How Hard Are These Pieces (Chopin)

[rebel1ns]

etude op10 no1 and scherzo op20 in b minor?? these are pieces im just starting..thanks

[steinwayguy]

Etude- hard like all get-out
Scherzo- compared to the etude, not too bad

[paris]

it depends on your hand. some people i know are struggling with op.10 n.1, but for me is quite easy comparing to scherzo (well, easy...hm...) 

good luck with stretches 

[robert]

Well, I think 10/1 is easier to memorise, especially if you are familiar with chord playing and/or have played Bach's first prelude in WTK I. But it is a long job to get it into b=176 if you ever are able to do so with not too many mistakes. Usually, pianists do not need to struggle a lot to force it into b=144 but then, the journey is slow to reach the correct tempo.

The Scherzo takes longer time to memorise but is not very complicated in structure and repeats a lot but expect the memorising time to be perhaps three times longer than for 10/1. This is of course very much individual. Once you are there, I think that the Scherzo will be easier to perform without too many flaws and you will not by far get as physical tired as with 10/1.

[rebel1ns]

thanks....yea so far im realizing that they're both not too hard to learn but 10/1's arpeggios arent very natural to your fingers(Well at least mine anyway) but learning it is not too hard, and the scherzo seems to be alright so far anyway
just outta curiousity.. cuz i mastered the 10/4 already, in your opinion(s) is the 10/4 just as hard or more difficult than the 10/1? i know it varies from person to person but i just want to get feedback..

thanks for the replies!!

[robert]

10/4 is definitely more interesting musically and you must pay close attention to the large amount of dynamic changes throughout the piece.
Pure technically, 10/1 only involves one technique and you only need to focus on one hand as left hand will find its way. BUT, the indicated tempo on 10/1 makes it harder to perform technically perfect. If you have "normal" listeners and with normal I mean people who are not pianists or have never played these etudes, 10/1 is easier to impress these people with as you can miss 20-30 keys as long as you keep the tempo, the musical line, never misses with left hand and catch the highest notes with right hand. 10/4 is bit harder to impress with while it still is a technically impressing piece for anyone to listen to if performed well.

To summarize: It will take shorter time to learn to play 10/1 in a decent tempo and without too many mistakes while it is for the majority of people not possible to perfect it in a lifetime (the very reason why Horowitz never recorded 10/1 & 10/2). 10/4 is reachable for a larger scope of pianists but it might take twice the time to play decent comparing with 10/4.
So which one is most difficult depends on which angle you look from.