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Picked up some new pieces today for the first time in a long time....very excited! Going to be working on Chopin's 2nd scherzo and Rachmaninov's prelude in D (extraordinarily beautiful imo!).
Any thoughts or advice about either of these pieces would be appreciated!

I've done the Rach Prelude. It is gorgeous, isn't it? It took me longer than I expected to learn it because it's almost impossible to learn hands separately - sometimes the melody switches from left hand to right within the same phrase

There's also that pesky polyrhythm to deal with, but it's very straightforward 2 against 3. Also voicing issues when the melody is in the inner voice. But it's all worth it! It's a great piece.

My only advice would be to choose fingering immediately and stick with it.

Ah the Rachmaninov D is much harder than it looks. Be careful not to "overplay" the expressive sections. It is also important to use the sustaining pedal as a bare minimum. Moira Lympany does a superb performance that highlights the character of this work. I'll try and find a reference point for you.

Just as a tip, and it is a truly great work, but just about every (at the level) takes on Chopin's 2nd Scherzo. No 1 is the rarest, but I would be inclined to opt for the 4th in place of the 2nd. Technically they are all pretty much the same. Some argue No 1 is rather harder, but they are about the same in my opinion. As for the 2nd, ensure you play all notes for the 'con anima' quavor sections. I like to imply a cross rhythm with a triplet base in place of the groups of 6. The infections in the sostenuto sections need to be carefully observed. There are plenty of "misinterpretations" available as reference. I would be careful not be drawn into playing the final "piu mosso" too fast [as is so often the case].

But what happened to the rest of Prokofiev's Opus 12? It is a remarkable suite from his "French period" you deserve to look at more than the prelude. That scherzo causes me no end of problems as it demonstrates the extreme difficulty in PLAYING SOFT!!!!!!

Good luck

I can definitely see what you mean when you say the Rachmaninov is much harder than it looks, 2 vs. 3 can be tricky sometimes as well as keeping the sustain pedal use down.
I can also understand your sentiment about playing pieces which are less known. But, as the situation turns out, I chose this piece because I was looking through an old compilation of Chopin pieces of my grandmother's and found the score. I'd known the piece for a while and was surprised to find it as playable as it turns out to be, very pianistic.
Not sure! Don't have the scores for the rest of the set but perhaps I'll take a look...

I am currently learning the scherzo and It is causing me lots of problems. In fact, there still isn't a section I'm happy with yet. A couple of tips:

1. Make sure you play the the different runs and arpeggios smoothly, accurately and in a variety of rhythms
2. If you get a fingering indication that looks awkward, try it as it will usually be the best, even if it doesn't look it at first.
3. Practice slowly, it really does work

The hardest part for me so far has been the arpeggios with the thudding octave baseline, just before the agitato section (dont have bar numbers sorry). It's just so awkward

I had a chance to play through the Rachmaninoff today (I haven't looked at it in a while) and I wanted to change something I said originally.

It turns out that I do play the entire melody with the RH. The piece does require some very creative fingering, however, which makes it difficult to voice properly. IMO that's the most difficult aspect of this great piece.

Love the Rach--recommend Marta Deyanova's recording of it.