# Whose Piano Etudes (Studies) do you like the most?



## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

I was listening to Ligeti's. Very brilliant. Probably my favourites.


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Liszt's Transcendental Etudes are my favorites. Followed closely by Chopin's Etudes (Op. 10 and Op. 25) and then Debussy's.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Bettina said:


> Liszt's Transcendental Etudes are my favorites. Followed closely by Chopin's Etudes (Op. 10 and Op. 25) and then Debussy's.


I do add + 1 :cheers:


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

Ligeti and Sorabji, closely followed by Bortkiewicz and Debussy. _Maybe_ Thomson.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Bettina said:


> Liszt's Transcendental Etudes are my favorites. Followed closely by Chopin's Etudes (Op. 10 and Op. 25) and then Debussy's.


The biggest problem with my technique is my hands tend to feel at home on keys, and they can't jump into different hand positions, or at least I don't practice those parts enough. i'm talking about the middle part in Chopin's Tristesse etude.


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## Machiavel (Apr 12, 2010)

Godowsky studies on chopin studies then Liszt Transcendental studies


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Rachmaninoff's Etudes Tableaux, both sets. Here is a great performance of three from Op. 39:


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Phil loves classical said:


> The biggest problem with my technique is my hands tend to feel at home on keys, and they can't jump into different hand positions, or at least I don't practice those parts enough. i'm talking about the middle part in Chopin's Tristesse etude.


The middle part of that etude is pretty crazy! For the chromatic scale parts, you should use legato fingering rather than jumping from one group of notes to the next. Of course, for the broken chord sections, you basically _do _have to jump in order to get to the next chord in time. For those sections, it helps to notice that many of the notes all belong to the same chord, which is being spread out over the keyboard in different positions/inversions. Once you memorize the chord patterns, then your hands will have an easier time moving to the next inversion of the chord.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I'd add to some of the above those by Szymanowzki, Skryabin and especially Alkan. I also like the four by Stravinsky but as they were early compositions they weren't as stylistically individual as much of his subsequent piano output.


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

Whose do I like the most? Chopin's, no contest.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

One vote for the Debussy Etudes. Even Debussy had trouble playing them.


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## Myriadi (Mar 6, 2016)

Debussy for me too. Then Ligeti and maybe Sorabji.


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

For me: Scriabin's...


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

I will put in a good word for Rautavaara:


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## Dirge (Apr 10, 2012)

"I cannot play the three Études. I haven't played them-ever or anywhere-since 1918." (Béla Bartók in a letter from some twenty years on)

I favor Bartók's 3 Studies, Op. 18, of 1918. The first of these diabolically difficult Studies deals with what is occasionally termed "disjunct chromaticism," wherein musical patterns are derived from simple chromatic scales in which alternate notes are displaced by an octave, resulting in an atmosphere of oscillating harmonic struggle and ambiguity. Bartók achieves this by having one hand play major and minor seconds and thirds while the other hand plays major and minor ninths and tenths-the same intervals opened by an octave. This requires the hands to expand and contract quickly even while stretched to the limit … made all the more difficult by the brutally fast pace.

The 2nd Study features a beautiful chromatic melody and a wide array of ever-changing arpeggios. It has something of a "night music" atmosphere about it, with all manner of insidiously sophisticated harmonic transformations taking place in the glittering chromatic moonlight.

The Molto sostenuto section of the 3rd Study features a perpetually moving left hand laying down a foundation of fast-moving sixteenth-notes played in complex irregular rhythms, with the time signature changing almost every measure. This constant regrouping of notes results in an ever-changing pattern of accentuated notes, which results in an ever-changing pulse. While all that is going on, the right hand plays irregularly and asymmetrically spaced staccato chords that hop, skip & jump across the sixteenth-notes like a cat on a hot tin roof. (That's my dubious understanding of what's going on after reading all the descriptions of the Study that I could find. For the most part, however, it remains magic to me.)





3 Studies (tracks 28-30)
:: Jerome Lowenthal [Pro Piano '96]

Lowenthal's account of the 3 Studies is the highlight of what is my favorite single album of Bartók piano music; it also includes 14 Bagatelles, Op. 6, _Out of Doors_, and 6 Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm (from _Mikrokosmos VI_).


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Phil loves classical said:


> I was listening to Ligeti's. Very brilliant. Probably my favourites.


Schumann. Debussy. Bartok. Messiaen. Bolcom. Cage. Dusapin.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

I was very impressed by Philip Glass's etudes when I first heard them last year.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Scriabin 
Chopin 
Rachmaninoff
Liszt
Henselt 

In that order.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

DeepR said:


> Scriabin
> Chopin
> Rachmaninoff
> Liszt
> ...


I forgot Prokofiev! Op. 2 is just awesome.
And Moszkowski, Lyapunov, Catoire, Roslavets, Saint Saëns and others.
I generally like Piano Etudes.


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## mathisdermaler (Mar 29, 2017)

one of my favorite chance works


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

Chopin's. including of course the Trois Nouvelles Etudes.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

DeepR said:


> I forgot Prokofiev! Op. 2 is just awesome.


Op. 2 No. 1 is possibly top 5 material, for Etudes that is.


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

I remember Stephen Heller's etudes back when I was deluding myself that I could become a pianist. Especially his Op.45 number 15, which has a real Rachmaninov feel. I had two books from a second-hand shop the other was some of his impromptus. I enjoyed them a lot.

As a choice I would say I like Scriabin's and Rachmaninov's best


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

1. Scriabin
2. Debussy
3. Chopin

i forgot about Schumann - he's the real no. 2.


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

1. Ligeti
2. Debussy
3. Chopin


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

From Wikipedia about the two Etudes Op. 1 by Paul de Schlözer:

_"Some historians believe that de Schlözer was not the composer of these études at all, and, given their virtuosity, it is very intriguing why nothing else from his pen ever appeared, or why he did not achieve any sort of recognition as a major pianist himself. The story goes that they were in fact written by Moszkowski, who lost the manuscript to de Schlözer in a card game, who published them as his own works. The similarities between de Schlözer's Étude No. 2 in A-flat and the 11th of Moszkowski's 15 Études de Virtuosité, Op. 72, also in A-flat, are striking. However, it may be that these similarities themselves gave rise to the legend that the de Schlözer pieces were written by Moszkowski."_


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

I think Messien's also deserve mention. They are pretty sublime and likely to please fans of late Debussy.


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

Oh, wait...those are his preludes! Oh well. Still lovely.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Rachmaninoff playing Henselt - Etude Op. 2 No. 6 "Were I a Bird" (reproduced from piano roll)


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

OP: depends on whether one is answering this as a listener or pianist.

I am not a pianist and in real time, still enjoy listening to the sensual Debussy Etudes


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

My top three:

1. Villa-Lobos 12 Etudes (One of my favorite pieces by Villa-Lobos, I haven't seen any mention of them!)

2. Debussy Etudes

3. Scriabin

The greatest Etudes (I know that wasn't the OP question but I decided to do one anyways):

1. Chopin

2. Ligeti

3. Alkan (Underrated, amazing works!)


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

Tchaikov6 said:


> My top three:
> 
> 1. Villa-Lobos 12 Etudes (One of my favorite pieces by Villa-Lobos, I haven't seen any mention of them!)
> 
> ...


1. Nancarrow
2. Scriabin
3. Rautavaara
4. Cage
5. Debussy
6. Glass
7. Ligeti
8. Godowsky
9. Chopin
10. Bortkiewicz


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

I wonder if Czerny's volumes of repetitive piano exercises will get any nominations...


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

Bettina said:


> I wonder if Czerny's volumes of repetitive piano exercises will get any nominations...


His etudes are not my favorite, but Czerny as a serious composer is very underrated. Take his symphonies or chamber music for example. His _Quatuor concertant_s (opp. 230 & 816) are another good starting place.






I don't play piano, so (thankfully) I was not introduced to Czerny through his uninspired pedagogical works.


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Portamento said:


> His etudes are not my favorite, but Czerny as a serious composer is very underrated. Take his symphonies or chamber music for example. His _Quatuor concertant_s (opp. 230 & 816) are another good starting place.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This is a very good symphony! Thanks for posting it. Definitely vastly superior to his pedagogical output, much of which is good for the fingers but rather mind-numbing for the listener. I'm glad that Czerny had another side to him.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Bettina said:


> This is a very good symphony! Thanks for posting it. Definitely vastly superior to his pedagogical output, much of which is good for the fingers but rather mind-numbing for the listener. I'm glad that Czerny had another side to him.


This one is a wonderful CD,Bettina.

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Hyperion/CDA68138

Also available at other shops


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Pugg said:


> This one is a wonderful CD,Bettina.
> 
> http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Hyperion/CDA68138
> 
> Also available at other shops


Thanks, Pugg! I appreciate the recommendation.


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

Tough choice between Chopin and Scriabin for me.


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## dgee (Sep 26, 2013)

Ligeti and Nancarrow!


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

I'm pretty much stuck on Scriabin Etude Op. 8 No. 12. But I'll take another shot at it someday.
I can play Op. 2 No. 1 and Op. 8 No. 5 and I'm happy with that. 
Not even touching the mighty Op. 42. No. 5 (my favorite Etude by anyone).

An underrated one is Op. 8 No. 8. Because not all Etudes have to be a dazzling virtuoso storm of notes.





Op. 8 No. 5 is so beautiful. Here's a striking example of how much interpretation matters.
Richter - exquisite





Magaloff - completely butchered


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Portamento said:


> 1. Nancarrow
> 2. Scriabin
> 3. Rautavaara
> 4. Cage
> ...


You are a music listening machine... i can't keep up with you.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Chopin - Op. 10 No. 9 ... that ending, genius.






Anyone tried to play this one? Ughh. Careful not to strain the left hand!


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

DeepR said:


> Chopin - Op. 10 No. 9 ... that ending, genius.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I thought I read Chopin's hands were small? How do you do it with small hands?


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Phil loves classical said:


> I thought I read Chopin's hands were small? How do you do it with small hands?


My hands are pretty small and I can play this type of thing (that is to say, I COULD play this type of thing if I overcame my laziness and practiced more regularly!!:lol The trick is just not to play the left hand legato. For the big leaps, don't stretch too far...it's better to jump instead. You can use the pedal to smooth out the gaps.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Bettina said:


> My hands are pretty small and I can play this type of thing (that is to say, I COULD play this type of thing if I overcame my laziness and practiced more regularly!!:lol The trick is just not to play the left hand legato. For the big leaps, don't stretch too far...it's better to jump instead. You can use the pedal to smooth out the gaps.


There was a difficult run in Appassionata I ran into early, although the fingering was marked out for using one hand only, I saw Hess used 2.


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## Bruckner Anton (Mar 10, 2016)

Chopin and Liszt


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