difficulty of Chopin sonata versus ballade

[didi100]

Which is more difficult—the Finale of Chopin 3rd sonata or Chopin 1st ballade?

[beethovenfan01]

Musically, I would think the Ballade by quite a bit--the Sonata finale has a lot of bravura and excitement, but not much in the way of lyricism. Technically, they are about equal I think. I've played the first Ballade, but only looked through the Sonata finale a few times (currently learning Ballade 3).

The Sonata as a whole is of course much more difficult than any of the Ballades I think.

[louispodesta]

Which is more difficult—the Finale of Chopin 3rd sonata or Chopin 1st ballade?

What a foolish question, in my opinion.  That does not mean you are necessarily foolish.  However, it is a foolish question which I associate with the following reasoning:

1)  Your predicate denotes and connotes that all pianists (of a so-called higher caliber) all have the same hand morphology and accordingly have the same level of keyboard facility.  That is:  the ability to "Get Around" at the Piano.  My logic (associated with this particular reasoning), in a word, is Absurd!.

2)  The G Minor Ballade is a "Free Form" piece, which is really not all that technically difficult for an advanced pianist.

3)  The B Minor Sonata, with the notable exception of the beautiful Third Movement, is rhythmically and technically straight forward and fast.

4)  Does that means it is more difficult?, not according to my technique coach.  One piece needs a certain approach, and the other needs another, in terms of skill sets.

What all of this means is that:  there is no "hard and fast" rule (In terms of difficulty) for any piece compared with any other work.

[mjames]

>2)  The G Minor Ballade is a "Free Form" piece, which is really not all that technically difficult for an advanced pianist.

>3)  The B Minor Sonata, with the notable exception of the beautiful Third Movement, is rhythmically and technically straight forward and fast.

lol...straightforward. bro have you played the sonata?