Hey guys,
Just found out I got 90% on my jury! They recommend you get at least 85 to be guaranteed to stay as a performance major, so I was damn relieved when my teacher let me know. We've been looking through some repertoire for this year. I have a 45 minute recital, and then a jury consisting of 3 etudes and a Concerto (really strange, but it ends up being quite a bit of music for one year).
We were thinking:
For the recital:
Bach - Prelude and Fugue in B major book 2
Beethoven - Sonata Op 78
Chopin - Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante
Scriabin - Vers la Flamme
For my jury:
Ravel - Concerto in G major
Chopin - Etude Op 10 #1
Debussy - Etude for 'degrees Chromatiques'
Ligeti - Fem #8
At my university, the department is notorious for having a lot of students play the same pieces in the same year (last year 4 people played Jeux d'Eau, 3 people played the Chopin Ab Ballade, and a handful of people played Preludes by Debussy). I think nearly everyone has had to learn Un Sospiro in one year or another.
I was trying to have a program of pieces that are known, but aren't overdone. I wanted to play the Chopin G minor ballade, but I already know of another student who chose this...
My teacher suggested the B major, because it has a nice opening, and is enough as a standalone baroque work (the fugue is pretty intense).
I'm not fond of massive sonatas (I have a lot of trouble completing them) and I didn't want to dwell on a 25 minute Classical work all year and then whip it up last minute. The F# is beautiful, and is extremely concise (and B major leads into it really well!).
The Scriabin would then kind of create some tension that I'd want in the recital. I really think the mood of this would stir up the the audience haha
The Chopin, honestly, I've only heard it once or twice (was my teacher's suggestion), but the ending is massive! I highly doubt anyone else will pick it (Ballades/Scherzi are going to be played for sure), and it would be such a good ending in my opinion.
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For the Concerto; I've done a few movements from Mozart Concertos (and looked at randoms on the side), but I really want to play some Ravel this year, and that is for sure one of my favorite concertos.
The Chopin Etude I've already gotten through, but would like to completely finish it and use it as a competition choice.
The Debussy is really interesting and really made me rethink what I knew about chromatic passages (without completely destroying my dignity). This one I think will be really useful for fast fingering in any sense.
Ligeti was suggested by my teacher (again, I doubt he will be a first pick by others), and I've been listening to them alot and have the notes for them. I've looked at a few, and many of them are completely way beyond me; the Fem seems really cool, and I really like the harmonies from the superimposed fifths. I like that this etude isn't as much about insane technical demand as it is about patterns and logical connection of them. This one I think is really cool, because it's completely a rhythmic difficulty (there are some clusters in it, but that won't stop me!)
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Anyways, those are my impressions of the pieces! Let me know if you'd have some suggestions (mainly for the romantic recital piece; I'm still undecided about the Chopin... but would need something ~15 minutes). Also, if anyone has played these pieces, give some insight! I love reading ramblings about pieces I'm working on
