If you have come across Chopin's Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53, (or "Heroique"), you might have had the same problem as me trying to play the really wide chords! I have never come across ones so difficult to play before and there is no way my hands will stretch that far, even with practice. So any tips on how I should best approach these? I wish I had bigger hands

Rosy

Have you tried rolled the chords? Many of Chopin's and Liszt's pieces have big chords. They have big hand span Some said Liszt could span up to 13 notes.

Yoke Wong
Take Your Piano Playing To The Next Level
http://www.yokewong.net

I know the chords you speak of, and I often wondered if either ChHopin was a mutant, or he intended peopl eto break their hands in order to play those.

The roll the chord is a a good idea. Personally I'd just skip a few notes. I had to use my thumb to hit a couple of the pairs of notes IIRC...

13 notes? I can barely do a proper chord! I try to stay away from pieces like this!

haha thanks for the replies!
I will have a go at rolling the chords, hope it will sound nearly as good as the whole thing
I've heard of Rachmaninoff having seriously big hands too! But 13 notes? That's terrifying!

Rosy