Looking for Australian works...

[perfect_pitch]

Greetings...

Usually when it comes to repertoire - I'm usually decent at knowing what is what... HOWEVER, I intend to enter a piano competition in a couple of years, and apart from the Piano Concerto and the works you have to play for it - One of them needs to be an Australian work.

I'm looking for suggestions for a piece of music written by a well-known Australian composer - like Percy Grainger, Carl Vine etc... preferably not Miriam Hyde (don't ask why), but needs to be of about Licentiate standard and maybe just a little melodic if possible (not really interested in those aleotoric pieces of crap that sounds like a drunkard with a hook for arms spasmodically farting on the keyboard)    

If you know of any decent youtube recordings of the pieces, I would greatly appreciate them also.

[lostinidlewonder]

I really like Elena Kats-Chernin. One of her pieces "Page Turn" was played in the Sydney 2000 piano competition, if you can grab the highlights CD from that competition you can find it played on there.
1st page preview:
https://cdn.australianmusiccentre.com.au/documents/ds_11808_2561.pdf

[retrouvailles]

I don't like Miriam Hyde either, so I don't even need to ask. Do Carl Vine's Piano Sonata No. 3. It's the least done of his sonatas and is the most melodic. It has very few modernist techniques compared to the other two sonatas and is the least difficult of them. It is quite a beautiful work. Here are some highlights from the world premiere performance (which I was at):

If you want a complete recording, message me privately.

[astroboy]

^^ I agree with Carl Vine Sonata no. 3.

Also have a browse through https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/ you can limit your search to pieces for solo piano (and there are A LOT).. might take a while to go through but it's worth it. Some pieces have a score preview and sound recording preview also.

[retrouvailles]

The Australian Music Centre is a great website, for they offer lots of audio samples and even some score samples. Another great option would be Nigel Westlake's Piano Sonata No. 1. This piece is a very energetic, rhythmic piece that has some nice tunes in it (Westlake is actually primarily a film composer) that is rather similar to Vine's sonatas. It's a 3 movement sonata, but very compressed at about 13 minutes total. It's a hell of a piece and very difficult, though. I am sure you could handle it, though, judging by your rep.

Isn't Australian rep great? I could go on listing great Australian piano works for a while.

[perfect_pitch]

Well... so far - nothing but good suggestions, and an excellent site recommended by astroboy.

Does anyone know of a good Percy Grainger piece that maybe used for a competition? I only ask as I've never played anything of his either.

[prongated]

Isn't Australian rep great? I could go on listing great Australian piano works for a while.

...so please, do enlighten! Can't think of...I mean, there are works like Kerry's Figured in the Drift of Stars from a recent SIPCA, which is very effective...a good piece for sure and true to its title, but I'm not sure it's a "great" work...

Does anyone know of a good Percy Grainger piece that maybe used for a competition? I only ask as I've never played anything of his either.

Depends what kind of competition. Smaller, local eisteddfods may be OK, but it won't be any good for anything bigger. Can I assume it's the Lev Vlassenko you're thinking of entering? If you get into the semis, it won't push you into the finals. His works that I know of are pretty much all folk song transcriptions - nice stuff, but not substantial enough for a competition like this.

The works suggested above are all strong ones - the Westlake I can't say because I don't know. If you're short in time, do consider the Kerry. At around 6-7 minutes, it's also not that hard to learn and play well either, and it's super effective in competitions! If memory serves me right, think Sitsky's Arch Fantasia (no. 4) and even Vine's 5 Bagatelles have done well in that competition in the past. One of last year's finalists did play Vine's 3rd Sonata. Or if you have the time (and the dedication - they do frustrate) you can try any of Hair's Transcendental Etudes like the Wild Cherries and Honeycomb.

[perfect_pitch]

Can I assume it's the Lev Vlassenko you're thinking of entering?

Actually... I'm hoping to enter the Young Performers Award. I tried looking up the repetoire used in the first couple of stages, but I can't find anything except for the winning concertos.

[prongated]

Actually... I'm hoping to enter the Young Performers Award. I tried looking up the repetoire used in the first couple of stages, but I can't find anything except for the winning concertos.

Oh...for YPA, I wouldn't use Grainger either...

Btw...for YPA, you can specify movements and pieces, so you don't have to prepare whole sonatas or suites necessarily

[perfect_pitch]

Btw...for YPA, you can specify movements and pieces, so you don't have to prepare whole sonatas or suites necessarily

Maybe not... but I've never actually learned and performed an entire Mozart Sonata, and personally - for a competition, even the YPA - I want to be able to play the entire pieces, even if I only use parts for the audition (first round).

[astroboy]

also, you could always look in the AMEB syllabus under the LMus repertoire, anything published by AMC is an australian work.. although, there are some australian works in there that are not published by AMC but the majority are.

[perfect_pitch]

Okay... My piano teacher has told me I should try Elena Kats-chernin's Page turn piece. Sounds interesting enough and I'd like to give it a try. If it was good enough for the Sydney International Competition - it's good enough for me.

I've already ordered the music, so I've got that to wait for, however I've tried scouring the web-site to order the CD, and have had no luck there - and same with Amazon, iTunes etc...

I'd like to try and find the CD or find an audio download (not necessarily free) so I can begin to listen to it and get a feel for it.

Any chance someone can help me?