Winner of the Violin Concerto Tournament bracket predictions

April 1, 2012 at 10:07 PM

Congratulations to Michael Bechtel, whose bracket predictions for the Violin Concerto Tournament earned the most points, with 28 out of a possible 30 points! Michael, I'll be sending you a nifty new Violinist.com tote bag! (We'll find excuses for more t-shirt and tote bag giveaways soon, and eventually we'll make them available for sale.)

As it turned out, nobody's bracket was perfect. If you want all the details of how this crazy thing went down, plus the links to the votes and the recordings that I (and others) posted, go to our Tournament Page.

Thanks to all of you who participated in the spirit of fun in which this was meant. I've been doing the "Weekend Votes" for a number of years, and many members have asked me post a vote about favorite concertos. I concluded that it was fairly impossible to do in the format of a one-time vote, but I thought it was fun to get your nominations, create the bracket and consider the concertos a couple at a time. Especially with all the basketball madness and talk of "tournaments" and "brackets" in the air!

It goes without saying, we love them all, for different reasons! But keep exploring the ones you don't know, and this is always a place for your to share your discoveries. :)

Cool new Violinist.com music bags!

From John Dukes
Posted on April 1, 2012 at 10:32 PM

And now a round of applause for Laurie and all the work she put into the competition. :)

From Marsha Weaver
Posted on April 2, 2012 at 12:09 AM

Yes! Yes! Violinist.com totebags and T-shirts for sale! PLEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!!! :)

From Laurie Niles
Posted on April 2, 2012 at 2:05 AM

Thank, you thank you, and for Robert, too, with his statistical expertise!

From Paul Deck
Posted on April 2, 2012 at 3:22 AM

I dunno .. whether I get one of those tote bags or not is going to depend on whether the cartoon guy (gal) in the picture is using a shoulder rest ...

LOL!!!

Seriously, Laurie, this tournament was captivating. It would be fun to have a similar thing for student concertos, sonatas, etc.

From Tom Holzman
Posted on April 2, 2012 at 12:53 PM

What a cool idea this was! One thing that I found curious was that the Sibelius made it to the finals. I would not have expected that. I wonder to what extent that had to do with the draw. I would have thought that Brahms, Mendelsohn or Tchaik would have been the other finalist.

From John Sarkett
Posted on April 2, 2012 at 3:56 PM

Bravos, cheers to Laurie. Was very meaningful to review these masterworks.

On to the 2013 Violin Sonata tourney?

John Sarkett
Violin Scale Charts™
http://sarkett.com/vsc/vsc.html

From Kathryn Woodby
Posted on April 2, 2012 at 4:10 PM

Good idea, John!

From John Dukes
Posted on April 2, 2012 at 5:52 PM

Even though it would be fun, sonatas aren't nearly as widely recognized as the concertos are. On the other hand, That would actually force people to listen to the choices:)

From Marsha Weaver
Posted on April 2, 2012 at 6:19 PM

Unfortunately, with dial-up internet I'd still be waiting for the first pair to load while everyone else would be voting on the third pair!! :D

From Laurie Niles
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 4:31 PM

My thoughts exactly, John, it might be a good way to get students and younger violinists thinking about the sonatas. And those of us who do know quite a lot of them can share our thoughts and ideas. It just may be sonatas next March, but stay tuned....:)

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Winner of the Violin Concerto Tournament bracket predictions

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