Question:
What are some good piano etudes?
TeddyB123
2012-03-04 18:02:25 UTC
Hi, I'm looking for some etudes that are late intermediate - early advanced piano. I'm looking for something harder than Czerny, but easier than Chopin. I've already started the Liszt etude in D minor op.1 no.4 If anyone can help I'd be very grateful.
Four answers:
Gershwinboy
2012-03-05 05:20:24 UTC
This is a very good question. As far as I known most piano etudes are at least medium-advanced piano pieces. It is also particularly hard to find etudes which musically appeal such as the Chopin etudes, making the search still harder. I can only think of one composer which nicely fits the specified profile, namely Stephen Heller. He is somewhat unknown but produced a large body of piano etudes, mainly over the range intermediate to early-advanced. I have his Opus 45 (Melodic studies, Edition Peters) and to me they fill the gap between intermediate and advanced etudes. I also know some etudes from his Opus 46 (in compiled songbooks) and I also like them a lot. I know he has still more etude works of similar difficulty with probably also outliers (Opus 45, 46 , 47, 90, 125 and still more). I am sure that you will find ample of suitable material. It is a pity not more people know him since some of this easier etudes are really nice (Op. 45, no. 8 is a real gem in my opinion).
Fiery
2012-03-04 22:02:44 UTC
You could always look into Sergei Lyapunov, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Bartok, Mendelssohn, but my question is at this point in your piano studies - why bother? Almost all of the etudes and material by these composers are just as difficult as Chopin anyway.



I don't blame you for not wanting to study Czerny anymore. The reality is that, for you, it is wisest to either stay with Czerny for another year or so, or to stiffen that upper lip and move on to Chopin. Only you or your piano teacher can decide which option is best for you and will benefit you the most.



Chopin wrote the etudes over a span of 7 years from age 19-26. The Chopin etudes exhaust nearly every physical possibility at the keyboard. In terms of music history, they are some of the most significant pieces of piano literature - they deviated from the "old school" rules of no thumbs on black keys, no true leaps beyond a 6th, etc - Franz Liszt (an innovator of piano technique himself') was astounded with the possibilities that Chopin opened up for the piano.



These etudes, they are meant, all of them, to be studied by pianists over a whole lifetime (essentially). You will be doing yourself a favor to start studying them now, just don't speed up to proper tempo until you've fully familiarized yourself with the notes, the proper technique required to play the piece without injury, and the dynamics/intentions of the particular piece. Slow and steady wins the race with Chopin etudes. Study plenty of etudes at the same time and don't waste too much time repeating sections over and over!!! It is pointless to go over and over the same section in the same day, your body and mind need time to assimilate everything you have learned that day. So - give just a couple minutes each day to work on individual difficult etude passages and you will be surprised at how well you learn it and how fast it comes together.



The most substantial and important etudes for piano technique are Op 10 No 1 and Op 10 No 2. The others are very important, but the first 2 are revolutionary, historically, in their ideas of proper use of the thumb, proper hand position for playing, Chopin's emphasis on pre-planned fingering, and finger independence. Granted these etudes mainly focus on the right hand (the left hand is still important in these works!!) - nobody said you couldn't invert the studies. (There's always Godowsky's versions if Chopin's ever become too easy for you.. Hamelin enjoyed those quite a bit evidently lol)
anonymous
2016-02-27 04:00:22 UTC
I'd hesitate to say any of the Chopin Etudes are intermediate; they'd be difficult for a typical high school pianist, and more suited to a college-level student as a rule. Just about any serie of etudes is going to have multiple pieces designed for fluidity or dealing with other specific technical issues in both hands. Czerny's "The Art of Finger Dexterity" is a likely choice, and Moskowski's assorted etudes also come in collection. Both are attractive, accessible for a wide range of ability levels, and useful, even if they don't really have the musical depth of the Chopin.
p_alfonso
2012-03-05 08:34:39 UTC
I just posted my interpretation of Chopin's Nocturne opus 9 ,No.2.

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


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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