Good Chopin Repertoire

[coolguy323]

What would be a good collection of pieces to know by Chopin? Right now I'm working on his Etude Op. 10 No. 3, Minute Waltz, and Valse Brillante. After that I want to learn one of his nocturnes, either Op. 9 No.s 1 or 2. Eventually I'd like to learn Ballade No. 1 in G minor. Any other pieces I should look at, or is that fairly comprehensive, as far as his styles go?

[coolguy323]

Oh, and one more piece I plan on learning is his Fantasie-Impromptu.

[briansaddleback]

Just focus on those three for now till you can refine them to your utmost ability. Those are more than enough.

[chopinawesome]

Fantasie-Impromptu is really difficult(well, for me). Play some of his preludes. Some of them, like No.16 are difficult, and they are technical preparations for Chopin Etudes.

[briansaddleback]

Sorry but preludes are not preparation for his etudes. They are completely independent set w varying degrees of difficulty but that is not its main focus. There are some as difficult if not more difficult than most his etude set

[chopinlover01]

The preludes are a standalone collection of music, written after both books of etudes (with exception to the TN). Probably NOT designed to be an introduction, though many work quite well for that purpose (#3 comes to mind).
@OP Work on just those pieces until you can refine them to the greatest they can be at your current level. Afterwards, post them here and we can more accurately give suggestions.

[nanabush]

I'm still discovering new stuff by Chopin.  If you want a 'drop dead gorgeous' piece... listen to the Barcarolle.  The first chord alone will get you.  It is such an interesting piece, the modulation to the middle section is just sooo good!

His 'standard' works are great works!  Sometimes people think the popularity of a piece devalues it because "pop music is popular and is trash therefore a famous classical piece is trash" gibberish.  Don't listen to those opinion, especially on pieces of music that are over 100 years old

The preludes are fascinating, and are easily the BIGGEST variance in difficulty in a single collection of piano music I've come across.  The e minor and b minor are excellent introductions to Chopin... but get back to me if you can even play 10 measures of the D minor, Eb major, F# minor  or Bb minor preludes haha.  Difficulty aside for the preludes, they're all so different!  Listen to the C# minor, and then the Bb major, then maybe check out the A minor, and then the F major... like that set is so convoluted but it's incredible.

His Fantasy in F minor is very famous, probably not as 'easy' to get into from a listening perspective as maybe his Etudes or Fantaisie Impromptu - because it doesn't necessarily have that 'WOW' factor from the first measure.  But I'm telling you, if you give it a few listens, just absorb it, maybe read through the score at the same time, there are parts of it that will hit you hard. 

He also has a lot of sets of variations, pretty under the radar. 

The nocturnes/waltzes/mazurkas are also good starting points for some of his rep.  (to be honest I'm not as familiar with the mazurkas as probably everyone else on the forum, but I really mean to give them a chance!!)

He has such a diverse catalog of music... and he really just wrote exclusively for the piano (aside from a few things).  The related videos in the youtube rabbit hole will probably tie you over as well if you want to 'stumble' across a piece by him.

[adodd81802]

Depends on your level, The list is honestly endless, you could pick a fantastic piece from any style,

His grande polonaise op.22 is very nice, probably right at the top level though in all honesty. Otherwise Polonaise op.53

OP.9 Nocturnes are well known and lovely, but no offense played to death. op.48 no.1 is also quite popular i think but not as much, and also quite nice or op.27 no.2

the ballad you mentioned, again the classic, but give the others a listen and see if they take your interest.

if you're doing the minute, the op.64 no.2 is always quite nice.

[briansaddleback]

A good piece to know in your repertoire is prelude 28-2. I dislike it per se, but it is fun to whip this out if a senior citizen would ask in the lobby , "mr pianist, play some Chopin!" and if you play that one you can catch everyone off guard.



<no, i didnt learn this prelude. no, a senior citizen never asked me in a lobby>