The logic of competition and repertoire

[julytwenty]

Is it actually easier to win with harder repertoire (even if you mess up) than those nice to the ears less mistake prone pieces?

[dogperson]

You will not win a competition if you ‘mess up’ the music.  The standard advice is to play the music you play well and that you love to play.

[lostinidlewonder]

It depends on which competition you are playing in, there are a lot of politics and underhanded issues in many competitions that is kept rather hidden from the public eye. Arts competitions by their nature are very subjective, there have been leaked results from international piano competitions that came out and we could see the scores all over the place, so there really isn't any mathematical accuracy that judges go through when marking and it is mostly their opinions.

For example the Rina Sala Gallo piano competition revealed the marks given by every member of the jury to every contestant. The publication was provoked by a jury walkout on the part of the French pianist Pascal Rogé, who claimed the result was being rigged by Italians in favour of their compatriots. I tried to find an image of the marks but it looks like much of it has been taken down. If I find it on my HD I will upload it or perhaps someone clever can find it, from my memory it was all over the place the marking from many different judges.  https://slippedisc.com/2014/10/let-there-be-light-competition-publishes-jurys-marks/

In saying all this the more difficult pieces you play these pieces will show the many effects the piano can produce, if these tough pieces are played convincingly they should trump anyone who plays a much easier piece even if they play it perfectly. I would say the vast majority of judges would look at the situation in this way but again judging a music competition really isn't very accurate. When I listen to famous competitions the level of all the competitors are so high it really is stupid saying who is better or not, there should be better ways to judge someone. I reckon an easy way would be to get all the pianists to present a concert and the audience judges who they enjoyed the most.

Ive attended a number of competitions winners concerts and they were boring as can be, no personality, no stage presence, they just walk on stage, bow play, leave. These competitions winner really didn't have to struggle to get where they were in terms of building a performance career, they just win competitions and get propelled into it all. 

[lelle]

I would guess it depends on the competition. In high level competitions, everyone can play everything, so raw technical skill will not be impressive. What you do with the music will be more important. One of my teachers brought up an example of playing a fast and difficult piece technically flawlessly but musically uninterestingly will give you worse results than playing a couple of Chopin mazurkas really, really well.

[dogperson]

I would guess it depends on the competition. In high level competitions, everyone can play everything, so raw technical skill will not be impressive. What you do with the music will be more important. One of my teachers brought up an example of playing a fast and difficult piece technically flawlessly but musically uninterestingly will give you worse results than playing a couple of Chopin mazurkas really, really well.

The competitor is her school-age son per previous posts.  I don’t believe an age has been provided

[quantum]

There is a lot of truth in what lostinidlewonder writes above. 

As much as we would like to think that competitions are about the betterment of self and artistic pursuit, what really speaks about competitions is what gets rewarded.  Grading is subjective, and much falls upon individual judges, their views, and prevailing fashions that may influence their decisions. 

Ive attended a number of competitions winners concerts and they were boring as can be, no personality, no stage presence, they just walk on stage, bow play, leave.

Similar experience here.

[julytwenty]

dogperson

I asked the question not because my school-age kid is competing. I play instrument (not piano) as well. I listened to piano competition the past few months as live performances were mostly cancelled.

I just found it interesting that some contestants screwed up big time in technically more challenging piece. (an example I heard was etude vs. invention or sonatina andante movement) little kid play invention really well where as another kid play etude with lot of mistakes. (can hear the technical struggle)