Piano Competition Rankings

[rubinsteinmad]

   There are so many great piano competitions out there! I was wondering, which were the most impressive? When I mean ranking, I do not mean listing them least to greatest(unless you want to do that tedious task), I mean listing them in tiers. Different people have different opinions, so I wanted to see what people thought of. If you want to be a troll, feel free to quote Bela Bartok: "Competitions are for racehorses, not musicians." I know listing competitions is EXTREMELY subjective and opinionated.

Here's my shot:

 1st tier: Chopin Competition
Cliburn Competition (even though the results are a little.... )
Tchaikovsky Competition

2nd tier:
Queen Elisabeth Competition
Rubinstein Competition

3rd tier:
Hammamatsu Competition
Leeds Competition
Liszt Competition

4th tier:
Cleveland Competition
Gina Bachauer Competition
Sendai Competition
Honens Competition

5th tier:
New Orleans Piano Competition
Busoni Competition
Concours de Geneva
Beethoven Competition (Vienna)

6th tier:
Dublin Competition
Grieg Competition
ARD Competition
Telekom Beethoven

[evryali]

The cliburn is no doubt the most impossible to win so unless you are the next Rubinstein etc.
And the leeds is that low I think it would be second tier and you forgot the chopin competition with would be third teir

[kypiano]

The cliburn is no doubt the most impossible to win so unless you are the next Rubinstein etc.
And the leeds is that low I think it would be second tier and you forgot the chopin competition with would be third teir

Emily of the Drain put Chopin as 1st tier

Also, I think the Cliburn winners mostly win because of politics. For example, Steven Lin got kicked out 1st round. I assume it was because he was going to go to Curtis. Also, Wei Luo got kicked out the semifinals. That definitely was a joke. She studies at Curtis.

[schumaniac]

Well, I can sort of understand why they eliminated Steven Lin. Lin's playing was extremely passionate, and "swelling," sometimes overdone. He played with huge "color washes" of sound. And this was in his Bach French Overture, his Haydn Sonata, his Liszt Don Juan, his Chopin Impromptus........ I greatly enjoyed his playing but I can understand if some judges weren't comfortable with it.

As for Wei Luo (from the Cliburn Junior), I think the judges had to have been horrible people to eliminate her after her STUNNING Brahms-Paganini + La Valse. I guess her playing wasn't particularly "moving" emotionally, especially compared to the "passion" in Arsenii Mun's playing... but for some people, to say that justified her being eliminated is still a little bit of a stretch. I was also pretty disappointed that Evelyn Mo was eliminated; she is a great Romantic player (at least for her age). And overall, I I feel like Alim won maybe slightly because of the sheer endurance it takes to play the Tchaikovsky concerto. I had been rooting for Arsenii the whole time, and I thought his Grieg concerto would secure a first place... so the results were quite a shock!

[kypiano]

Well, I can sort of understand why they eliminated Steven Lin. Lin's playing was extremely passionate, and "swelling," sometimes overdone. He played with huge "color washes" of sound. And this was in his Bach French Overture, his Haydn Sonata, his Liszt Don Juan, his Chopin Impromptus........ I greatly enjoyed his playing but I can understand if some judges weren't comfortable with it.

As for Wei Luo (from the Cliburn Junior), I think the judges had to have been horrible people to eliminate her after her STUNNING Brahms-Paganini + La Valse. I guess her playing wasn't particularly "moving" emotionally, especially compared to the "passion" in Arsenii Mun's playing... but for some people, to say that justified her being eliminated is still a little bit of a stretch. I was also pretty disappointed that Evelyn Mo was eliminated; she is a great Romantic player (at least for her age). And overall, I was pretty pissed that Alim won- I feel like he won more for the sheer endurance it takes to play the Tchaikovsky concerto. I had been rooting for Arsenii the whole time, and I thought his Grieg concerto would secure a first place... so the results were quite a shock!

LOL ME TOO!!!! HAHAHAHAHA

I thought that Alim Beisambeiev's Tchaikovsky was boring... It was the first time I've ever been bored hearing that concerto Also, his preliminary round Paganini Etude was.. um.. even worse than when he played it at the Liszt competition in Weimar  

I actually was pretty impressed by Youlan Ji's Chopin Concerto. Before that, I thought her playing was kind of plain.

OK, I'm being WAY TOO CRITICAL.   I hope I don't turn into another "Emily of the Drain"

[schumaniac]

.l