It looks really hard ... what was your experience?

I did all 4 who knows way back when. Try to start with the demanding coda first if intend to learn this thing.

YES!! HARD!! HARD!! DID I SAY DIFFICULT?? LONG!! HARD!! HA HA!! CODA REALLY HARD!!

Whew!

Played it in college. It's the hardest of the four. Lots of fun to perform. AndrewG's right start with the coda if/when you want to learn it.

it's a pretty hard piece, talking about endorance musically and technically, but it's so beautiful, my all time favorite.

I started it, got 6 pages through, and decided to leave it at that, hehe. It was difficult, but once you have the fingering, it becomes much more managable (I won't say easier because it was still hard!)

I have the first under my fingers and have been working off and on on the second. Is it a ton harder than either of these two?

In listening to it, it hasn't grabbed me like the first two, and I've not been real motivated to explore it. Maybe just as well if it's a head knocker.

I just played this piece for all my college auditions and it's by far one of Chopin's finest works. John Ogdon called it a "romantic communion of unparalleled proportion"

For advice - it has a LOT of technical difficulties, and has more double-note passages (not just in the coda) than any other of his Ballades , which add a lot of difficulty.
It took me about 4 months to really bring it up to performance level, but It's the kind of piece that, if you don't work hard every day, slips out of your fingers. Also, this piece, more than any
other Chopin I can think of, is written in a theme and variation method and has the main subject repeating itself so many times.

It's really a brilliant piece, and I consider it the quintessence of "mature" Chopin - as far as possible from , (IMO) his tacky youthful works like the Andante Spianao & Polonaise. Good luck with it!

KathyK: I have played all 4 Ballades and I can say, without a doubt, that the fourth Ballade is 10x more challenging than either the first or second- both technically and musically.

Listen to Zimerman's recording of the fourth. You'll love it.

Thanks, I will. Maybe I haven't listened to it enough to really get it into my brain. In any event, sounds like one I'd probably enjoy much more listening to than trying to tackle myself.

Also listen to Ivan Moravec's 1965 recording. It's my personal favorite.

I'm up to page 6 of Ballade I, and if Ballade 4 is ten times harder, I don't think I'll bother with it!

It makes the double notes in #2 look like childs play.

My teacher recently learned this. Yesterday, she came over to meet my new Bosendorfer and played it for me. It was hard just watching her play that coda!

Fantastic piece, someday I will learn it.

Difficult, yes, and for me the most rewarding of all of them. Absolutely gorgeous piece that you can play your entire life!

Now, this is probably going to generate a firestorm of opprobrium, but I think you really have to be a "Chopin player." Once you get past the technical difficulties, particularly in the 4 Ballade, there is the huge question of nuance in any and all of Chopin's works. Further, this particular piece is sort of played in layers. It requires a substantial musical understanding. My best suggestion is to learn it with a teacher who really plays it well and/or has a definitive interpretation...

I'm finishing up the 1st Ballade, but it will be a LONG time, before I even think of trying the 4th. I might take up the 3rd, sometime in the next year, it's my new "favorite" Ballade for now. I like 1, 3, and 4, but the 2nd just hasn't caught my fancy (yet). Good luck, if you decide to start on it, it would be an amazing accomplishment.