Winning Competitions = hard repertoire?

[bitus]

I've been told that wherever i will go, there will be people with harder repertoire than mine, and they will win.
Why is it that only very hard pieces win competitions? I agree they show virtuosity and skill, but what about lighter repertoire... like a Mozart Sonata, or a Mozart Concerto which are more beautifull than some of the virtuoso concerti?!
I'm sick of seeing that only Rach 2 & 3, Prokofiev concertos win all competitions... I was told i couldn't play the Tchaikovsky Fantasy for Piano because it wasn't as hard as Rach or Prokofiev Concertos... I cannot prepare a Chopin Ballade because it's not as hard as Liszt... I shouldn't play Mozart but rather Beethoven. And yet i want to go to competitions and win, and be judged upon my skill, talent and interpretation. I could play Rach 3rd, but i'm sick of hearing it being played by so many people, and i bet the judges are too.
What are your oppinions?
Bitus.

[steinwaymodeld]

I think Eric Fung from Julliard won a international piano competition in Germany by playing one of the Mozart concerto against all the Rach2,3 Tch1, chopn1,2, big romantic concerto.

[Dave_2004_G]

It's better to play an easy piece well than a hard piece badly - just play whatever rep you feel comfortable with

Dave

[f0bul0us]

For competitions, it's a good idea for you to spend atleast one full week listening to various types of music by mostly unfamiliar artists and use a checklist of what's winning material (but not necessarily the most difficult) in your mind. There's no real way to tell which piece will win you a competition (since all adjudicators have different tastes) but to be as direct as possible I've never seen or heard of anybody winning an international piano competition with "La Campanella".

Good luck!  

[Motrax]

It really depends on the judges. If they are musicians, the challenge of a piece will not be a factor in their awarding prizes (as long as the piece is reasonably difficult - something with a single voice, whole notes, and played Lento probably wouldn't be appropriate). A lot of judges, however, are taken in by superior difficulty and technique.

Recently, a girl won a competition with Chopin's B minor Scherzo No. 1, while second place was split between Ravel's Sonatine: Anime and Khatchaturian's Toccata. Although the first place winner was technically very clear, her playing was very, very dry. The slow sections of the Scherzo were torture to sit through - it sounded like every "emotion" was practiced and routine.

The other two girls played MUCH more musically, they were really into their pieces. Technically, neither one was as perfectly precise (though they were both good, a few mushed notes was all), but their musicality was greater by quite I few degrees. I was pretty stunned to find out the Scherzo won, but no matter how fair or unfair, judges have the last say in what wins.

[bitus]

I am playing the B minor Scherzo right now, and i consider it to be much more easier than it looks or sounds. And what was that competition's name?? I wish i could say that playing the B minor Scherzo would even offer a chance to win compared to, for example, a Prokofiev Sonata or Liszt Transcendental... (that is, of course, assuming that technically both pieces are learned properly and played spotless).
De Bitus.

[rosie]

Arther Rubenstein said that too many musicians take the music out of their pockets and not out of their hearts. I feel the same way. Sometimes it seems the only people who win competitions are the ones with complete note accuracy, redardless of musicality. I call it the "computer mentality". I did just win a competition where I screwed up a run, however. Personally, I'd rather be moved and hear a few wrong notes, then hear a piece be played spotless and uninvolved. Don't get me wrong, playing correct notes is huge, but I believe it is not the ultimate.

[Motrax]

Indeed, music is rather rare to come by these days as opposed to precise, practiced technicality. I'm not sure what requirements the competition had - I was just at an awards ceremony where they played. If you're still curious, the competition was called the Evelyn Swarthout - Patrick Hayes Scholarship Competition for Piano (I have the program sitting in front of me). It's a local competition for high school students, but there are LOTS of piano students in the area, so I'd guess at least 30 or 40 participated.

[Shagdac]

I also just finished attending a week long competition. Interestingly enough, the first standing ovation went to a competitor playing the Scherzo Bminor. Seemed it was a very popular piece, many other competitors also entered with that piece as well.

Another thing, I found really interesting was apparently a competitor was not permitted to use "Rhapsody in Blue" as a competition piece,(apparently it was too "jazzy"). But the overall winner of the competion was a pianist/composer who used as one of his pieces in the finals, his OWN rendition of "The Trolley Song"...you know, the Judy Garland song, Ding, ding, ding went the trolley, clang went the bells, etc. I couldn't believe that was entered. Don't get me wrong.....it truly was a crowd pleaser, sounded great, really fun to listen to, but considering this was supposedly nothing but "classical" music entries, I was really surprised. I certainly don't think the winner had the hardest repertroire, and wasn't very expressive in his playing, however he did play perfectly, and his program was pretty original.

S

[f0bul0us]

The biggest ovation I've heard was from the Kiwanis Music Festival in Toronto. Where one person (16) played the first movement of Rachmaninoff's second concerto, playing both the piano runs and the orchestra melody throughout most of the work. It wasn't perfect, and it wasn't terrible, but could certainly open new doors to learning concertos. If only someone could do that with Rach 3...

[donjuan]

Bitus, many people will agree with me when I say Chopin is significantly more difficult to play properly than Liszt.  

Chopin often has multiple voices in the same hand, making us divide up the hand into two individual hands.  With Liszt, there is usually ONE melody in ONE hand and the lower voices mostly in the other hand.  Chopin is somewhat more complicated.  You are required to play chords with inner melodies more often, and that requires great attention to detail.
donjuan