Ligeti etudes

[rachmaninoff_forever]

I'm thinking of trying one and since I haven't played anything remotely close to any of them, it's kinda hard to gauge the difficulty. 

So anyways what's the easiest one?

[j_menz]

Rank the Ligeti etudes? Well, I suppose it had to happen. 

[thorn]

I don't even know if these topics are serious any more 

Well I only own Book 1 and play nr.6. I've had a sniff at 1-5 over the years but not by any stretch of the imagination attempted to learn them. 6 is not easy but it's my favourite which pushed me through.

Half of the difficulty with these pieces is reading the ink on paper. For me the most straightforward ink on paper in Book 1 is number 4.

Technically I can't really comment on any but 6- which is certainly not the easiest.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

I'm not asking for ranking I'm just asking for the easiest ones.  It's the same thing with Chopin etudes if someone hasn't played any you're not gonna say "well it's subjective" and say that op 10 no 2 MIGHT be easier than 10 6.  OBVIOUSLY 10 6 is the easiest one so you're gonna tell the dude that op 10 6 is easier.  It's a normal question.

[j_menz]

But is it the right question? Shouldn't you instead be asking for which are the foundational ones? The ones that start with the basics?

That's not the same question. In the case of Chopin's set it would be 10/1 and 10/2.

I suspect in the Ligeti set it would similarly be 1 and 2.

Odd that people who credit the authors of these sets as geniuses when it comes to the actual compositions think them complete dolts when it comes to organising them in order.

[cbreemer]

Arc-en-Ciel is the "easiest" one. My former teacher (who plays them all) recommended this one to
me as the only one that is feasible for an amateur (not sure if you are one or not - but if you were a pro pianist you would not be asking this). I toyed around with it but never made serious work of it. It's only "easy" because it is Andante, unlike all others (except En Suspense, which I don't know) and you have some time to think between the notes. Still pretty damn complicated though.