Chopin's Ballade No.1 in G minor, Op.23 & FRSM programme ideas

[jess12121]

Hi all,

I've uploaded my recording of myself playing Chopin's Ballade No.1 in G minor, Op 23 onto Youtube.

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I prepared this as the finale to my LRSM diploma exam which I took a couple of years ago now. If you have time to listen then please do and I hope you enjoy it. I love the piece, it's one of my favourites!

Any feedback is welcome although I'm not playing this piece at the moment but may revisit it at a later date. I'm currently learning Chopin's Sonata in B flat minor along with Grieg's Wedding at Trollhaugen.

On another note, I am hoping to take the FRSM one day but I'm still undecided on a programme. I have learnt Grainger - In da homey (Cakewalk Smasher) but I've found it difficult to find other pieces that go with it in order to create a 'specialist' programme. The FRSM syllabus states the following:

"In your choice of repertoire, you should aim to present a specialist programme which may concentrate on one compose ror period but should be internally balanced, containing sufficient contrast of mood and style."

I love Chopin's sonata in B flat minor so I'm going to learn it anyway and I'm also very fond of Brahms' Variations on a theme by Paganini but I'm not sure if the Brahms, Chopin and Grainger as a programme is really what they are looking for. I sense they would prefer a more focussed programme but I could be wrong, any advice is welcome!

Kind regards,
Jessica

[danpiano37]

Hi Jessica,

congrats on getting your LRSM! For your FRSM programme, you don't actually have to play a specialised one; I ended up playing quite a broad programme of the following pieces:

Bach/Busoni - chaconne in D minor
Beethoven - Waldstein sonata
Rachmaninoff - Etude no 3 in C minor
                     - Etude no 4 in D minor
                     - Etude no 8 in C#minor

It was a bit of a saga as I changed my programme a couple of times ( also helped by some comments by another pianist on this forum), if you're interested you can see the thread here:

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=61752.msg690242#msg690242

There are also a couple of links to some clips I took of the pieces I played, this could give you an idea of the pass standard.

Let me know how you go with it and don't hesitate if you have any questions!

Cheers
Dan

[danpiano37]

Ah and as far as repertoire goes, I reckon there are two things to keep in mind (apart from the level of difficulty): Firstly, seeing as you'll be playing these pieces for quite some time, choose something you love and that will keep you interested. The second thing I'd say is to choose repertoire that has a wide range of colour, mood, and dynamics. Also, music that is not played much is good. I always try to imagine that the examiners are bored and are dying to hear something musical, interesting, and with a variety of tone colour 
Hope that helps!