Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner To rank the Chopin Ballades, Scherzos, Barcarole and Fantasy

...and on the subject of the third scherzo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl9MvizSf78

Thats the best version of the 3rd Scherzo I've heard in my opinion. The only piece on the list I've learnt it the 2nd Scherzo (I'm almost finished with it now) and that for me was pretty damn hard! My favourites are the 4th and 1st ballade, and the 2nd and 3rd Scherzo.

I like the Barcarolle, Ballades 1, 3, and 4 and Scherzo No. 3.

The Fantasy bores me. Scherzo No. 2 is cool, but _way_ overplayed.

The most daunting one of the group is Ballade No. 4 in terms of technique and musicality required to pull it off. I don't think I'll ever come around to learning that one. That's the one I revere more than love.

There are passages in Scherzo No. 3 that're insane (the fast octaves--yikes!).

Thanks. I'll have to read through it some more to see if I change my mind.

I've seen people play a very good Barcarolle, or 4th scherzo, and seem overwhelmed by the Fantasie.

From beginning to end, the Barcarolle stands alone in my estimation (except perhaps for the 3rd Sonata) as the most wonderful composition of Chopin. It took me months to get it under my fingers, but I was so happy listening as it gradually took shape that I never got tired of practicing it. I also agree with others that a list of personal preferences in this group of some of his greatest works isn't very useful, so I'll stick with my list of difficulty, starting with the least challenging:

-- Fantasie
-- 3rd Ballade
-- 1st Scherzo
-- 2nd Scherzo
-- 2nd Ballade
-- Barcarolle
-- 1st Ballade
-- 3rd Scherzo
-- 4th Scherzo
-- 4th Ballade

Agh! The pain!!!

I have to admit I thought it was boring at first too but that's because I didn't listen to the whole thing.

Dang, there's no accounting for what we find fascinating or boring.

Chopin's Fantaisie is one of my earliest musical memories. My grandmother would take me to rummage sales, where I would pick out 78-rpm records and bring them home to play on my portable record player (the kind that had a cartridge that flipped over with one stylus for 33 and 45 rpm and a different one for 78).

I loved the piece from the first time I heard it, and tried to convince my mother that the major-key theme occurring three times sounded more like butterflies than that "Butterfly Etude" on a different 78. My little neighborhood friends were less than delighted, and the stage was set for suffering social stigma in sandbox society.

Fifty years later, I'm still loving the Fantaisie—and rummage sales, thrift stores and swap meets, too, though eBay makes it so much more convenient—and still enduring the ongoing ostracism of an outcast outsider.


Memories ... may be beautiful, and yet ....

Steven

There, there. I prefer Chopin to sandboxes anyway! On a side note, it does seem that a lot of the people I've spoken with seem to have been ostracized for their love of classical music while I haven't had so much as a "classical music is boring" out of even my acquaintances. Oh well, that's another topic for another day...

Well, I played the Fantasy in high school. It's not a technically-demanding piece. Chopin wrote stuff that's more interesting. Much more interesting.

I've personally felt that it could be his magnum opus.

I think it's a worthy contender among a handful of other worthy candidates. (I recall a "Chopin's Magnum Opus" thread a while back.)


I'm glad to hear you had such little difficulty considering your problems with 10/1. Still, there's a big difference between saying you didn't find it technically demanding, or that its difficulty tends to be overstated and overrated, and saying that it's "not a technically-demanding piece." That's an enormous exaggeration—pure hyperbole and patently absurd, IMNSHO.


There's no accounting for taste; what passes you ain't for you.

Even when one's personal opinion is obviously such, making that clear goes a long way toward mitigating a tone that may otherwise seem smug or high-handed. (If you read the thread about Hamelin, this issue is addressed at greater length.) Acronyms like IMO, IMHO and even IMNSHO do exist for a reason.

Steven

I don't really understand that. If someone says a piece it's uninteresting, then it is obviously their opinion. There's no need for any "IMO," etc. People should just express their opinions. Saying "IMO" is just redundant.

I'm beginning to wonder of some posters aren't confusing the Fantasy on Polish Airs with the Fantasy Impromptu. That would explain a few things.

(Frycek, darting back into her lair)

If people cannot distinguish between fact and opinion, perhaps they shouldn't "just express" themselves. It can be inflammatory, and I'm sure you know others agree if you read the Hamelin thread. I would expect a moderator to stand up for forum etiquette rather than deny the need for it.

It seems to me you're just taking the opportunity to single me out (yet again) for unwarranted criticism based on your well-documented personal animus. How predictable. I imagine that if it were I who had written what AZNpiano wrote, you would be jumping all over me for that instead of criticizing me for questioning it.

Hate the messenger, hate the message. We see it in national politics, and we see it here. You're a moderator, and it's abusive.

Steven

Wait! You mean we're not taking about the Polonaise-Fantasy?

Steven

Told ya' I was confused.

Oh, people, please don't all start calling that one boring now, too. The Fantaisie and Polonaise-Fantaisie have long been two of my favorites.

I have heard a few thoroughly unconvincing performances of the Fantaisie, though. The most recent was at the Cleveland Int'l Piano Competition this year. I was really excited to hear it, because I had just heard about 20 minutes of Ligeti etudes. Now THAT'S boring stuff. <-- (indicates joking, IMO-ing, or just total making-stuff-up-ing)

FWIW, I love the Chopin Fantasie, and have trouble listening to it enough. You people who think it's boring don't know what you are missing.

There's noting inflammatory about saying the the Chopin Fantasie is uninteresting.

I have no opinion of you whatsoever. You're the one who seems to have the problem.

If you want to discuss the merits of my post, go ahead. Otherwise, you're just getting petulant.

It's one of my least favorite pieces of Chopin. I respect it as one of his great works, but always manage to listen to something else.