Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude + Advice

[kaideedee17]

Hey guys -

been a while since I logged on (the last time I was on was when that guy kept arguing about the most difficult pieces and la campanella, which was hilarious), but I've been enchanted by this piece for a while now - and I do want to know if it is achievable given my skill range - I'm currently working on the first ballade, and want to know if this is around that same workload - balancing schoolwork (FINALS  :'() and piano has been tough, but now that the dreaded week is over - I want to see if this piece is around the same skill level as the first Chopin ballade and Liebestraum no.3 (I may be delusional too, bear in mind.) Also, any advice on how to practice the coda - I'm having trouble with the final run's fingering and channeling the spiraling energy that I want to attach to the coda. Thank you!

[thorn]

Bénédiction is hard to judge level-wise. The technical things it asks for are less varied than the Chopin Ballades so you could say it's easier, but on the other hand the accompanying figurations in the first section- which go on for a long time, appear in both hands, and require total relaxation- are as tricky as any individual technical demand you find in the Ballades.

As for practice tips and fingerings I recommend the Cortot edition. I'm not sure if it's been translated to English yet but there's so many translation tools around now if not.

[cuberdrift]

It is not particularly difficult technically by Liszt standards, but I'd imagine it to be very advanced intepretation-wise. Definitely far far harder than Liebestraume no. 3 and probably harder than Chopin's first Ballade due to its length (though I haven't played either so I can't say for sure). You probably need a good grasp of Catholic spiritual thought to play it properly.