Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Difficulty of Chopin Scherzo 1?

What other chopin piece would you say it's closest in difficulty to? I realize this is a completely subjective question, it's just for my interest.

Interesting question.

I don't think it's really comparable to anything, because I think it's impossible to talk meaningfully about degree of difficulty without also talking about type of difficulty, and there isn't really anything else like it.

If I had to pick something, I'd say the 2nd Scherzo, because it has sections that are sort of comparable in type.

Runner-up: Maybe the Winter Wind Etude (Op. 25 #11)

idk in my opinion, the scherzo no. 2 seems harder. Idk, it's all subjective I like your answer of the winter wind étude though, the long line of notes and everything considered. Isn't it op. 25 though?

You're darn right it's Op. 25.

I made a mistake at first and wrote "23" because I had that opus number on my brain from the Rachmaninoff thread. I quickly corrected it, but you were too fast for me.

Haha ok

It's incomparable to any other piece, even by Chopin, that's why it is a masterpiece.

I always got the feeling that Saint Saens had this piece in mind when he wrote the Allegro Appassionato.

Define incomparable.

UNIQUE

Sure, it's unique, but not THAT unique. I could (and do) compare it to the other three. I feel that it's the weakest of the four, and rightfully so. He was experimenting with his new idea for the 'scherzo' and he was not quite in his mature phase yet.

It's pretty damn difficult. Especially when taken at the indicated tempo (had editions that went up to 126(!) per dotted half). I would say it's my favorite of the 4, not too big on the e major unfortunately.

Baille divides Chopin's pieces into around seven difficulty levels. There are at least 30 pieces listed in highest level including all the Scherzi, Ballades, Sonatas, big Polonaises, and many of the Etudes. One might benefit from breaking her hardest group into say two groups, but attempting to be any more precise than that seems a pointless exercise to me.

That's a problem.

Whose recordings of the E major have you heard?

Yeah, you probably don't like it because you haven't heard Bunin play it.

You know me. But really, I didn't get this piece until I heard Bunin's. I'm a Bunin advocate, okay? One interpretation can make ALL the difference.

Favorites would include the Godowsky, Moiseiwitsch, and the Bolet recording (Marston?). Still not a huge fan of the piece when compared with others in the set.

Try Bunin's.

Exactly right.

The B minor Scherzo is just hard to control. I started learning it 20 years ago and I'm still haphazard at full speed - sometimes note perfect, sometimes all over the place. As with a lot of Chopin, accumulated tension is the main culprit.