Difficulty of kapustin etudes vs other etudes

[ah114561]

Hi all, recently I discovered the Kapustin Concert Etudes, and I really want to start working on these. How do these etudes compare to the etudes of say, Chopin or Debussy in terms of difficulty?

In terms of etudes I have learned:
Chopin Op 10 No 1, 2, 3, 4
Chopin Op 25 No 9, 11, 12
Liszt La Campanella
Debussy Etude No 11 "pour les arpeges composes"

Thanks in Advance!

[anacrusis]

This is really hard to quantify, to be honest. Why don't you try one, and see how you fare? If you have learned those Etudes you should be able to determine relatively quickly how the Kapustin etudes fare in comparison.

[krncandi]

I've learned the 3rd one which would be the toccatina. It was so fun to perform but very difficult. It's just as hard as all the major etudes out there.  Also an excellent performance piece to excite the audience

[symphonicdance]

Kapustin's Concert Etudes (and Etudes in Five Different Intervals too!) are technically very challenging. No harm for you to try working on them. Enjoy!

[krncandi]

I've learned the 3rd one which is the Toccatina. It's difficult and you must have very refined technique and strong fingers because it's pianistic yet there are awkward passages on both hands. Getting it to the right tempo is very difficult. The jumps and leaps you have to land in a continuous flow, as well as tricky syncopation is challenging as well. Very fun piece though

[pianopro181]

Hi all, recently I discovered the Kapustin Concert Etudes, and I really want to start working on these. How do these etudes compare to the etudes of say, Chopin or Debussy in terms of difficulty?

In terms of etudes I have learned:
Chopin Op 10 No 1, 2, 3, 4
Chopin Op 25 No 9, 11, 12
Liszt La Campanella
Debussy Etude No 11 "pour les arpeges composes"

Thanks in Advance!

Some of them are horrendously difficult and feels more like something contemporary and rather un-pianistic in nature. The e minor one for example is harder than any classical study I can think of and I’ve played and performed more or less all the difficult ones by Chopin and Rach dozens of times and also La Campanella. It’s more comparable to Godowsky than anything else. They’re doable, don’t get me wrong, just takes absolute methodical practice for many hours and months slowly building up the tempi to a sensible speed and nailing the rhythms.