Feasibility of Chopin concerto No. 2

[pianabeth]

Hey there,

I’m an undergrad student in conservatory, just finishing up fall of my sophomore year. I have to perform a concerto at the end of next year (spring 2025) and I’m just wondering what the feasibility of me tackling Chopin’s second concerto is. I really love it, and I know it’s pretty difficult (Henle grade 8 I think) but I’ve learned pieces that might be above my level before when I’ve been super motivated (I learned Chopin etude op 10 no 1 a couple years ago before I was probably ready but ended up getting it to performance level because I enjoyed it so much) Anyways, what’s the likelihood that I could learn and perform the second piano concerto by the end of spring 2025 if I start now?

tl;dr: I want to do Chopins 2nd piano concerto, can I learn it in the next year?

[lelle]

We can't answer that without knowing more about your skill level unfortunately.

It's certainly very doable if you have the technique for it.

[roboute guilliman cfa]

On a 'pound per pound' or rather 'bar by bar' basis most of the Chopin etudes are harder. There's some difficult things like chromatic double notes but they're played at a slower tempo.

There's so much parallel left/right hand arpeggio writing which I think is an easier area of technique in general so if that's under your hands a huge chunk of the concerto will fall into place. The legato octave, double notes, chords, can take work to get to a refined smooth level but they're approachable.

I'd start with the 3rd movement. I think it's good to have a background of triplet pieces as that could be the most time consuming part - at least 2 or 3 from pieces like Chopin black key etude / Chopin op 25 no 2/ Scriabin op 11 no 3 / Moszkowski op 72 no 6 / Liszt Waldesrauschen / Rachmaninoff Lilacs / Ravel Prelude from le tombeau de Couperin.

[pianabeth]

Thank you for the advice! This is very helpful to have a sense of what I’d be dealing with. I will definitely take a look at the pieces you suggested (I love Lilac and Black Keys!) and if I do end up learning this it sounds like a good idea to start with mvmt 3