I recently bought the score for Scriabin Etude Op. 2/1 and having literally looked at the first few bars assumed that I would have to try and play the bass clef with LH and treble with RH, crossing as necessary. I then went and checked out some of the videos on YouTube and it looked like most pianists play the first few bars without crossing.

What I realise now is that I have no idea about the rules and conventions governing these kind of situations.

Eg in Chopin Etude Op25/1 bar 8, I've always assumed I had to play the 4th semi-quaver Bb and Db crossed. With my technique I find this extremely difficult, but as with the Scriabin I assume that anything labelled "Etude" should be attempted the way it "appears" on the manuscript.

I'm probably being extremely naive and need to do a bit more research on the whole subject.

Chris

Be sure to ask this in Pianist Corner as well. Some very knowledgeable posters over there might not see you question here.

Chris,

I can't speak to the Scriabin, but with the Chopin piece the idea is indeed that the thumbs should overlap. It would be easy enough to redistribute the notes so that it's not necessary, but I am certain that most people (purists and otherwise) would frown on it.

Chopin doesn't use this device terribly often, though another prominent example that comes to mind is in the Prelude 28/17. As a learning aid, I think it's useful to mark in the score which hand goes "over" and which goes "under" so that you don't have to grind to a halt and think about it each time you come to that spot.

Once you have the notes in your fingers, I believe you'll find it very manageable.

Steven

Op. 44 uses quite a bit of interlocking hands in the contrasting sections. Hands separately is a must.