Guy D' requested a thread discussing which particular etudes are good for which particular techniques. I'm glad he asked, because I for one am also interested.

(Could anybody possibly post the techniques associated with the Chopin Etudes, for example? Liszt? Rachmaninov? Brahms? ... )

I haven't played many etudes, but here goes (please copy the lists and add what you know and would recommend)

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Arpeggios:
• Czerny Op. 740 No. 2 in G Major
• Chopin Op. 10 No. 12 in C Minor

5-Finger Scales
• Czerny Op. 740 No. 1 in C Major
• Schmidt Preperatory Exercises

Hmmm... I'd give it a very, very rough breakdown:

Chopin:

10/1 - RH wrist and arm motion
10/2 - RH 345 chromatic
10/3 - phrasing and balance
10/4 - fingerwork and articulation
10/5 - black key playing
10/6 - LH inner voicing
10/7 - finger switching
10/8 - RH runs
10/9 - LH stretches
10/10 - RH tremolo
10/11 - beastly chords
10/12 - LH runs

25/1 - balance
25/2 - light evanescent RH fingerwork
25/3 - ornamentation
25/4 - LH jumps
25/5 - RH wrist flicking, hand positioning
25/6 - RH thirds
25/7 - LH tone
25/8 - RH sixths
25/9 - RH technique switching
25/10 - octaves
25/11 - tremolo/line leading
25/12 - arm motion

These are all in my very humble opinion - and feel free to disagree!

Thanks, Paul. I just glanced over an article at PianoSociety.com, and here's what they suggest for Chopin Op. 10:
(very specific! - elaboration on your list )

10/1 - Arpeggio
10/2 - Chromatics
10/3 - Legato Playing/Syncopation
10/4 - Chromatics and Arpeggios with Syncopation and Voice-Leading
10/5 - Arpeggios on the Black Keys
10/6 - Legato Playing and Counterpoint
10/7 - Legato Playing With Arpeggios/Chromatics and Counterpoint and Syncopation
10/8 - Counterpoint and Legato Playing
10/9 - Arpeggios (LH), Legato Playing, and Counterpoint
10/10 - Legato and Stacatto Playing With Syncopation
10/11 - Arpeggiated Chords and Legato Playing
10/12 - Scales/Arpeggios with Syncopation

Study Guide for Op. 10
Study Guide for Op. 25

I'd disagree with a number of them there. 10/1 is much more than a simple arpeggio exercise, and 10/2 is much more than just regular chromatic runs. I don't see many chromatic runs in 10/4 (of course, there is that one towards the recapitulation, but that's hardly characteristic of the whole piece). I especially don't see arpeggios in 10/7, nor in 10/9. I could go on forever... heh. But then again, my list is only comprised of my personal opinions, and these are somebody else's. So I won't say that they're wrong and that I'm right.

Thanks again! I love disagreement. Without disagreement, we never learn.

Not having played most of the Chopin Etudes (I've only played 1!) it seems to me that they are, as you commented, more than just basic etudes - more than just arpeggios, more than just scales, more than just chromatics... (unlike Czerny, for example).

I've been studying Op. 10 No. 12 for a little over a year - It's not just the left hand runs, and not just arpeggios and syncopation - there are so many different arpeggios, and so many different stretches... plus it's an etude of dynamics, and also octaves (RH), and parallel passages (first 8 or so measures, middle, and end)... It trains so many different techniques! It's like 10 Czerny etudes in 1 Chopin etude.

I'd say just learn all of the Chopin Etudes, and not to pick and choose from them. But it's good to know what you're working on, anyways.