Which Chopin Ballade Coda is the Hardest?
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- čas přidán 23. 08. 2024
- Today, I will be ranking the Chopin Ballade Codas (No. 1-4) by their technical difficulty. This has been a highly requested video, so here it is finally!
The codas are very popular, especially the Ballade No. 1 coda is a video that has been watched a lot on my channel, so today I dedicate this video to all those coda fans out there and also those who enjoy my rating lists.
Thanks for the support as always guys!
Check out my website:
www.pianotechs...
Oh boy does this bring back memories of me auditioning to get into the current Music conservatory I'm in. I played Ballade No. 3 and Ballade No. 2. And i thought the whole "Please skip to the coda, dear" thing was just a myth cause I played all of No. 3 and wasnt interuppted. But as soon as i played 2... Basically after the slow part at the beginning one of the staff interrupted and knocked on their desk and said "could you please play the Coda now." Of course i played it but in my head I'm like "OMG they actually make you do that, do not mess this up" and they do that on purpose to test you.
that's very funny
Great video! I'm working on Ballades 2 & 3 and totally agree, specially I have been studying Ballade 2 for almost 5 months, and I still have a hard time getting up to agitato speed without making mistakes on the repeated notes or the strong octaves at the end. I hope to continue improving with a lot of practice
You got this!
Yes, I can see from the videos you posted that you are fully up to the task of Ballade's 2 and 3. Also, the intro comment on your channel makes perfect sense
I'm just completing the 4th Ballade for my piano recital, and the number of hours I've put into the coda are ridiculous :). Great video!!
I learned Ballade 4 coda first before learning the piece and then Ballade 1 coda. Start from tail, literally. The most difficult, I found, was to get them into tempo, and I still struggle with that. You need to know each phrase by heart. Fortunately, Chopin wrote for the piano so that they can be mastered. The msin secret is to remove any extra movements, not play with strenght but with motion and gravity, with slight forearm rotation right left, and use a good teacher. The ballades are rewarding pieces even just practicing.
I appreciate these shorter videos that jump straight to the point.
I was also surprised to see 2 being harder than 1. They both have difficult jumps, but damn is that RH triad descent in 2 difficult (combined with LH octaves)
But I said 2 is easier than 1 not harder ! :D
@@PianoTechSupport Sorry I know, just typed it out wrong 😂
I knew a video like this will come one day
Nostradamus 😆
Me wishing to learn this, but I'm still so far off this level, wish I can tackle chopin ballades soon, although it will take decades. Nice video btw.
Me too! Just decided to start learning Ballade No.1 coda because I’m bored
@@austinsavage4390 you should learn ballade n3 first
Working on Ballade No. 4, playing it at a competition this month
gl you got this ;)
How did it go?
Cool The Beginner's Guide reference
I must say, as someone who has played all four ballads, I disagree with some of the difficulties outlined. I find the Ballad no.1 coda to be the easiest, since I don’t need to jump to play the notes. My stretch is a 13, so I can more or less stretch it in the right hand with no issue, and even the left hand isn’t too bad. If anything, the second Coda is the painful one for me, as the double notes put my hands in a very cramped position and I have to be careful not to get too tense when practicing it.
Balad number 3 is definitely the easier of the 4, but the arpeggio’s are relatively simple: A flat major sixths. While Ballad no.4 is hard, I find that ballad no.2 is more difficult since while you have a tricky passage of scales and ocean arpeggio’s, there is a big pause in between which gives me time to prepare. However, the ballad no.2 is continuous and gives me no preparation for what’s ahead. It might be an idea to outline that this depends on the hands of the pianist, as we’ll all find different things difficult or easy depending on our forms..
FOr my hands the codas are ranked 3, 1, 4 and 2 in terms of easiest to hardest.
Damn, a stretch of 13? You have even bigger hands than Rachmaninoff bro
@@Fatal_Error001 Not bigger, but around the same size. I love playing Rachmaninoff’s music because it symbolises so much stuff I have learnt this year: Persistence, confidence, passion, and assertive determination.
@ethanloch3802 Rachmaninoff can reach a 12th at most, so yours exceed him... I guess you'll have way more chance to play Rachmaninoff easier than most people with that hand span... good luck!
@@Fatal_Error001 Oh really? I thought I learned somewhere that his hand was 13. That's pretty cool! I'm actually playing his concerto no.3 at the moment and it really does feel comfortable in the hands, much more so than Beethoven's concertos. I find the disadvantage to having big hands is the cramped positions when doing scales and thirds. It's possible, but you have to work extra hard to make it sound articulated
@@ethanloch3802 I guess octaves are harder when you have big hands, and big hands doesn’t solve the musical complexity of his concertos - still, good luck!
3:20 “already tired and still have lay down a mesmerising performance of the coda…. good luck” he sound haunted by the idea of it 😂
Well, it's difficult for sure to still think clear and precise. I've played a 80 minute recital in 2020 (pre pandemic) which included beethoven, schubert and then all 4 ballades by chopin in a row. You definitely lose a bit of focus so getting a clean performance after all of that and not showing signs of loss of focus is not easy
@@PianoTechSupport Wow I can’t even imagine how hard that would’ve been.. Bravo!!
Nice video. I've personally played through all of them before, and memorized the 1st and 3rd. I'm least proficient in the 2nd as I've practiced it the least but can still play through it at a slower tempo. I agree on 3rd being least difficult (though the C# minor passage is certainly not easy especially for me with small hands). I also agree with the 2nd Ballade being second-to-last difficult due to the reasons in the video.
However, I personally found the 4th Ballade coda to be easier than the 1st Ballade coda, for a couple of reasons. The 4th ballade has a section of calm chords and a long pause right before the coda allowing you to rest for a good amount of time. Additionally, it's not as crazy fast as the 1st Ballade so I'm always in relatiely good control. I found the double thirds to be relatively manageable, and the runs in m223 and m225 to be manageable as well (due to BachScholar's interesting fingering/hand position trick), so I actually look forward to this section in the coda. From there it's just runs and scales, which aren't particularly scary for me.
On the other hand, the coda in the 1st ballade is super fast (even if you don't go at full-blast speed) and there are a lot of jumps which are awkward for me with small hands. There's also an element of voicing the melody that is hard to do cleanly at a high tempo. The scales at the end are not particularly hard, but sometimes I mess up due to lack of stamina by this point. So for me, since it's hard to nail this coda as consistently as the 4th Ballade, I deem the 1st Ballade to be the most difficult. Of course, others might have different opinions or rankings, but these are just my personal thoughts and experiences that I thought I'd share!
When are you ready to start learning the 3rd ballade? Not with the intention to master it…
I have to play ballade n 4 for my graduation exam
Tough one :D
I have played all Ballades of Chopin and agree!
Honestly I found the coda of 4th ballade to be easier dexterity wise than the 1st but musically it is of higher complexity
that was cold and funny at the same time hahahahaha : 3:27
Bro would share the fingerings you used for Ondine please it would really mean a lot to me
Which part exactly?
@@PianoTechSupport Un peu plus lent ( bar 66)
looking now, when I started playing the piano I was a naive madman, only now I realize the insult I gave to Chopin trying to play the coda of ballade n1 with only 4 months playing the piano, I only managed the first part of the coda and it came out terrible ( and I still offended more and more times, playing the revolutionary etude, torrent etude, winter wind, and many others by chopin and other composers).
Now I'm going to my 9th month of piano and after 1 month of studying I finished the nocturne op. 9 no.2
From the bottom of my soul, I'm sorry Chopin🙏
I finally found anothe madman in internet.
His 1st ballade is the start of my piano journey.
It took me 6 months to "finish"(actually rewarding).
Coda took me at least 3 weeks to memorize and be able to play slowly.
But it is surprisingly very logical, but definitely challenging for my barely 9th reaching tiny hands.
@@larghedoggo9607 same thing 💀💀💀
I would say Ballades No. 1 and 4 have the hardest Codas.
How would you rank the ballades opening passages? I would say the openings are definitely one of the most difficult parts of each of them
I think if I were to rank them, it would be 3, 2, 1, 4. As someone who played 3 ballades (1, 2 and 4) 2 is relative easy for some phrasing and voicing. 1 is just more tough than 2 with thicker sound and more demand for voicing. 4; however is more difficult with the introduction taking forever to master (just the first 2 lines.) It is also repetitive so you need to have differences and you have to really imagine the image of what Chopin is trying to potray, if not the introduction will sound not really nice.
I'm sorry... the opening is the hardest part of the ballades? Have you ever played them before?
@@ethanloch3802 on the artistic point of view, i get his take.
Once technique is not an issue anymore, getting the audience involved on these poetic openings is not easy at all. Especially with "overplayed" and iconic repertoire
We could compare this take to the Beethoven 4th piano concerto opening
@@pierreolivaux I do agree. However,a lot of people forget that it's not only the openings which are poetic and musical. Through the technical challenges, there are many shapings and other musical details it is especially hard for the pianist to draw the audience's attention to. In truth, some of these things are much more difficult to bring out than the openings, as not only must you bring them out, you must do it while getting through the technical challenges. This is most inexcusable in ballade no.4 where the technical passages are interspersed with so much poetry and genius. So that take is still not accurate as it undermines the difficulty of some of these passages.
How do you get that page thingy
yo im first and i suprise that ballade n2 easier than n1
Thx for being so quick to watch 😁 yeah as I said I think the 2nd is a bit easier. Keep in mind I'm not talking about the WHOLE ballade being easier, just the coda
@@PianoTechSupport i ll try cuz i almost done ballade n1
what sheet music did you usee????
heres a reason not to play ballade no 3: Its the only one not on the ltcl diploma 😂
I found no. 4 coda technically less challenging than that of no. 1
No. 1 is a more brilliant piece, characteristic of early Chopin, where every wrong note is heard clearly
Ballade 4 is more like a fine complex piece compared to Ballade 1;
I personally find it relatively easy for me but the 4th Ballade you really have to dig into the piece there’s alot of late Chopin style’s that rather harder than 1st ballade both musically and technically.
No. 4 is much harder to sight-read but after you're done learning it, it becomes less likely to mess than than Ballade 1. No. 1's coda is a bit more hit-and-miss.