Topic: Musical Madness 2026 bracket contest! Submit your predictions now! (Read 1726 times)

liszt-and-the-galops · on: February 15, 2026, 01:00:03 AM

From now until 8:00 PM US Eastern time on Monday, Feb. 23, you can submit your predictions for the Musical Madness 2026 bracket contest!

The bracket is accessible at this link: https://challonge.com/musicalmadness26

To submit your bracket prediction, first go to challonge.com/musicalmadness2025 (first link), and then click "Submit a prediction" (the green button). Within each match, you can click or drag/drop the piece that you think will get more votes and win the match. Do this for each match, then scroll down. Between your two finalists, select which piece you think will win the tournament.

Then, title your prediction. If you are a member on pianostreet, please include your username within the title. Titles that include profanity, explicit content, or slurs will be removed and will not be eligible for the bracket contest.

If you have trouble reading the names of the pieces in each match, check out the final pieces list below, which is sorted by match order. I’ve additionally attached links to some of the lesser-known pieces in the list.

You are not required to have a pianostreet or challonge account to submit a prediction.

Other information:
- Like previous years, voting will be over google forms.
- The First Four/Play-in matches are not counted towards the bracket contest.
- Though there will be a third place match this year, it’s likewise not counted in the bracket contest.
- One bracket per person, please.

You have until 8:00 PM US Eastern time on Monday, February 23, 2026 to submit your prediction. Good luck, everyone!

Final pieces list:
Prokofiev - Op. 83 Sonata no. 7 (mvt. 3)
Rimsky-Korsakov/Cziffra - Flight of the Bumblebee
Chopin - Op. 52 Ballade no. 4
Brahms - Study no. 1
Ravel - Ondine (from Gaspard de la Nuit)
Cziffra - La Fantaisie Roumaine
C. Schumann - Sonata (mvt. 1)
Scriabin - Étude Op. 8 no. 12
Mendelssohn/Rachmaninoff - Op. 61 Scherzo from A Midsummer Night's Dream
Messiaen - Vingt Regards no. 6 "Par Lui tout a été fait"
Debussy - Étude no. 12 "Pour les Accords"
Medtner - Op. 25 no. 2 "Night Wind" Sonata (mvt. 2 "Allegro" ONLY)
R. Schumann - Op. 17 Fantaisie (mvt. 2)
Chopin/Godowsky - Study no. 47 "Badinage"
Cziffra - Fantasy on William Tell
Liszt - S. 140 Études d'Exécution Transcendante d'Après Paganini no. 3 "La Campanella"

Saint-Saëns - Étude Op. 111 No. 6 "Toccata d'Après le Cinquième Concerto"
Chopin - Étude Op. 25 no. 4 "Paganini"
Stravinsky/Agosti - The Firebird
Hummel - Op. 81 Sonata no. 5 (mvt. 3)
Granados - Op. 11 Goyescas no. 1 "Los Requiebros"
Liszt - S. 442 Tannhäuser Overture
Bartók - Étude Op. 18 no. 3
Falla - Fantasia Baetica
Price - Sonata (mvt. 3)
Fauré - Op. 19 Ballade
Mozart - K. 576 Sonata no. 18
Chopin - Op. 46 Allegro de Concert
Mussorgsky - Baba Yaga (from Pictures at an Exhibition)
Mendelssohn - Étude Op. 104b no. 1
Rachmaninoff - Prelude Op. 23 no. 9
Scarlatti - K. 141 Sonata

Ravel/Gryaznov - La Valse
Liszt - S. 400 Reminiscences de Lucrezia Borgia (Trio du Seconde Acte ONLY)
Tatum - Tiger Rag
Albéniz - Eritaña (Iberia Suite Book IV no. 3)
Ravel - Scarbo (from Gaspard de la Nuit)
Scriabin - Op. 53 Sonata no. 5
Lyapunov - Op. 11 Transcendental Etudes no. 12 "Elégie en Mémoire de François Liszt"
Alkan - Étude Op. 39 no. 1 "Comme le Vent"
Alkan - Op. 17 "Le Preux"
Balakirev - Op. 18 Islamey
Albéniz - Lavapiés (Iberia Suite Book III no. 3)
Liszt - S. 140 Études d'Exécution Transcendante d'Après Paganini no. 6 "Theme and Variations"
Saariaho - Arabesques et Adages
Ravel - Alborada del Gracioso (from Miroirs)
Saint-Saëns - Étude Op. 111 No. 5 "Tierces Majeures Chromatiques"
Messiaen - Catalogue d'Oiseaux no. 2 "Le Loriot"

Saint-Saëns - Étude Op. 111 no. 1 "Tierces Majeures et Mineures"
Liszt - S. 137 Douze Grandes Études no. 5 "Feux Follets"
Schubert - D. 958 Sonata (mvt. 4)
C. Schumann - Sonata (mvt. 4)
Alkan - Étude Op. 39 no. 12 "Le Festin d'Ésope"
Albéniz - Triana (Iberia Suite Book II no. 3)
Scriabin - Op. 66 Sonata no. 8
Rachmaninoff - Op. 36 Sonata no. 2 (mvt. 1) (1913 version)
Beethoven - Op. 106 Sonata no. 29 "Hammerklavier" (mvt. 4)
Szymanowski - Op. 29 Métopes
Stravinsky - Trois Mouvements de Petrouchka
Brahms - Op. 35 Variations on a Theme of Paganini (Book I)
Liszt - S. 420 Grande Fantaisie de Bravoure sur La Clochette
Liszt - S. 218 Galop in A Minor
Prokofiev - Op. 84 Sonata no. 8 (mvt. 3)
Medtner - Op. 25 no. 2 "Night Wind" Sonata (mvt. 5 "Quasi Cadenza" ONLY)

Lastly, here are the results of the play-in matches.
Winners: Cziffra Flight of the Bumblebee, Chopin Op. 25 no. 4, Liszt S. 418, and Liszt Feux Follets.

Full results are available here: https://challonge.com/musicalmadness26ff

Links to some of the above pieces (imbedded so ads are removed):
Rimsky-Korsakov/Cziffra - Flight of the Bumblebee