Pondering LTCL recital programme & 'balance'

[hstjkd]

Hello,
I have recently been trying to put together a programme for the LTCL exam (no hurry—maybe a year from now), and google searches on this topic brought me to similar questions on this forum (luckily, I discovered that I signed up here about five years ago, as the free membership option appears to have gone now).

Anyway, here are my tentative selections so far (all from the syllabus), together with conjectured timings:


Bach:
English Suite no. 2 BWV 807 [~17-20 minutes, depending on repeats)
Prelude & fugue in Bb m BWV 891 [~5 min]


Hindemith
Interludium and Fuga seconda in G from Ludus Tonalis [~3-4 min]


Brahms
Capriccio in B minor, op. 76 no. 2 [~3-4 min]


Chopin
Etudes op. 10, no. 1 & no.4 (are these 'contrasting' enough?) [~4-5 min]


Bartok
Allegro Barbaro [~4 min]


Which very rough estimates yield minimum and maximum times of 36 and 42 minutes respectively.

Is this 'balanced' enough not to forfeit points?
Will the lack of any Classical piece be a problem? The trouble is that I cannot think of anything that is technically demanding enough to satisfy the examiners and short enough for me to shoehorn in (even if I lost the Brahms), as the syllabus only lists whole sonatas and not individual movements. Is dissecting sonatas in such recitals frowned-upon in general?

Other than 'too much Bach' (Bach is undoubtedly what I am best at, so I want as much of it as I can get away with), any suggestions (short, technical Classical piece?) or comments would be appreciated.

Many thanks.

[symphonicdance]

First of all, wish you good luck!

"Bach
English Suite no. 2 BWV 807 [~17-20 minutes, depending on repeats)
Prelude & fugue in Bb m BWV 891 [~5 min]"
&
"Hindemith
Interludium and Fuga seconda in G from Ludus Tonalis [~3-4 min]"
-> If you pick English Suite No 2 (no long repeats allowed), then I suggest you drop BWV891 and Hindemith.  Otherwise, you can go ahead with BWV891 and/or Hindemith.

"Brahms
Capriccio in B minor, op. 76 no. 2 [~3-4 min]"
-> Fine.

Chopin
Etudes op. 10, no. 1 & no. 4 (are these 'contrasting' enough?) [~4-5 min]
-> Fine, but usually candidates would pick a fast one and a moderate/slow one instead.

Bartok
Allegro Barbaro [~4 min]
-> Fine.

You need a total of 38-42 minutes of actual playing time.  Perhaps you aim for 40 minutes.

I did not have a Romantic work in my LT programme.  I survived with Bach, Mozart, Ravel and Prokofiev in my LT.  So, I think it's okay of not having a Classical work in your programme. 

Having said that, to make a Haydn / Mozart / Beethoven / Schubert sonata exciting and charming is indeed fairly challenging.  You need to impress the examiner with both your technical and musical skills.  Therefore, not a bad idea to find a Classical work.

Nonetheless, if you really don't want a Classical work, and if you need an additional work(s) to make up the playing time, then perhaps you can try finding a work(s) of, say, French / Spanish / Russian / American / English composer(s), and there are plenty of choices from the syllabus.

[hstjkd]

Thank you for the advice and your good luck! I'll have to have a mull over the Bach/Hindemith question. I haven't learnt the Hindemith yet (although I have already played the other one on the list, so I was really picking it to give myself an excuse learn a new one).   
I did think about the Mozart a minor sonata (which I have played rather a long time ago, so wouldn't be too much trouble to resurrect), although I'm not sure it whether would fit into 10 minutes, even without any repeats (and a very presto Presto).

I'm not really very naturally attuned to French impressionists. What Prokofiev did you choose, out of interest?

[symphonicdance]

Thank you for the advice and your good luck! I'll have to have a mull over the Bach/Hindemith question. I haven't learnt the Hindemith yet (although I have already played the other one on the list, so I was really picking it to give myself an excuse learn a new one).   
I did think about the Mozart a minor sonata (which I have played rather a long time ago, so wouldn't be too much trouble to resurrect), although I'm not sure it whether would fit into 10 minutes, even without any repeats (and a very presto Presto).

I'm not really very naturally attuned to French impressionists. What Prokofiev did you choose, out of interest?

You can consider Mozart Rondo in A minor or Schubert Impromptu in B flat major.  Either one can fit the 10 minutes window well.

Regarding your question on my choice on Prokofiev, I played 2 of the 10 pieces from Romeo & Juliet.