

Hardest?  Before you have learned it? -Or after you have learned it?

[mjames]

the hardest for me was the hard one

[chopinlover01]

the hardest for me was the hard one

Sarcastic Genius of the Year award!!!

[stevensk]

the hardest for me was the hard one

Did you learn it?

[danhuyle]

Ballade no2 I find the hardest to memorize while the others come quite easily. Honestly, if you're a good interpreter, then the difficulty is the same. It's all subjective

[stevensk]

Ballade no2 I find the hardest to memorize while the others come quite easily. Honestly, if you're a good interpreter, then the difficulty is the same. It's all subjective

-Yes, hard to memorize, hard to play, hard to learn (hard to listen to). The question is utterly unclear