Advanced Audition Repertoire (RESPOND!!!)

[Pumkinhead]

Hey guys. I'm planning on reauditioning next year for the Top Conservatories, including Juilliard and Curtis. With this in mind, I need some serious help choosing a good program with lots of color and diversity. Do you guys have any recommendations? Curtis requires two Chopin works, so I guess that we're stuck with that as my Substantial Romantic.

Also, the last thing that I want is a generic, unoriginal program. So please don't recommend Waldstein, G minor Ballade, Prelude and Fugue in C minor, or Appasionata lol. And lastly, I have an entire year to get this stuff perfect, so don't worry too much about the difficulty factor. I'm not ready for Islamey or Gaspard, but along the lines of the F minor Ballade etc. Thanks so much you guys! You've been helping me more than my teacher has lately!

Drew

- Bach piece with a fugue  (or maybe one of the easier Toccatas)
- Beethoven Sonata (Op. 53, 57, and 110 were too common this year)
- Two contrasting Works of Chopin (one of which is my big romantic for the other schools besides Curtis)
- Free choice (but I'm thinking Twentieth century, just to fulfill that requirement for the other safety schools)
- Etude of Virtuosity (I'm heavily considering the Liszt TE #11, Evening Harmony)

[Pumkinhead]

By the way, here's my repertoire of this past year.

Bach Prelude and Fugues No. 3 and 22, WTK 1
Beethoven -  Tempest
Chopin - Etudes 1, 2, 12 Op. 25
Mendelssohn - Variation Serieuse
Prokofiev - Sonata no. 2 in D minor (complete)
Tchaikovsky - Concerto No. 1

[pita bread]

You know Andrew, I hate kids who get to take a gap year.

[franzliszt2]

If I was auditioning (which I am not), I would think about

Bach: Partita no. 6, 1st mvt, with that amazing fugue.
Beethoven: Appasionta....I know you say its common, and yes it is, but play it in your own way and it will be fine. It got me through allmy college auditions because iplayed itmy own way, the way i felt it should be. I didn;t listen to any recordings for months, so i developed my own way, and they complemented it in my auditions. BUT... don;t go out your way to play differently, just do what comes naturally.

Chopin: F minor ballade perhaps, very musically difficult, but must feel easy technically to make it work. In fact the F minor ballade is one of the most musically difficult piece ever, and I have gathered that people have very stong opinions on it soperhaps not good choice unless very confident. E major scherzo is good, most people will decide to do others but E najor in my opinion is the greatest scherzo. You could always do B minor sonata, that would be good.

Free choice: I would pick something really different here, something thatreally shows off your strengths. Lots of great stuff to pick from, that I'm sure not many people will play. Barber sonata... Stravinsky petroucka.. them would be my choices

Etude: Liszt transcendental, big chopin etude. Scriabin etudes,any big one. Or to be different and szymanowsky etude, Or an Alkan etude, which are very very very hard.

Hope that gives you some thoughts 

[shasta]

- Bach piece with a fugue  (or maybe one of the easier Toccatas)
- Beethoven Sonata (Op. 53, 57, and 110 were too common this year)
- Two contrasting Works of Chopin (one of which is my big romantic for the other schools besides Curtis)
- Free choice (but I'm thinking Twentieth century, just to fulfill that requirement for the other safety schools)
- Etude of Virtuosity (I'm heavily considering the Liszt TE #11, Evening Harmony)

OK, here's program off the top of my head that's far from generic:

BACH PIECE:
-2 Fugues on Theme by Albinoni (B min BWV 951 and BWV 950)  <--If they'll let you
or
-Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue in D maj BWV 912

BEETHOVEN SONATA:
-Hunt (31/3)
or
-Quasi (27/1)

2 CONTRASTING CHOPIN WORKS:
-Do an "early" and a "late" Chopin:
-Early = his Contredanse or his Variations Sur un Air National Allemand
-Late = his 2 Bourees (G min and A maj) or his Barcarolle

ETUDE:
-Liszt's TE #11 <-- if you know it already... but I would also take a look at a later composer's etudes, either Bartok, Stravinsky, or Prok

FREE CHOICE (something brilliant and fun to get their feet tapping here):
-Zez Confrey's Kitten on the Keys
or
-Gottschalk's La Jota Aragonesa, Caprice Espagnol, Op. 14

[kriskicksass]

Steer away from the f minor Ballade. Going into a college audition with such a mature piece is just asking for trouble. They'll ripping you to shreds when they listen to that and they'll probably only want to hear the coda anyways, which removes a lot of the possibility of using musicality to get away from any lacking technique (not that I'm saying yours is lacking, I'm just saying that the coda is a real pregnant dog). Actually, stay away from the Petroushka (sp?) and the b minor Sonata while you're at it. They're both just too hard to  be worth an undergrad audition. Maybe for your masters (or doctoral) auditions they'd be appropriate, but not undergrad.

Furthermore, I don't see why students are so eager to play unique music for their auditions, especially undergrad. I'm sick of hearing people say "No WTC" or "don't play a Beethoven sonata" or "no Chopin etudes, play Alkan or Godowsky instead" or my personal favorite "try some Boulez" ! At an undergrad audition they aren't looking for a perfectly developed musician with the technique and taste for the oddballs of the repertoire. They want potential, and if that potential is shown through playing very standard repertoire so be it. (I suppose now would be a good time to mention that I'm just spitting back what my teacher has told me, but he would know. He's sent students to every major conservatory in the country except Julliard, but that doesn't matter since that's where he went to school.) Here's my thoughts on audtion repertoire:

Bach: There's 48 p&fs. You can be original enough by just picking one that's less commonly heard. No need for toccatas or the Italian Concerto.

Classical Sonata: You're usually given the choice of Mozart, Beethoven, or Shubert. Just pick Beethoven. Mozart didn't have the timbral understanding of the piano that Beethoven did, and any of his music requires ridiculous maturity to pull off in a proper, elegant manner. And Schubert didn't realize he was writing for the piano, so that just gives you a headache. Even when Beethoven is writing at his most unpianistic (coughOpus22cough), it's obvious that the composer was a great virtuoso who knew what works at the piano.

Big romantic piece: Chopin Ballade (NOT f minor) or Scherzo. Liszt Rhapsody (Hungarian or Spanish). Enough said.

Etude: Go nuts. The romantics (popular and not) all wrote great etudes because it was their way to show off their spectacular techniqe. Any etude will do as long as you find it musically appealing and have the technique to pull it off.

20th Century: Don't do serialism. Other than that you're pretty open, too. I'm going to be playing Debussy and Rachmaninoff for my 20th Century music and I've made that decision because 1. I find them musically appealing and 2. my teacher used Rachmaninoff and Debussy for his 20th Century requirement for his Masters audition to Julliard and it was perfectly acceptable.

[Pumkinhead]

Even when Beethoven is writing at his most unpianistic (coughOpus22cough), it's obvious that the composer was a great virtuoso who knew what works at the piano.

It's funny that you mention that specific Sonata. The two works that I'm pretty much set on playing are the Beethoven Sonata in Bb Major, Op. 22, and Liszt's Venezia e Napoli (Complete).

What do you guys think of those two?

[stevie]

etude choice - alkan op39/3 scherzo diabolique

[panic]

That piece is nuts. But Pumkinhead, you could most likely handle 39/2 (en rythme molossique) if not that. One of the more substantial of the 35s might also work.

And also, perhaps you might want to take a look at Lyapunov's Transcendentals (1905). My teacher says they are comparable to Liszt's set in technical difficulty. The 10th "Lesginka" is as fun-sounding a piece as Islamey.

[superstition2]

How about Myaskovsky's 3rd sonata for your 20th century piece? If you want to hear how great it is, check out Richter's live recording. It's tough, though.

[quantum]

Maybe a free improvisation for your free choice (if they allow it).  You can go all wild on them and also be alble to show your indiviaduality in styles. 

[Pumkinhead]

Man, I really like Op. 7 and Op. 90 too.

[brahmsian]

Bach: Random P&F

Beethoven: Sonata Op. 81a, Op. 101, Op. 109

Chopin: Barcarolle Op. 60 or Grande Polonaise Brilliante Op. 22

Free Choice: Medtner- Forgotten Melodies Op. 38 No. 3 (Danza festiva)
                                -Forgotten Melodies Op. 39 No. 3
                    Kapustin- Variations Op. 41

Etude: Alkan Op. 35 No. 3
           Kapustin- Etude Op. 68 No. 3 (Thirds and sixths)
           or the Liszt Etude

[Pumkinhead]

For the Twentieth Century piece, would the Ginastera Sonata No. 1 be a good choice? A few people have told me that it isn't difficult enough.

[pita bread]

How about Myaskovsky's 3rd sonata for your 20th century piece? If you want to hear how great it is, check out Richter's live recording. It's tough, though.

Andrew, I suggest you consider this piece. This 13 minute monster has enough brutality to fit your bill.

[musicsdarkangel]

Really master the s*it out of the Prokofiev... use that

Use any Bach partita, as long as it's one you like (i'd highly recommend the 2nd, and the 1st is a popular choice).

If you can, learn a Schubert Sonata (A minor rocks)

Use all of those Chopin etudes you learned, or if you want to learn more new repitoire, learn a Liszt TE - Feux Follet or Mazeppa would be impressive enough. 

Heck, if you can, I'd recommend hiring an accompanist to go and play the Tchaik with you....then again, I don't know how much repitoire you could handle at once.

[pita bread]

Really master the s*it out of the Prokofiev... use that

I doubt he'd want to play a piece that he learned a year ago...

[Pumkinhead]

My dream piece would be the Prokofiev Sonata No. 7. Would that be too big of a stretch from what I'm already playing?

[Pumkinhead]

Or how about the Dante sonata? 

[Pumkinhead]

Just heard the Myskovsky sonata, and I LOVED it! It seems so bloody difficult though. what piece do you think is comparable to such a work?

[superstition2]

Just heard the Myskovsky sonata, and I LOVED it!

The uncompressed recording is a lot better, even for old Russian live source material. When I put it into mp3, I downsampled it to only 97k and mono because of copyright.

It seems so bloody difficult though.

Richter said a teacher of his played it so well he felt like crying, because he said it's awkward/difficult to play.

[jehangircama]

What about Schumann's Carnaval for your big romantic work. and maybe a liszt transcription (nightingale or rigoletto) for the smaller one. if you want Chopin then I would strongly suggest the Fantasie in F minor.
Bach: any PF or for a big one the chromatic fantasy and fugue
Classical sonata: Beethoven definitely, say Tempest or Les Adiuex?

[mike_lang]

Hey guys. I'm planning on reauditioning next year for the Top Conservatories, including Juilliard and Curtis. With this in mind, I need some serious help choosing a good program with lots of color and diversity. Do you guys have any recommendations? Curtis requires two Chopin works, so I guess that we're stuck with that as my Substantial Romantic.

Also, the last thing that I want is a generic, unoriginal program. So please don't recommend Waldstein, G minor Ballade, Prelude and Fugue in C minor, or Appasionata lol. And lastly, I have an entire year to get this stuff perfect, so don't worry too much about the difficulty factor. I'm not ready for Islamey or Gaspard, but along the lines of the F minor Ballade etc. Thanks so much you guys! You've been helping me more than my teacher has lately!

Drew

- Bach piece with a fugue  (or maybe one of the easier Toccatas)
- Beethoven Sonata (Op. 53, 57, and 110 were too common this year)
- Two contrasting Works of Chopin (one of which is my big romantic for the other schools besides Curtis)
- Free choice (but I'm thinking Twentieth century, just to fulfill that requirement for the other safety schools)
- Etude of Virtuosity (I'm heavily considering the Liszt TE #11, Evening Harmony)

Bach - a Toccata is a good idea if you demonstrate well the variety of touch required.  Also, the C# minor Prelude and Fugue (5part) from WTC I is a good choice.

Beethoven - Go with something middle year, perhaps Op. 78 or 90 (I know a couple of Pressler's students are playing 78 right now)

Chopin - Have Winter Wind or Thirds etude prepared (these are the etudes usually asked for in competitions).  If an etude is not permitted for this, e minor Scherzo always bodes well, and perhaps a Nocturne.

Free Choice - You want something Twentieth century, and they usually like American.  I.E., Lowell Liebermann's Gargoyles.

Etude of Virtuosity: The more difficult the better, but only insofar as you are able to pull it off well.  Liszt Transcendental Etudes are great.  Personally, I would pick something like no. 10 or Feux Follets as opposed to Harmonies du Soir, as they display a greater technical prowess.

Good luck.

[sharon_f]

Bach P & F in G minor from WTC II

Beethoven Op. 101 (One of the least performed of the late sonatas.)

Chopin Berceuse and the B minor Scherzo

Liszt  Paganini Etude #2 (No one plays this one, unless they are playing the whole set. And I think it's terrific.)

Copland Variations (I think their time has come, again.)

[chelsey]

Lowell Liebermann's Gargoyles.

An excellent suggestion, these pieces are very enjoyable, sound complex, but are realistic to pull off.

[ako]

You might consider a Debussy etude if you want something different. I remember my teacher told me when she was in competition during her college years, everyone played a Liszt etude for the technical etude requirement and when this guy played a Debussy etude, everyone was blown away!

If time isn't your concern, Appassionata is good if you can play it convincingly. A well-played Appass. would really blow people away. Of course, a butchered performance of it is also the worst music you can listen to. I also like Op. 78 (it's easier). Les Aieux is also good . It's kind of awkward but I like this piece, especially the last movement. Beethoven used the same treatment here as in the last movement of the Appass.

Chopin, I have no input. The Bacarolle and Bercuse that the others suggested sounded good to me. 20th century, how about some Muczynski? Lyapunov also has some cool stuff. You might also want to balance out some hard pieces with some easier ones since it is pretty intense to play all monstrous pieces under pressure.

[jehangircama]

You might also want to balance out some hard pieces with some easier ones since it is pretty intense to play all monstrous pieces under pressure.

very sensible advice

[soliloquy]

Hey guys. I'm planning on reauditioning next year for the Top Conservatories, including Juilliard and Curtis. With this in mind, I need some serious help choosing a good program with lots of color and diversity. Do you guys have any recommendations? Curtis requires two Chopin works, so I guess that we're stuck with that as my Substantial Romantic.

Also, the last thing that I want is a generic, unoriginal program. So please don't recommend Waldstein, G minor Ballade, Prelude and Fugue in C minor, or Appasionata lol. And lastly, I have an entire year to get this stuff perfect, so don't worry too much about the difficulty factor. I'm not ready for Islamey or Gaspard, but along the lines of the F minor Ballade etc. Thanks so much you guys! You've been helping me more than my teacher has lately!

Drew

- Bach piece with a fugue  (or maybe one of the easier Toccatas)
- Beethoven Sonata (Op. 53, 57, and 110 were too common this year)
- Two contrasting Works of Chopin (one of which is my big romantic for the other schools besides Curtis)
- Free choice (but I'm thinking Twentieth century, just to fulfill that requirement for the other safety schools)
- Etude of Virtuosity (I'm heavily considering the Liszt TE #11, Evening Harmony)

Juilliard:

Bach Chromatic Fantasia en Fugue BWV 903/948
Beethoven Sonata No. 30 Op. 109
Chopin Etudes Op. 25 No. 6 "Thirds"
Rzewski North American Ballad No. 3 "Down by the Riverside"
Wagner-Liszt Overture to "Tannhauser"

[Pumkinhead]

My teacher said that he wants me to play these two pieces:

Beethoven - Sonata in E Major, Op. 109
Chopin  -  Polonaise-Fantasie, Op. 61

How would these pieces look on an audition program? What are the pros and cons of auditioning with those pieces?

[pita bread]

Juilliard:

Bach Chromatic Fantasia en Fugue BWV 903/948
Beethoven Sonata No. 30 Op. 109
Chopin Etudes Op. 25 No. 6 "Thirds"
Rzewski North American Ballad No. 3 "Down by the Riverside"
Wagner-Liszt Overture to "Tannhauser"

I like that program, although I would probably switch the chromatic for a toccata.

[superstition2]

My teacher said that he wants me to play these two pieces:

Beethoven - Sonata in E Major, Op. 109
Chopin  -  Polonaise-Fantasie, Op. 61

How would these pieces look on an audition program? What are the pros and cons of auditioning with those pieces?

What about Op. 111 instead of 109?

[Pumkinhead]

Which is the harder of the two?

[superstition2]

Which is the harder of the two?

They're about the same.

[burstroman]

For something american, consider the Griffes Sonata, or some of his other works.

[superstition2]

Another American choice is Ornstein. His piece "A Morning in the Woods" is really nice. I also like his 7th sonata.

[donjuan]

Juilliard:

Bach Chromatic Fantasia en Fugue BWV 903/948
Beethoven Sonata No. 30 Op. 109
Chopin Etudes Op. 25 No. 6 "Thirds"
Rzewski North American Ballad No. 3 "Down by the Riverside"
Wagner-Liszt Overture to "Tannhauser"

I like Soliloquy's choices, but with something more original than the thirds etude.  But unlike Pita Bread, I dont think there's anything wrong with the Chromatic fantasy and fugue: it gives many an oppurtunity to show some real 17th century improvisation.

Tannhauser Overture is a good choice for the 'free choice' category.

For the etude of Virtuosity, do not do Liszt's TE No. 11; as much as you and I like it, I know that it is not considered 'good music' by the snobby, immovable experts, who will most likely be holding the green or red stamp at your auditions.  I am all for playing the Liszt that no one likes, and then making them like it, but this is a serious career move.. you might want to rethink the choice.

If you want your virtuosic etude to be Liszt, make it Paganini Etude No. 6, or TE No. 4.