Piano Forum

Compared to the other Ballades, it is probably the third most difficult of the four, and only because it is structurally so varied compared to the almost variation-like structural progression of the other three. I found No. 1 to be difficult from an emotional standpoint, aside from the technical demands of a 23-year old Chopin who already completed one of his masterpieces with this work. The first page, actually, is one of the most difficult areas to get “correct” considering the indications Chopin takes great care to notate with regards to the location of the main melody. For example, at the Moderato in mm. 8, the only note the should be melodic is the C. Everything else is harmonic accompaniment. I certainly don’t want to bore everyone with details, but most recordings I hear of this make that entire eighth-note passage the melody leading to the G in the next measure. I disagree, and only because he places a clear accent on the C and releases the pedal before the G sounds in the next measure, which contains no pedal marking! Add to this the subtle finger pedaling of the D and the F# (due to note duration) and it becomes apparent that the focus rests solely on that C. To me, I think that means he wants to main melody hierarchy to be C-G-D-C (to mm. 10) with all of the other eighth-notes and portamento chords to be supportive. It’s quite a difficult thing to achieve since the ear wants so badly to hear the eighths as the melody. I find it curious that the resolution to that G in mm. 9 is the first time we actually hear the key of the piece. It has to be an important moment, and approaching it is quite tricky to make it effective. If the rest of that page is handled similarly, it can be quite magical for the listener.

In the scary passage that begins in mm. 48, I found great success in the clarity of the figures when I practiced ONLY the right hand arpeggios without the double notes. To explain further, I omitted the C, and the two B-flats that occur over the g-minor and D-major chords, respectively, that arpeggiate down and up over the left hand accompaniment. When I added the notes back as written, but remained focused on the main chord that I had practiced before, it suddenly became much easier to play.

For me, the most difficult passage that I had to really brute force practice all the time was mm. 138-145. There is just no easy way to play that without a solid fingering and giving your left hand time to correctly place itself in those awkward chords he requires. My only advice there is to slow practice and find a fingering that allows you to encompass as many notes as possible in the right hand so you don’t have an excessive amount of shifts in your hand position.

Honestly, I did not find the coda of this Ballade to be troublesome. All I did was to ensure that I maintained as close to the octave position in my hand shape as possible during those passages where the alternating sixths occur as evidenced in mm. 216-230. Do not rotate your wrist and use mostly finger from the big knuckle down to play the note and you’ll be solid. The scales in 251 and 255 are super easy with a good fingering. Align your thumbs on the same notes ascending for each scale (everything else is RH 2-3/LH 3-2 and RH 2-3-4/LH 4-3-2) and you can fly up the keyboard with great effect.

Again, sorry for such a long and detailed post but I get quite passionate when I can share some things I’ve learned by wrestling with some of our greatest pieces, especially if it helps someone else learn it quicker and ignites that passion to continue onwards with other great repertoire!