Étude
Etüde
Estudio
Study
And so on
Probably the most practical pieces of music ever written, sounds great and improves a specific technique on the instrument.
What's your favourite?
Hard to choose, but I really like No. 4 and 12 from Liszt's Transcendental Etudes. They are brilliant and, despite how oxymoronic this may be, impulsively coherent sounding. Great piano music by a composer who really knew the instrument.
and others by Scriabin, Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff.... for Liszt I prefer the famous ones like La Campanella and Un Sospiro over the transcendental ones.
If Rachmaninov's Etudes-tableaux count then no. 5 and 7 from op.33, no. 4 from op.39. But I enjoy more of them than these.
Kapustin 3 and 6 are fun.
Scriabin no.12/op.8 and Szymanowski no.3/op.4 are also nice, the last one almost a bit too much in its 'dark, yet pretty' romanticism.
As for Chopin, I find the 2nd one from Trois Nouvelle Etudes sweet, especially given how limited it is technically and rhythmically. I can still enjoy some of opp.10 and 25, but but they've started to become a little too familiar.
No.6 from Saint-Saëns' op.111 is (loosely) based on the last movement of the 5th piano concerto and makes for an impressive and accessible concert piece.
Another fan of Brouwer, in some ways the no.7 reminds me of thelonious monk. Maybe it's just me.
And in a similar vein I really like also the less well known studies of Jimmy Wyble
But on a second thought, I think I adore Chopin's set even more. Some of my favourites include nos. 2, 3 and 11 from op. 10 and nos. 1, 5, 6 and 7 from op. 25, but I like them all enormously!
Scriabin's études are very interesting. I like listening to them en masse - Garrick Ohlsson recorded the complete set - as the style changes with each subsequent piece. I love the op. 65 no. 1!
I've only recently become familiar with the Debussy études. At the moment my favourite is number 7! It has this mysterious sound to it that makes me hit the repeat button over and over again. Are there any great recordings that I should listen to? (In addition to the Uchida and Pollini ones, which I know already.)
They don't hold a candle to Hanon's Le Pianiste virtuose (there, I even frenched it up to try to elevate it above the status of mindlessfinger patterns)
I remember that glorious day in fifth or sixth grade when my piano teacher looked me in the eye and said in her sing-song Russian accent, "From now on, we're not going to play Hanon or Czerny anymore. Instead, you're going to warm up on the difficult passages in your program."
The secret is to make Etudes musical, despite the fact they are each designed to work on a different technique; I had to study Popper studies on the cello relentlessly...and was told to be musical about the way I played them, but I didn't recognize music really (if there was any).
Chopin's Etudes for piano, on the other hand, pull off the musical aspect wonderfully for me. I'm a sucker for No. 1 from opus 25, played by Ashkenazy.
Ah, Lyapunov's etudes! Thanks for mentioning them. I haven't heard them in so long and must revisit them soon...
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