Competition suggestions

[pianoville]

So I was thinking about applying for the Ettlingen international piano competition in 2018. The repertoire requirements are the following: One movement from a Beethoven, Haydn or Mozart sonata, one etude by Chopin Or Liszt and one ore more pieces of free choice. For the etude I am thinking something like op. 25 no. 6 by Chopin, and for the pieces of free choice I want to play sonata 4 by Scriabin and Feux d'artifice by Debussy. Those pieces take about 15 minutes to play, and the playtime is 20-25 minutes. I thought, since the Debussy will show a lot of colours, and Chopin and Scriabin are both very poetic, I want to play a more humorous sonata movement, but I don't want to play Mozart or Haydn. So what I am wondering is, which Beethoven sonata do you think would work the best with the rest of the pieces? I am thinking about either op 31 no 1 or 31 no 3, since they are some of the most humorous and happy Beethoven sonatas, but I am not sure which sonata movement to choose. What do you think?

[tnan123]

Since you are already thinking of Beethoven op 31 no 3, I might suggest the 2nd movement, the scherzo, from that sonata. It's a really fun piece. Also, I think it fits the type of piece you are looking for and would go well with your other choices.

[beethovenfan01]

How about Op. 10 No. 1, third movement? It's so ludicrously dramatic that I can't help but smile every time I hear it. All the Op. 10s are really nice, and not played very often.

[pianoville]

How about Op. 10 No. 1, third movement? It's so ludicrously dramatic that I can't help but smile every time I hear it. All the Op. 10s are really nice, and not played very often.

Thank you for the suggestion! Op. 10 is indeed a great opus, but unfortunately the third movement of op. 10 no 1 is a little bit too short unfortunately, but thank you for the suggestion anyways!

Since you are already thinking of Beethoven op 31 no 3, I might suggest the 2nd movement, the scherzo, from that sonata. It's a really fun piece. Also, I think it fits the type of piece you are looking for and would go well with your other choices.

I really like the 2nd movement of op 31 no 3, the only thing I don't like is that once you have heard it once the melody will be stuck in your head forever  . What about the first movement from the same sonata? I think both of them would be equally good choices, but the Scherzo might be a tad bit short, depending on how fast I would play the other pieces. Otherwise, op 31 no 1 is also an awesome sonata, and I think that would be my second choice.

[visitor]

i love the forgotten first 3 of Beethoven's sonatas. Woo 47, no 3 in D major is delightful, and the whole thing is like 10 minutes long, you might see if they'll allow this in place of a longer movement? if so, you'd almost certainly be the only person playing it and judges may not have heard it in a very long time. I really wish when they publish the 'complete sonatas' in score and recordings,they'd quit leaving these little gems out.