Piano Audition Repertory! Please tell me what you think!

[swenghk]

Hello! I will have been playing piano for around 2 years at the time of my audition next year (February 2012). With my length of study, will this repertory do well? and I am no fool! I know that if they sound terrible the length of study will not matter! But I have worked on them a great deal.

1. Bach - Prelude in C minor Book 1
2. Beethoven - Sonata Op. 90 No. 27
3. Chopin - "Heroic" Polonaise
4. Khachaturian - Toccata
5. Chopin - Revolutionary Etude

[quantum]

Aside from the Beethoven, my main concern a lot of your program consists of rather frequently played selections.  There are some people who sit on juries that just don't want to listen to the same-old played by 40 applicants year after year.  Personally, I think each student should be evaluated on the strengths of their performance.  However, some people, including experienced professors, can't clear their head of that overplayed piece when the next person walks in.  They just stop hearing.  

I'm not saying don't program frequently played music - I believe we should continually strive to hear the merits of each performance, no matter how hackneyed the pieces are.  People sometimes forget how such pieces can still feel very fresh in the mind of one who recently took on the music.  Unfortunately sometimes such minds are present in juries.  


My advise is to throw in some lesser played material.  

Is Bach required?   Look into Scarlatti, Sweelinck, Soler, Couperin, Clérambault and Buxtehude.  

Early Scriabin sounds very Chopinesque.  He wrote some wonderful Etudes you might consider.  Op 2/1, 8/12, and 42/5 are the frequently played ones.  You may wish to look at some of the others.  

Look at some modern Spanish composers such as Albeniz, Granados, Mompou, and Turina.  

Give Czech composers a try.  Smetana wrote several polkas.  Some fun to break the seriousness of an audition. 

If you want something less classicalish sounding, have a listen to Kapustin.  There are some places where his music is not heard that much. 

[musicluvr49]

Hi swenghk,

I may be totally wrong, but I think just two years may be too short for you to be playing a piece like the revolutionary. Now, as I said, I may be totally wrong about this. I know some people advance more quickly than others. I was just wondering, do you have a piano teacher, or someone who give you advise on these things. If you don't maybe you could post in the audition room or something to get some advise.

Good luck though. Some of the pieces are a bit overplayed, but if you can play them well I think you'll be fine.

[swenghk]

Well on the Revolutionary Etude, I've won 1st place in a local piano competition, and 2nd place in a district piano competition. And I live with my piano teacher, but we have different ideas of what is appropriate for college, so I'm choosing all of my own pieces.

[monkeydudexd]

while the beethoven is nice, it can be pretty confusing for the judges sometimes and they can have mixed feelings about it. I placed 2nd at an international competition using the op 90 and yet didn't even place at a state audition. some people may not really like it as much as some more famous (yet less played) sonatas. I would recommend op 10 no 3, a very difficult yet rewarding and interesting piece. well known, but definitely not as overplayed as op 13, op 31 no 2, op 57 etc.

i feel that both chopin pieces are very showy. i would substitute one for maybe the barcarolle or berceuse (something very romantic).

[kelly_kelly]

Hi swenghk,

I may be totally wrong, but I think just two years may be too short for you to be playing a piece like the revolutionary.

Isn't the polonaise more of a challenge than the revolutionary? But at any rate, I agree with other posters that one of the Chopin pieces should be less showy (since some colleges require an etude, you would probably switch the polonaise)... a slow etude or the Barcarolle/Berceuse as monkeydudexd suggested. Perhaps the third ballade... or even the nocturne op. 48 no. 1 might work, I think.

[kelly_kelly]

Well on the Revolutionary Etude, I've won 1st place in a local piano competition, and 2nd place in a district piano competition. And I live with my piano teacher, but we have different ideas of what is appropriate for college, so I'm choosing all of my own pieces.

Also, this sounds a dangerous to me. It's likely your teacher knows more about your skill level and how you can show it to the best advantage for auditions than you do... You really shouldn't risk something as important as college auditions by not listening to your teacher.

[pianisten1989]

I would listen to your teacher... But you have to like the pieces s/he suggest, ofc. Other than that, I think it's a quite good program. I would change either heroic polonaise or the Bach.. Probably the polinaise. Chopin wrote other pieces that would show much more than that one.

Since everything is about showing your strongest sides, it's best to pick "broad" pieces.

[orangesodaking]

I quickly glanced at your program. If you play well, that should be fine.

[scott13]

My two cents,

If an etude is not required, i would drop Chopin Op 10 #12 and keep the Heroic Polonaise instead.

What most of the above posters seem to forget, is the Heroic (while overplayed) hits essentially every key technical aspect of playing at a high level, some of these being :

Trills on weaker fingers,
Prolonged Octaves,
Endurance,
Rapid scales,
Syncopation,
Rapid Arpeggios,

plus you have a great deal of room to be expressive within the Heroic Polonaise. In fact apart from it's timing, it doesn't have much in common with Chopin's other polonaises such as Op 40 No 1 (Military, which is a true polonaise), so you can use the heroic to be expressive.

[pianisten1989]

I would probably change the bach too... Everyone has played it, basically, or at least heard it several times. So to make an impression with that will be very difficult.
And don't underestimate it. You'll probably get nervous, and if you start the prelude too fast the presto will be ridiculously fast. It might seem like a trivial thing, but it's actually very likely that it will happen...

[nanabush]

If you can play all the stuff, go for it!

If there's one piece I could suggest changing, it would be either the Khachaturian (and switch to a more contrasting 20th century piece between two turbulent Chopin works); OR choose a Nocturne instead of the Polonaise.  The F# major, C# minor Op 27, G major Op 37 would be examples of pieces to give you more 'breathing room'.

Even something like 'Oiseaux Tristes' or 'Vallee des Cloches' by Ravel, or something like the Debussy Nocturne or a calmer Prelude would give a huge contrast that I don't think you'd have in the 2 Chopin and the Khachaturian.