piano competition

Don't forget the Fantasia Op.49. All three are unique masterpieces in their genre (the Fantasia is all but a Fantasy, I actually couldn't find more solidly organized music than that).

Monica, I don't believe it's really important what you play, I mean, the Bolero is a known piece but seldom performed in concert (this is probably a plus in a competition, since you won't bore public and jury with the umpteenth Polonaise héroïque), if you like playing it and play it well, then do not think twice about that and put the Bolero in your program. My only suggestion about the competition is: choose pieces you have already learnt in the past and be sure to have enough time to polish them up focusing on the fine details. Plan your schedule carefully.

 

And I had to edit my post because I forgot the mazurkas and polonaises. :lol: I don't hear the Fantasy played nearly as often as the Barcarolle and Berceuse, and usually on 'favorite Chopin' albums, the selection of the Berceuse is most common. But I did have the Fantasy as one of four required listening pieces in my keyboard lit class.

Also, at the Ann Schein concert the other night, she played the polonaise-fantasy, along with the b minor sonata and Schumann's Davidsbündlertanze. I think that's the first time I've ever seen the polonaise-fantasy performed. My friend David just did the b minor sonata, and much better than Schein did, I think. I hear Schein wrote a letter to our university president about the unsatisfactory Steinway she was forced to play on...

 

Is he the same David whose 'Precipitato' from the Prokofiev's 7th Sonata you sent me months ago?

Never heard of Ann Schein before. Your University president should remind her that Brahms had once to transpose at first sight a whole violin sonata by Beethoven from C major to C# major because the old piano provided was so miserable that couldn't hold the diapason and Reményi had in turn refused to tune his instrument half tone lower.

 

Yes, and he would probably kill me if he knew I'd shared that with anyone. :lol:

Oh, and you reminded me of another thing about Schein....I heard about all this from our piano technician at my lesson yesterday (he chose that time to stop by and gossip with my piano teacher). She felt like the piano was 'flat', and asked him to tune the entire thing up a bit. So he tuned it to 441 for her, and two days later, they tried to have a clarinet concert with that piano, and the guest artist canceled one of his planned pieces because he couldn't tune with the piano properly. :lol:

 

Thanks Alf for mentioning the Fantasia. I didn't know that piece and after listening renditions of great pianists from the old generation on YT I must say I love that piece!

 

Just play Tausig's nocturne and you should get 1st place! :lol: :wink:

 

I just took a gander at the Cliburn website and at the very bottom of the Amateur Competition page it states that "applicants will be notified by April 1, 2011." (http://www.cliburn.org/index.php?page=amateur_competition) Good grief, does it take that long for them to figure that out?

 

Okay, take me to an insane asylum! Anybody got recommendations? :lol:

For some reason I got your competition confused with someone else's (which was the Amateur Cliburn), and now I realize that the Cliburn deadline does not apply at all to your situation. Sorry for my utter airheadedness.

 

I very much hope that you can know soon... waiting must be agony. I guess a painful wait is an evil of bureaucracy?

 

:cry: I am so sorry. They should at least be polite enough to tell you whether you're in or not! To not inform an applicant of their status is rather rude, according to my book. I wonder if there's any way you can contact them...

 

"Contestants will be notified by April 15th, 2010 detailing the results of their application. Accepted applicants will be sent a Welcome Package with more information by May 1st, 2010."

(from here: http://chicagopianocompetition.org/...09/06/Application-Form-with-housing-FINAL.pdf)

I'm afraid you might need to wait to 4 more days.

 

All the notifications of this topic were in my spam box, so I didn't read the latest new until now.
I was happy to read that you are a bit relieved Monica. Four days are not so long, if you more concentrate yourself in practicing :wink: