Suggested Competition Pieces

August 25, 2018, 6:11 AM · Does anybody have advice on good pieces to ay for competitions? I am joining a local violin competition next year and the requirements are:20-25 mins worth of repertoire (at least 3 different musical periods and styles) + 1 full violin-piano sonata. I am already kind of decided on Brahms 3 for the sonata, Mozart 5 1st movt (9mins) and Saint-Saens Havanaise (9mins),which leaves me with 2-7mins. I'm quite torn between playing a Bach or a 20th century piece, so suggestions are much appreciated :)

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Lydia Leong

August 25, 2018, 11:53 AM · How about the first movement ("Obsession") from the Ysaye 2nd sonata? About 3 minutes. 20th century riffing off the Bach E major Preludio. Harder than the rest of your program, though.

Julie O'Connor

August 25, 2018, 12:12 PM · Lydia's suggestion is good- something more notey and less lyrical to contrast with your other selections. Obsession isn't too bad, with the admittedly big exception of that middle part, if you've got a good technical foundation. Something modern- for easier than Ysaye, Prokofiev Solo Sonata, one of the Hindemith sonatas (there's a movement in one of variations on a Mozart melody. Can't remember off the top of my head which one though.)

Julie O'Connor

August 27, 2018, 4:18 PM · This thread didn't get much traction an it should. Here's hoping putting it back to the top of the stack will get some more responses!

Joel Hoe

August 27, 2018, 8:04 PM · Lydia and Julie, thanks so much for the suggestions! I took a look at Ysaye and it's a great piece but unfortunately it seems to demanding technique-wise :( Same for the Prokofiev I guess. Any thoughts on Debussy's violin sonata?

Albrecht Zumbrunn

August 28, 2018, 12:08 AM · Prokofiev is quite a bit easier technically (it was written for students if I remember correctly). Even I performed the slow movement once. It is not his greatest piece IMO though the slow movement (variation on a very Russian theme) is good; the outer movements do overstay their welcome a bit. Have a look at the music before dismissing it.

I never played the Debussy sonata but it is great, so if you are up to it technically that is probably the better idea. As far as I hear from performances it is by no means an easy piece though, quite likely harder than the Prokofiev.

Joel Hoe

Edited: August 29, 2018, 8:18 PM · Thanks for the advice Albrecht, I'll go check out the score.

Just to clarify, do you mean that the Debussy is musically harder or harder technique wise?

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Suggested Competition Pieces

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