I do that too of course, and I actually prefer it. But Mark_C said "checking as you go along to see what fraction of the way you are" (the italics are mine), so it is basically the same.

"Every piece is difficult. The more you know, the more difficult it gets, so every piece is difficult."

Vladimir Horowitz

My reason for mentioning the number of pages to my Schirmer’s Edition (21 pages to the Scherzo 4) was intended to indicate that poor old Fred had his time cut out (at that hectic Presto pace) to squeeze in 872 measures .

While listening to the work, I was turning pages rather fast ... (as though trying to get done before the house burnt down).

My guess is that Chopin wanted to spread the score to capture those slowing rubato passages ...so masterfully captured by Rubinstein.

My quack says that, after my attempting to play the giddy piece ... not only is the fifth metacarpal bone (RH pinky) cracked ... but my back has been put out ... necessitating traction.

You chaps have been warned!

Who said Scherzo 4 was easy?

Where is the original poster?

The reason I ask was purely curiosity, i'm tackling the 1st and 3rd

Working on the 3rd right now. Some awkward bits especially for a small hand.

I'm working on it too and I have small hands. I've got some great workarounds. Where are you having problems?

Deborah,

I've sent you a PM.

Sharon

I hope you are joking. Hard to tell sometimes.
Wasn't there a critic who wrote, in a review of Chopin's newly published Etudes, that the pianist attempting them should be sure to have a surgeon standing by?

A guy named Rellstab.
This is the only thing I know about him. I've been pretty content not to know more.

He's also the one who supposedly gave the "Moonlight" sonata its name.

Strike two!

But actually.....all things considered, ultimately, wasn't that nickname a GOOD thing?

I think anything that reasonably (or at least not unreasonably) popularizes classical music is good, and there's no doubt that this nickname has done that. And after all, it was such popularization, although different types of it, that pulled me into classical music: Popular songs that were based on classical pieces (partiularly "Till the End of Time," from Chopin's Ab Polonaise) and the use of classical music in cartoons were what did it for me.

That's an interesting question, meriting its own thread.

Mark - I'm a tad older than you - and I wasn't aware this song existed until you mentioned it here......thanks !!!

A rendition by Perry Como.......
http://youtu.be/KFXA_-2cIYU

....and how about Doris Day:



And actually it wasn't directly from the song that I got into this music, but.... As a kid I went to summer camp for a few years, and y'know, they had this thing called "color war" -- don't know if it still exists at kids' camps. The camp would be divided into two teams and over the course of a few days there would be various sports events, and then it would end with a "sing" where each team would do songs that had been written by the counselors. One of the songs that my 'team' did was based on "Till the End of Time," and somehow it absolutely grabbed me despite the complete wrecking of the polonaise rhythm, which of course is a pretty basic thing. When I got back home to my piano lessons, I asked my teacher what this thing was. She bypased the whole "Till the End of Time" thing (which I didn't learn of till years later) and just said it's from the Chopin polonaise.

P.S. In later years, through the internet I was able to find the counselor who had put together that song (and also did a lot of other terrific musical stuff at the camp) and let him know how wonderfully influential he had been for me. And BTW in his rendition of the song, he brought the melody closer to the original Chopin. (If not the rhythm.)

Mark - I would normally do this through a PM - but since you don't accept them....

Funny you should pick the 1945 Doris Day version with Les Brown. In 1945, in NYC my Mom dated Les Brown's brother, Clyde "Stumpy" Brown who played trombone in Les' band. A few years later in Los Angeles, Stumpy would stop by our house to visit - driving a little British made MG sports car (open top - two seater). Nice guy. (His nickname apparently had something to do with the fact that he wasn't very tall.)

Now - back to Chopin. I've been working on the A-flat Polonaise myself and hope to record it in the next few weeks. Finally mastered the LH octaves in the middle section. Fingering was the key.

Cheers !!

That's part of why I don't like PM!

(You would have wanted to keep that from the rest of the people here?)

I just had the pleasure of reading a marvelous performance analysis of the 3rd Ballade. I found this unexpected treasure in a used book store and only this morning did I find the time to read the section on the Ballade. The book doesn't cover a vast amount of repertoire, but the Ballade #3 section I just read was extremely helpful. It analyses the technical and interpretive challenges in the piece, measure by measure. I just finished marking up my score and sat back and said, "Wow." :

"Piano Repertoire, A Guide to Interpretation and Performance" by Bela Siki, Schirmer books, 1981

Thanks for the info Deborah. I just checked and they have it at my university library. I will definitely take a look.

Back on topic - the 4th ballade is indeed very difficult, but for me, it doesn't pose the same amount of risk as the 1st ballade - the technical difficulties seem "under the hands", compared to the G minor's difficulties being "under the arms" with all of the jumps and leaps.

I'd say that the 4th scherzo is more technically difficult due to the lightness required, but it has less complicated figurations than the two ballades, and it repeats more.

I agree.

I make some distinctions that some people might not: While I consider the 4th ballade extremely hard, including that the musical and conceptual challenges are of the highest order, I agree it doesn't feel as 'risky' or 'scary' as other Chopin pieces including the 1st ballade. And to make another such distinction....


We're at least pretty close on that too. The scherzo certainly has fewer complex figurations, and they are maybe also less complex -- but I'd say it's more 'tricky' to play with adequate pianism and musicianship, and that fewer people can do it.

Mark, you said that little bit towards the end of scherzo 4 is the most difficult Chopin you have ever played? I'm just wondering which run in scherzo 4 is most difficult for you?

I don't think any one "run" stands out; I think many of them -- all of them actually -- are very hard in terms of the aspects I mentioned. If I had to mention one....well it's not really a "run" either, but, the part with the brief complex running 8th note figure in the L.H., with the 8th notes then getting transferred to the R.H. and the L.H. then has the leaping figure with a bit of a melody within it. It's the passage starting at 1:57:
(and the repetition in the recap)

Ahh, with the weird left hand 'octave turns' and the ascending right hand?

1:58?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8X1Rs_LNeQ


I've heard going up is quite a bit harder than coming back down.

Yes -- I edited it to give the details while you were posting.

As to whether going up or down is harder, I don't even know what that means.
Every bit of the passage is extremely hard. Saying what part is harder or easier is splitting hairs, like wondering which of two great pizzerias is better.