When is a music piece "classical"?

[lani]

Thought this might be a separate topic in what others think qualifies a piece as "classical".  We are interested to know if contemporary pieces are "classical" in genre; i.e., for students who compete, are there prejudices against selecting contemporary pieces for situations such as competitions?  The criteria usually states two contrasting pieces (from different eras), so where do pieces such as Malaguena fall? We found recordings of it under classical, so it must be considered such(?).  Some competitors (teens ) have selected pieces by Prokofiev, but we're curious to know if there is any bias against contemporary composers in general for these events.  Any opinions on this would be appreciated.  Thanks.

[lagin]

The "Classical Era" was approximately between 1750 and 1825.  Of course there is always some overlap of style periods when a transition occurs.  "Classical" would be any piece composed during this time.  Popular composers being Haydn, Beethoven, Mozart
Also Baroque Era (1600-1750)
Romantic Era (1820-1900)
20th Century, well, the 20th century (1900-)
Of course these are approximate and Bach never said, "Okay Beethoven, it's your turn now so it's officially the classical period!"

[whynot]

No, lani is asking something else here.  Not classical era, but the very large, not completely defined category that could also be called art music.  When I was a kid, I played a 20th-cent piece for a contest that I chose myself because I didn't have a teacher to tell me not to play it, and I thought it was very exciting and beautiful (I will never tell what--it's my darkest secret).  It was quite long, but I memorized it, and it was technically difficult, at the appropriate level for the event.  But the adjudicator went bananas over what the piece WAS, and didn't talk to me at all about my playing, just went on and on about how inappropriate my pseudo-classical selection was for this event.  Twenty-odd years later, I see what the problem was, but she could have been a little more helpful, seeing as I told her I was working on my own.  (I hate mean teachers--they make me tired.  If that's all they have to bring to the table, just take it back home.)       

When you find recordings "under" classical, it matters whose categories those are-- if it's a publisher's catalog or record store, they mightn't make the same distinctions in genres that would be made in a competition.  I can't completely answer this, but most competitions put online both their parameters and their past winning programs, so you could in that way quickly get a feel for which 20th-century pieces are considered art music to the typical adjudicator.              (I think of Malaguena as closer to "popular" piano music than art music, but I'm not trying to start a fight with anyone!  Others have suggested the piece for competitions, so maybe it's fine.)   

Kurt Weill used to say, "There's no such thing as classical music.  There's good music and there's bad music."  I don't completely agree, but I can go pretty far with that idea... I don't think you can bank on it for competitions, though.   

[lani]

Thanks for both replies.  Bernhard indicated on our original post Malaguena falling between classical and popular genre.  Most competition pieces (for children) seem almost 'too familiar' as pieces go, so we appreciate the recommendations about less known ones.  It seems more motivating to learn pieces that you really like (Malaguena), and if it works for a competition, then fine-maybe the challenge will be then to select a well chosen contrasting piece.  If not, you can always use it for performance repertoire.  We appreciated 'whynot''s suggestions and comments.  It would be helpful to know if others have ever used Malaguena in competition.  Perhaps it doensn't have the range and depth that other standard competition pieces have? It's been a challenging piece for a child (required long hand spans and jumps), in any case. Regards, Lani