Musical Madness 2026! Scarbo vs. La Valse, Lavapiés, & Petrushka+End of round 3!

[liszt-and-the-galops]

Link to the form for voting: https://forms.gle/uDkAFVZTE61sqVjV6

Pieces in the matches:
Ravel/Gryaznov - La Valse
Ravel - Scarbo (from Gaspard de la Nuit)

Albéniz - Lavapiés (Iberia Suite Book III no. 3)
Saariaho - Arabesques et Adages

Saint-Saëns - Étude Op. 111 no. 1 "Tierces Majeures et Mineures"
Alkan - Étude Op. 39 no. 12 "Le Festin d'Ésope"

Stravinsky - Trois Mouvements de Petrouchka
Liszt - S. 420 Grande Fantaisie de Bravoure sur La Clochette

Current bracket: https://challonge.com/musicalmadness26

Winners of the previous matchups: Chopin Op. 52 Ballade no. 4, Cziffra William Tell Fantasy, The Firebird, and Fauré Op. 19 Ballade. Full results are available on challonge.

This thread also doubles as the official discussion thread for this match and the results of the previous one.

Voting closes at 8:00 PM on March 25th, 2026 (US Eastern time).

[the_franzliszt]

Going Scarbo, Albeniz, Saint-Saens, and Liszt on this one

[thorn]

I wonder if the Chopin will win the next round too...

I'm glad Firebird won though. Both Firebird and Petrushka are solid top 4s given their remaining opponents.

[the_franzliszt]

I'm glad Firebird won though. Both Firebird and Petrushka are solid top 4s given their remaining opponents.

I'm pissed Firebird won. Anything by Stravinsky does not belong in a Piano composition competition. Stravinsky is horrible

[liszt-and-the-galops]

I'm pissed Firebird won. Anything by Stravinsky does not belong in a Piano composition competition. Stravinsky is horrible

I completely disagree. The Petrushka and especially Firebird transcriptions are fantastic pieces. In fact, out of the "big four" difficult piano pieces in standard repertoire (Gaspard, Islamey, Petrushka, S. 139 Feux Follets), Petrushka is my favorite by a lot. Gaspard is second, followed by Islamey and then Feux Follets.

I wonder if the Chopin will win the next round too...

I hope not -- it's nowhere close to being a semifinal-worthy piece.

I'm glad Firebird won though. Both Firebird and Petrushka are solid top 4s given their remaining opponents.

Honestly they're both solid candidates for winning the whole thing. At this point I think it's down to William Tell, Firebird, La Valse, Petrushka, and La Clochette (maybe Lavapiés). I don't see Scarbo, Chopin, or Saint-Saëns pulling it off, and I'm not expecting Fauré, Saariaho, or Alkan to win any more matches.

[thorn]

I'm pissed Firebird won. Anything by Stravinsky does not belong in a Piano composition competition. Stravinsky is horrible

Ffs this isn't meant to be a "what's your favourite" contest...

At this point I think it's down to William Tell, Firebird, La Valse, Petrushka, and La Clochette (maybe Lavapiés). I don't see Scarbo, Chopin, or Saint-Saëns pulling it off, and I'm not expecting Fauré, Saariaho, or Alkan to win any more matches.

If people stopped voting by taste it should be William Tell, Firebird, La Valse, Petrushka. But I wouldn't be shocked to see Chopin/Liszt/Alkan in there (just irritated lol)

[liszt-and-the-galops]

If people stopped voting by taste it should be William Tell, Firebird, La Valse, Petrushka. But I wouldn't be shocked to see Chopin/Liszt/Alkan in there (just irritated lol)

Honestly, I think La Clochette and Petrushka aren't too far off in difficulty. Petrushka is obviously way harder to interpret, but La Clochette is just such a ridiculous piece technically lol.