The both the Beethoven are quite technically demanding, but still aren't as challenging 10/4. I would never compare the difficulty of Bach to Chopin, entirely apples to oranges. What other Chopin etudes have you played? Surprisingly, I find that Chopin etudes are even more difficult than they sound most of the time. It might be doable with your repertoire, but it does seem to be a step up. I'd play 1-3 fast Chopin etudes before trying this one. 10/5, 10/8, 10/12 are all great options.However, 10/4 is different since it's constantly changing through different techniques. Are you familiar with the techniques you see in the score? Have you played passages similar or are they new techniques? It's an etude, so perhaps it can be an exposure to them, but I don't think this etude is meant to teach these techniques are rather trains switching between them rapidly and playing clearly. In fact, all Chopin etudes are meant to really force you to master a technique rather than to teach you new techniques.
... I played the Chopin Op. 10 No. 1, 9, and 12 and I still didn't have the chops for Op. 10 No. 4. That piece is insanely hard, and anyone who says otherwise is either a prodigy or kidding themselves. It doesn't fit my hands at all. I would recommend starting with Op. 10 No. 9, which in my opinion is just a better piece too. I really didn't find much to enjoy musically in Op. 10 No. 4 (once again my opinion).
If you want a second opinion I don't think op. 10 no. 4 is that hard compared to some of the others, so it might depend a lot on hand structure if it's convenient for you or not I guess. It's not easy by any means and I'm not saying I'm playing it like a virtuoso in Carnegie hall every saturday (I don't and never will). But I have had more trouble with many of the other etudes of Opus 10.
Regardless of whether it's as hard as the other Op. 10 etudes, I still think it's not a great starter etude and a fair bit more challenging than any of your listed repertoire. I don't really want to dissuade you and if it's one of your favourites, who knows. If you end up moving forward with it you should definitely let us know how it went
That's fair. "Starter" etudes from Op. 10 would probably be no. 3, 5, 6, 9 and 12, maybe 8 as well.
Topic: Beginning Chopin's op 10 no 4 