Favourite piece of the Chopin Ballades and scherzi

[resurrectcodeblack]

Would love to hear your opinions on these pieces. I'm really not very familiar with them and am excited to hear what you all have to say.

[lelle]

Very difficult to pick since I love the Ballades pretty much equally! I think they are all among Chopin's finest compositions, and which I prefer depends entirely on my mood. I know some rank the 2nd and 3rd lower than the 1st and 4th, but I adore the 2nd ballade and think the 3rd is fantastic too. 3rd is probably the easiest technically of the lot, if that is a consideration.

I can say that I overall like the Scherzi less than the ballades though. My favorite Scherzo is the 2nd, followed by the 3rd, 1st and then 4th (which has never really grabbed me).

[thorn]

I picked the 4th for each set. For Ballades I don't like 2 at all (I don't like Nocturne op.15/1 or 2 either which are compositionally similar), I like 1 and 3 equally, and 4 is probably my favourite of all Chopin's works. For Scherzi, the 4th is the only one that ever really grabbed me, I don't really listen to 1-3 unless on a concert program.

[rodrigow_]

I've always loved the 1st ballade the most, but the more I listen to the 3rd one, the more it becomes my favorite! As for the scherzos, since I don't know them very well, I don't have a preference yet.

[flyusx]

I must say I truly love the first Scherzo and second Ballade the most. It looks like I'm in the minority. 
But as with any music, I do need variety. The fourth Ballade is just wonderful.

[lelle]

I must say I truly love the first Scherzo and second Ballade the most. It looks like I'm in the minority. 
But as with any music, I do need variety. The fourth Ballade is just wonderful.

2nd ballade was my favorite for a long time. It's so exciting when played properly. It's just that the other 3 ballades are my favorite too now They're all so good, just different good.

[mjames]

4th Ballade is definitely his greatest work. It's perfectly written.

[palmtree]

I came here (in fact, I made an account in the first place) to profess my undying devotion to ballade no. 1, but I figured I ought to listen carefully to the others again, and ballade 4 has forever stolen my heart. The others... are also so much more beautiful than I ever realized--how could Chopin do this to me  Maybe I'm just a more musically mature individual than last time I tried to listen to such works. Does anyone have favourite interpretations? (I listened to Kissin's)

[resurrectcodeblack]

Olga Scheps plays the first Ballade masterfully. Maurizio Pollini is also hard to beat, especially with his rendition of the fourth Ballade.

[thorn]

Zimerman for me.

[lelle]

These are well worth hearing!

My faves are his 1929 set, but the sound quality of those make them a bit less accessible to first time listeners.

[resurrectcodeblack]

Martha Argerich plays the Scherzo number three quite beautifully.

[mjames]

These are well worth hearing!

My faves are his 1929 set, but the sound quality of those make them a bit less accessible to first time listeners.

I always find it funny how loved Cortot is by modern pianists. Don't get me wrong, I love listening to him, there's just something special about the way he phrases melodic lines. But man his playing is riddled with  so many errors. For Cortot it's a "unique" and "individualistic" way of playing common in 19th century born pianists, whereas a modern pianist doing the same would get told to pick up a metronome and to read the score properly. But then the same people will complain about modern concert pianists losing the magic older pianists had!

It's kinda funny!

[palmtree]

Thanks for the suggestions! So far, I think Zimmerman is my favourite for b. 4, but I'll definitely have to keep listening.

Do you ever have pieces that you love to listen to, but have no desire to play? I feel that way about b. 4--I really don't seem to have any interest in learning to play it, although I've listened to it repeatedly since finding it. (I doubt that it's because the piece is technical stratospheres away from me: I've hurled myself at dozens of pieces only to end in disaster.)

[resurrectcodeblack]

This is a piece that actually is stratospheres away from me. I love listening to the Rach 2 and the Rach 3, but I only actually have a desire to play the Rach 3. The first theme of the second movement is soooo beautiful! And the ossia cadenza is an outlet for anger.

P.S. I find it interesting that nobody has voted for the Scherzo number three yet. Martha Argerich's version is worth striving for.

[flyusx]

I prefer Zimerman for the Ballades and Grosvenor for the scherzi. Of course, Perahia and Cortot are good as well.

[anacrusis]

This is a piece that actually is stratospheres away from me. I love listening to the Rach 2 and the Rach 3, but I only actually have a desire to play the Rach 3. The first theme of the second movement is soooo beautiful! And the ossia cadenza is an outlet for anger.

P.S. I find it interesting that nobody has voted for the Scherzo number three yet. Martha Argerich's version is worth striving for.

I like the third Scherzo a lot. It's just that I like the second Scherzo even more

[lelle]

I always find it funny how loved Cortot is by modern pianists. Don't get me wrong, I love listening to him, there's just something special about the way he phrases melodic lines. But man his playing is riddled with  so many errors. For Cortot it's a "unique" and "individualistic" way of playing common in 19th century born pianists, whereas a modern pianist doing the same would get told to pick up a metronome and to read the score properly. But then the same people will complain about modern concert pianists losing the magic older pianists had!

It's kinda funny!

To be fair, I think the people admiring Cortot's playing, mistakes and all (people like me) are not the same people as those who think modern pianists should pick up a metronome and are not allowed to make mistakes

Personally, my admiration for Cortot's technique has grown as I've grown older. When I was younger I heard the mistakes more and thought he must have not been very good but compensated for it with musicality. But I dare you to try to play some of the things he plays at the tempo he takes them, with the lightness, control over infinite tonal shades, and rhytmic drive that he has, and see how you fare. I think it's simply not possible to get the results he does without a very fine technique underneath it. It's just that there are some wrong notes here and there. Be it because he had too thick fingers, did not keep his technique in optimum shape, suffered from nerves in front of the mic, simply cared more about other things, or was growing too old to play as accurately as a younger virtuoso I don't know.

[thorn]

For me there are mistakes that interfere with the music and those that do not. I'm reminded of the famous Rubinstein clip where he tells the story of faking the op.25/11 RH part and the audience didn't notice because he focused their attention on the melody (he does this with Albeniz's Navarra too but that recording is better than many where the pianist plays what Albeniz wrote!).

By the way, I forgot to mention Perlemuter's Ballades as one of my favourites.