Chopin's etudes

[squigly]

Which do u think is the hardest etude? (from Chopin) And which is the most beautiful? I think Op10, No.4 is the toughest ...   The most beautiful is definately the last, Op.25, No.12....

[maxy]

COOL! 

once more!

first I say this: hardest are op 10 #1-2  op 25#6

then someone will disagree...

then some pretentious dude will say: I find op 10#2 easy

then someone will say op 10#4 is hardest if played at Richter speed (1:31)

then another will say something like op 10#6 is musically the hardest

so on and so on

[jhon]

Someone said from another forum that the etudes DEFY difficulty in that once you mastered the specific technique required, it will be easy - well not really easy but at least manageable.  And I agree with that.

[greyrune]

isn't the whole difficulty in learning the technique though?  That's like saying once you can play semiquavers at 300bpm playing semiquavers at 300bpm will be easy.  On a side note, there's a thread on how old were you when you started learning the etudes but i'd like to know how long people had been playing before they learned them.  I haven't played any yet but i'd like to know about how long it takes, i know i've got a while yet.  I agree with squigly (cool name by the way) on op25 no12 being the most beautiful, i can't say about difficulty though.

[Bouter Boogie]

Doesn't it depends on your own technique which etude is the hardest one?

[squigly]

Music is surely different  for each other. You find Op.10 No. 1 or No.2 the hardest, another says "no Op. 25 No.6 is the hardest". Its like having a friendly conversation. And i believe that if u realy want to play something (whatever it is) u will learn it ...someday anyway...    just want to see your opinion...     .

[nanabush]

Ya someone on this forum said op 25 # 6 was the easiest, maybe he finds thirds the easiest technique out of all of Chopin's etudes...Some ppl have very stretchy hands, and find op 10 # 1 the easiest, there is no set 'most difficult' chopin etude, but it's still fun to argue...

[allchopin]

Maxy has already summarized my feelings on the etudes 

[rebel1ns]

it depends on your style of playing i guess

[pseudopianist]

COOL! 

once more!

first I say this: hardest are op 10 #1-2  op 25#6

then someone will disagree...

then some pretentious dude will say: I find op 10#2 easy

then someone will say op 10#4 is hardest if played at Richter speed (1:31)

then another will say something like op 10#6 is musically the hardest

so on and so on

I agree... esp with the musically hardest bullshit.

[piano_world]

i think, u ve to play them all to say which is the hardest.
for me, the hardest thing is, to play Op.10/1 + 2 in a row as first pieces in a concert

[Waldszenen]

For me, the technically hardest are Op. 10 No. 1, Op. 10 No. 1 and Op. 25 No. 12.

[etudes]

i think to play all 27 of them is most difficult
some of students i know have to play them twice in a row without rest before playing in a concert
same as 12 transcendental liszt