The Complete Etudes
Chopin’s Etudes, or technical studies for the piano, are more than just a means to an end, the mastery of technical difficulties. They are great music in themselves. No previous composer of real genius had deliberately written music in the form of “studies”, under that name. Of course Johann Sebastian Bach wrote much keyboard music for teaching purposes, such as his ‘Inventions’ and the 48 Preludes and Fugues, which had an enormous influence on Chopin, and Domenico Scarlatti’s ‘Esercizi’, later known as ‘Sonatas’, originally had the same purpose. But both of these early masters wrote for the harpsichord, not for the pianoforte.
The Chopin studies are a young man’s work. He needed to develop new techniques, to enable him to play his own very difficult compositions, such as his first two piano concertos. So, considering the études of Czerny and Cramer to be out of date, he started his career by making sure his technique was flawless, which involved writing his own studies.
Track Listing
| Opus 10 - 33.45 | ||
| 1 | No.1 in C | 2:09 |
| 2 | No.2 in A minor | 1:36 |
| 3 | No.3 in E | 4:16 |
| 4 | No.4 in C sharp minor | 2:10 |
| 5 | No.5 in G flat | 1:52 |
| 6 | No.6 in E flat minor | 3:24 |
| 7 | No.7 in C | 1:48 |
| 8 | No.8 in E | 2:33 |
| 9 | No.9 in E | 1:51 |
| 10 | No.10 In A flat | 2:41 |
| 11 | No.11 in E flat | 2:31 |
| 12 | No.12 in C minor | 2:40 |
| Opus 25 - 33.45 | ||
| 13 | No.1 in A flat | 2:15 |
| 14 | No.2 in F minor | 1:37 |
| 15 | No. 3 in F | 2:09 |
| 16 | No.4 in A minor | 2:02 |
| 17 | No.5 in E minor | 3:38 |
| 18 | No.6 in G sharp minor | 2:13 |
| 19 | No.7 in C sharp minor | 4:50 |
| 20 | No.8 in D flat | 1:21 |
| 21 | No.9 in G flat. | 1:05 |
| 22 | No.10 in B minor | 4:10 |
| 23 | No.11 in A minor | 3:58 |
| 24 | No.12 in C minor | 2:51 |
| Trois nouvelles Etudes 10.45 | ||
| 25 | No.1 in F minor | 1:58 |
| 26 | No.2 in A flat | 2:07 |
| 27 | No.3 in D flat | 2:12 |