my musical goals

[rachmanny]

I have been thinking about getting better at the piano, so at set a goal for myself and racked up a number of pieces i found in my mess of music sheets, and  would like to play them in 2 years.

they are the following:

Liszt mazeppa
chopin etude 10-4 and 10-7
chopin ballade no.4
chopin fantasia in fm
chopin heroic polonaise
mozart sonata no.2
mozart fantasia in cm
scriabin etude no.2 (or please recommend me another scriabin)
tchaikowsky romance
chopin piano concert no.1
rachmaninoff piano concerto no.2

can anything be done with this line up?? im hoping to enter a piano competition with this and i want to know if it will be good enough to make a decent representation. If i should change anything please recommend, im not so sure about the scriabin etude 2.
I have played most of these pieces before, but never completed them due to lack of time and practice conditions.. 

[gerryjay]

dear rachmanny:
great goal!

my only point is that you're playing basically big and old battle horses, and i would like to see something unusual in your list. anyway, sometimes competitions are just about that, although you may find a way to stand aside the crowd, and it's very difficult to do that playing (for the n-time) this polonaise, for instance.

about mozart, this sonata n. 2 is k. 280? if not, what edition do you use?

best!

[healdie]

I would also vary the list a bit apart from the mozart it is all romantic period stuff you could try some Barouqe or some 20th century stuff for a bit of variety so how a Bach prelude and fugue or a Prkofiev sonata

[rachmanny]

dear rachmanny:
great goal!

my only point is that you're playing basically big and old battle horses, and i would like to see something unusual in your list. anyway, sometimes competitions are just about that, although you may find a way to stand aside the crowd, and it's very difficult to do that playing (for the n-time) this polonaise, for instance.

about mozart, this sonata n. 2 is k. 280? if not, what edition do you use?

best!

I think it is yes, its F mayor i dont have it on me now. It starts of with a broken F chord.

[aslanov]

I'd recommend Grieg's ballade.

[pianisten1989]

They are all very difficult pieces. I don't know how good you are, but you achive you goal you're obviously very talanted. But be carefull though, don't make the normal newbi misstake and play every hard piece there is, even if you haven't got the techinque at all...

[rachmanny]

They are all very difficult pieces. I don't know how good you are, but you achive you goal you're obviously very talanted. But be carefull though, don't make the normal newbi misstake and play every hard piece there is, even if you haven't got the techinque at all...

i rely alot on my techique, but i consider that the most important thing while mastering an instrument is patience and steadyness. If there is a passage i consider difficult i like playing it very very slow and memorizing it, speed and technique is almost automatic after that.

I would also vary the list a bit apart from the mozart it is all romantic period stuff you could try some Barouqe or some 20th century stuff for a bit of variety so how a Bach prelude and fugue or a Prkofiev sonata

yea, thats the first thing i thought when i saw this list, and gerryjay is right they are all big old battle horses. A week ago i was thinking exchanging some of these for something more modern and performed less. I have never heard prokofiev but i will listen to his work and find something i like. As for baroque, eww, i can barely stand it but i did play a bach prelude once , i remember it was a very difficult one but i forgot the op (it was in cm)... i think its only 2 minutes long too. I am very inexperienced when it comes to musical periods and making a balanced reperoire, and i also need to hear things other than the chopin/rach/beethoven spectrum. 

But please do recommend some other modern works that would succesfully replace perhaps the heroic polonaise in difficulty.

thank you

[gerryjay]

But please do recommend some other modern works that would succesfully replace perhaps the heroic polonaise in difficulty.

dear rachmanny:
the first thing that comes to me is a prokofiev sonata. it's quite a standard, and normally played at competitions, but not yet that much.
best!

[scottical]

You have quite a selection there, I must say!

The only major flaw I realized was that there is very little variety between the pieces.  You have Chopin Etudes, a Polonaise, a Fantasy, a piano concerto...you need to breathe.  Take time to work on more simple pieces.  If you enter a competition with a repertoire of only dazzling virtuosic pieces, it is not going to be of positive effect to your scoring.  Try a Schubert Waltz.  These relatively simple pieces are very beautiful, and can be profoundly effective if played with the right expression and touch. 

I would add more variety in style.  You seem to be a fan of Romanticism - which is wonderful, but it is good to be open to a lot of music.  The judges have surely had their ears filled with Chopin's etudes.  Choose more pieces from other eras.  In any event, you should have a number of pieces that are Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern. 

If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message!