So Which Chopin Etude Is The Hardest Anyway??

[@TheIndependentPianist]

I recorded this entire video before realizing that my microphone was not configured correctly and hadn't picked up anything! Rather than try to redo the whole video, which would have been tricky since I recorded it off the cuff without any notes, I present the less than ideal audio here with my humble apologies....

[@jackisinforthewin]

the audio doesnt sound bad. its better than mine lol

[@williamtaittinger4529]

audio is pretty good.

[@damland1357]

Video essay about Chopins 4th ballade would be amazing… It is a true masterpiece.

[@TheIndependentPianist]

@@damland1357 All the ballades and Scherzi are on my to-do list!

[@zavilov]

Only the ones you can not yet play are the most difficult.

[@grahamtwist]

Thank you for once again sharing your fascinating insights on learning difficult music and preparing for performance and exploring what other musicians have to say about their struggles and approaches: bravo!

[@matthewosterholzer]

Excited to hear you're working on the Liszt sonata, it's been a favorite of mine for a long time but I've never taken the time to really dig into my appreciation beyond the surface level- can't wait to see what you have to say on it!

[@kevinmcelhaney8066]

Could not agree more about the distinctive challenges of classical and baroque repertoire. I try always to be working on something by Bach--a suite or WTC. I think Bach especially helps keep the technique clean and does not permit laziness or sloppiness like a lot of romantic repertoire does. With Bach, your LH must be the equal of your RH, and your weak fingers (4 & 5) must be the equal of your strong fingers. The clarity required does not allow the performer anywhere to hide, such as behind a multitude of notes or the pedal. I have also found in recent years that studying music from non-European traditions has really improved my playing. Music from the Americas or Asia, and jazz styles involve different harmonies, rhythms, scales, etc., and stretch the technique in different ways.

[@Davidfooterman]

I learnt on a Knight upright, which had a very heavy action. That made lighter pianos a joy to play. Knight, I believe, was a chief engineer at Steinway.

[@ciararespect4296]

Yes. Knight were the only other piano sold in Steinway hall alongside Steinways. They were good pianos I practiced on an old K10

[@mvmarchiori]

As someone once said, Mozart is easy for beginners and very hard for professionals.

[@TheIndependentPianist]

@@mvmarchiori exactly

[@da__lang]

I think Arthur Schnabel said that we can't give Mozart sonatas to children because they're too easy and we can't give them to adults because they're too difficult.

[@Stevie-Steele]

You should feel no guilt nor shame for that Chopin Etude video title - titles like that may seem a little "clickbaity" or cheap but the content of this channel is so RICH that it deserves far more views and subscribers. I noticed that it is your most viewed video on the channel, and hopefully it raised your subscriber count! This kind of in-depth content is outstanding and thought provoking - provides excellent inspiration for both listening and practice. So I know you won't wish to descend into a lot of cheap clickbaity gimmickry but if you ever lean a little toward that direction (with that kind of bold subjective assertion) be assured that it's for the greater good! This channel is among my favourites on KZbin!

[@TheIndependentPianist]

@@Stevie-Steele Thanks man! That’s very encouraging

[@kevinmcelhaney8066]

I laughed at the title, but I am all for any approach that increases your channel's reach!

[@kzelmer]

Thanks for the video and the hard work and love you put in each one of them. We appreciate the fact that even in busy days you upload a video for us Regarding difficulty, each pianist will struggle with different tecnhique requirements. I find op 25 no 6 relatively "easy" as my thirds technique is somewhat decent but I have a really hard time with op 10 no 2 because, as you said, is hard all the way through the piece And ofc, as you said, Chopin etudes require daily practice if you want to be able to perform them at a decent level.

[@PhillipLWilcher]

Composers fix their ideas, performers set them free!

[@jackisinforthewin]

excited for the liszt sonata

[@TheIndependentPianist]

@@jackisinforthewin It’s been a long wait!

[@neilkilleen3911]

@@TheIndependentPianist 3 hours of analysis and 1/2 hour performance should be about right !

[@TheIndependentPianist]

@@neilkilleen3911 no joke it will probably end up being a monster video

[@jackisinforthewin]

@@TheIndependentPianist yes i remember asking you about when a liszt b minor sonata video would be coming out in your first q and a

[@dissociationcampaign5997]

Hopefully this kind of title will bring more people to this channel!

[@PhillipLWilcher]

From a purely technical point of view, I think if one were to say that the Op 10 No 2 is the most difficult etude, then one should join the Op 25 No 6 to it at the hip. That's the question, isn't it! Which of the etudes is the more difficult technically as opposed to which is the most difficult musically. Then to consider which combines both to effect such a challenge. To each their own, I suppose. The Op 10 No 1 still challenges me to the hilt, where I had no real trouble mastering the OP 25 No 12. But the difficulty there lies in the interval of the 10th opposed to the octave. In the early-mid 1980s, I listened to Paul Badura-Skoda's son - Michael - practise the Op 10 No 1 religiously every day for a week (5 working days) with a metronome, and for hours on end, taking it up a notch at a time, from the slowest of tempi imaginable to the fulfillment of the ideal. He did it! Musically, I would suggest the Op 10 No 6, as a study in touch technique, difficult enough. I believe it requires a thorough technique to play slow pieces than it does to play fast pieces. To sustain the idea across such slow tempi, and maintain the musicality of it, is no small feat to be sure. But then, as a composer, I have always written adagios quickly and presto pieces pieces slowly. Go figure!

[@jmft]

The hardest is whichever I'm learning right now.

[@neilkilleen3911]

The answer to the question is really just another question because it so totally depends on your technical skill set what can I improve in my technique (and musicality) as revealed by playing these pieces.

[@JimHantis]

yay cole anderson

[@Chopin-Etudes-Cosplay]

3:18 “All piano music is either easy or impossible.” So true. Every Chopin etude can convince you it’s the hardest one, from my experience. With that said, 10-2 is the hardest 😛

[@TheIndependentPianist]

@@Chopin-Etudes-Cosplay agreed! 😂

[@chwu04-ne2df]

I agree. The main technique for 25/6 is harder to pick up at first, but once you have it down it's not as bad in terms of getting it up to tempo because it's not really fatiguing to play. 10/1 and 10/2 on the other hand have my RH cramping badly by the final page and suddenly I can't maintain the same quality of playing as the beginning. Also tbh many parts of 25/6 are honestly quite easy, particularly the minor thirds chromatic scales. I would even say the trills are a much bigger challenge.

[@ricardorivas5955]

10 - 2 is hard but it repeats so much it makes it easier

[@ciararespect4296]

They're all easy when you know how

[@neilkilleen3911]

Brahms was not a fan of Liszt and was part of a movement overtly criticising Liszt’s progressive music. I’m just starting Walker’s V 3 of his Liszt biography. I really feel very sad for the horrible inter-personal crap that Liszt endured through his life. He was such a generous man, such a progressive composer, yet his contemporaries often showed themselves as petty and jealously destructive.

[@SpaghettiToaster]

I desperately want you to rank (and play) the Godowsky arrangements and know which one you think is the hardest (it's 28a, isn't it)

[@TheIndependentPianist]

@@SpaghettiToaster Oh boy, I’m not sure I’ll ever end up doing all of those etudes, but I have a few of them in my repertoire that I will record at some point. Honestly all of the LH alone ones are extraordinary, but 28a does seem almost bizarrely awkward!

[@carmirobert.cruceru]

Wow, first comment. Let's Analyze the content

[@williamtaittinger4529]

Andie is a G.

[@pushkinthegreat]

Hot take op 25 no.5 is harder than op 25 no. 6

[@TheIndependentPianist]

@@pushkinthegreat ohhhhhhh interesting… what it makes it that way for you? Op 25 no 5 has always struck me as deceptively tricky to bring off

[@tamer3397]

nah this is a batshit insane take

[@millenniumtreasurer]

Boiling hot take ♨

[@pushkinthegreat]

@@TheIndependentPianist For 25 6 (11, 13, 48). It's probably harder than anything in 25 5, but it's just a few bars. IYKYK. 25 6, the trill and scales has always been straightforward, and comfortable for me. I improvise a lot using similar techniques, so it's quite natural for me. 25 5, there is much more material with a lot of rhythmic and polyphonic subtleties. In 25 6, the music is straightforward, yes it's true the left hand is very difficult in 25 6. But, 25 5, has similar problems, and balancing the middle section, you need to give it a different character, but cannot be too verismo with the left hand, super bel canto while keeping the RH arpeggios super balanced. The balancing in the thirds, is much more intuitive to me, whereas 25 5 there is a lot of varied material, and bringing it into a long musical narrative that's convincing is much harder than those few measures of 25 6.

[@Yubin_Lee_Doramelin]

Musically??

[@pushkinthegreat]

Harold C. Schoenberg on his book was incredibly disrespectful to Heinrich Neuhaus. Include that upon a review. The early era stuff is very interesting in that book.

[@TheIndependentPianist]

@@pushkinthegreat I completely forgot what he said about Neuhaus. I will take a look at that!

[@joanneswets.]

They are all too difficult to even discuss difficulty. How difficult are Chopin's etudes really for you privileged pianists who are even able to discuss their 'difficulty'! 🙃

[@grahamtwist]

Would you comment in the same way about 'privileged physicists' discussing how to grapple with the intricacies of quantum mechanics and relativity theory? Or 'privileged artists' like Michelangelo and Leonardi da Vinci exploring idealism versus realism when painting or sculpting? Or would you show them the respect they deserve and feel privileged to be even included on the periphery of their 'difficulty' discussion?

[@joanneswets.]

😊 Please don't get me wrong Graham, it may not sound like it but I mean 'privileged' as a positive achievement through hard work, I have the utmost respect and appreciation for pianists who manage to reach such a level and watch with great interest what goes on in their minds. I certainly don't want to offend anyone but tried to put it into perspective... I feel more than privileged to follow such discussions from the sidelines! And I am so grateful that Cole is initiating them and sharing them with us all, very inspiring and interesting, you will never hear me say the opposite!

[@grahamtwist]

​Thanks for clarifying - I was not sure what you were implying, but missed that maybe your tongue was in your cheek! Cole is hugely impressive and I feel privileged to hear his insights and performances uploaded to his KZbin channel. And no Chopin is easy to play quite as he plays it!

[@joanneswets.]

Cole has a good bodyguard in you! I highly appreciate both of you 😃

[@manzoh2248]

Liszt's music should not be played to impress the lisztener

[@jackisinforthewin]

ill put that on my chopin liszt!!!!!

[@TheIndependentPianist]

@@manzoh2248 nice one!

[@jackisinforthewin]

​@@TheIndependentPianistmy one was extremely bad lol