Which Chopin Ballade Coda is the Hardest?

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!
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[Lisztomaniac]

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.

[thepianist]

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

[Haycar]

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!!

[RolandHuettmann]

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.

[SiliPiano]

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)

[noriskky]

I knew a video like this will come one day

[BruhMasTree]

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.

[anniez]

Working on Ballade No. 4, playing it at a competition this month

[dwacheopus]

Cool The Beginner's Guide reference

[ethanloch]

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.

[damland]

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 😂

[kfu_thepianoman]

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!

[incognito]

I have played all Ballades of Chopin and agree!

[giovannigallo]

I have to play ballade n 4 for my graduation exam

[Sst]

When are you ready to start learning the 3rd ballade? Not with the intention to master it…

[ZKLofiTone]

that was cold and funny at the same time hahahahaha : 3:27

[ndya]

Bro would share the fingerings you used for Ondine please it would really mean a lot to me

[RogueDragonX]

Honestly I found the coda of 4th ballade to be easier dexterity wise than the 1st but musically it is of higher complexity

[anas-vqgj]

yo im first and i suprise that ballade n2 easier than n1

[connorrichardson]

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