Master’s Audition Rep

[tritone_player]

I need some help assessing what is appropriate for a Master’s audition. I’ve been out of school for a bit. Here’s what I’m thinking:

Baroque: BWV 875 (D minor Bk 2) or BWV 848 (C sharp major Bk 1)

Classical: Appassionata

Romantic: Chopin Scherzo 3 or Barcarolle

20th: Debussy L’isle Joyeuse or Ravel Ondine

All I have played before in public except for the P&F’s.

I wonder which P&F would be more appropriate. The concern with 875 is it is too easy; the concern with 848 is it’s overplayed. I could also play a Scarlatti sonata, and would even prefer to, but feels like a cop out.

I understand Appassionata is overplayed; however I am very comfortable with it. My only concern there is whether it is considered classical for the purpose of the audition.

I am deciding between the Scherzo and Barcarolle. I would prefer not to play any Chopin, because I have a rather poor understanding of how to capture the “essence of Chopin”, but the only other serious Romantic work in my roster is Schumann Op. 9 which is absolutely terrifying to perform. My concern with the Barcarolle is it is very complex musically.

For 20th, I would really prefer to play the Ravel over the Debussy but worry that this will be unacceptable as “multi movement works must be performed in their entirety.”

I am in need of some guidance on basically the whole program and what exactly they’re looking for. By the way, I am not by any means targeting prestigious programs.

[thorn]

I played Appassionata for undergrad finals as my Classical sonata so yes it counts.

The main advice for auditions is to play to your strengths. If you feel you don't understand Chopin, stay away! If you're more comfortable with Schumann then go with him, but perhaps learn a different work if you're not confident with Carnaval.

And if that's what they say about multi movement works, then Ondine won't be acceptable. If you're stronger in Ravel than Debussy you could always do Jeux d'eau or Sonatine (makes a good ending!).

[quantum]

For masters, you might want to feature music that you are considering focusing on during your masters research.  So for example, if you wanted to do your research on Beethoven, or the time period of music around which Appassionata was written, or the composers or compositions that were influenced by Appassionata, then a performance of the Appassionata during your audition would be contextually relevant to your proposed research. 

For a masters program, I would be less worried about presenting a generalist program that equally covers all the important time periods. 

Take time now to seriously think about the research topic you want to focus on in your masters.  Your future self will thank yourself for doing so.  A graduate program can be even more stressful if you go in having no clue about your research topic, then being pressured with time and tuition to decide on a topic while trying to juggle all the other things you need to complete in a masters program.