Studies Op. 70, Vol. 2: Piano Studies

Op. 70 bridges the gap between scales and sonatas in a way that actually engages students rather than feeling like punishment. Each study tackles a specific technical challenge while maintaining genuine musical substance, so your advancing pianists stay interested in their own progress.

These studies feel purposeful rather than dry. There's a classical restraint running through them, but with enough harmonic movement and motivic development that you're always solving a musical puzzle alongside a technical one.

Advanced intermediate students ready to move beyond generic technical exercises, or intermediate-advanced pianists who need focused work on specific challenges without abandoning musicality. This volume works for studio teachers building toward recital repertoire or students preparing for competitions.

• Treat tempo markings as starting points; Moscheles wrote for clarity, not flash, so resist rushing. Let the articulation patterns breathe.
• Pay attention to his voice-leading across studies. The inner voices often contain the real compositional architecture, not just the figurations.
• Use pedal sparingly and intentionally. These studies sharpen the ear for when damping actually matters versus when it masks lazy fingers.

Assign one study as the technical anchor in a lesson, then program another as a recital encore or student concerto competition piece. They also pair well with Romantic-era sonatas, giving students the specific finger work they need to handle those larger works confidently.

• Evenness and independence across rapid passages in varied registers
• Legato pedaling and precise damping control
• Reading and executing complex rhythmic figures against contrasting accompaniment patterns
• Voice-leading clarity when multiple lines are active simultaneously
• Identifying and solving technique through musical intent rather than mechanical repetition