Hello everyone

I'm looking into applying for conservatoires next year and I need to rustle up 15 minutes worth of pieces.
3 pieces that need to be contrasting
The conservatoires i've been looking at are: Birmingham (Closest to me), RNCM, RCS and RWCMD. Any other advice?

I've got one piece I know i'm definitely going to do: Rachmaninov- Prelude in D op.23, I can play it really well from memory and there's not gonna be any problems there. It's about 5-6 mins long, fills the 20th century/romantic time period. Its a slow piece.

So basically I need another two pieces that are about 5-8 mins each.
I've thought of: Beethoven op.10 no 1- First Movement
Beethoven op.2 no 3- Second Movement
Chopin prelude no 25 op.45
Bach Fantasia or Fugue from Fantasia and Fugue in D minor BWV 903
So something thats Baroque, proper classical (Mozart/Haydn), or proper 20th century (Messiaen, Prokofiev, Shostakovich) might be a good suggestion

Also, i'm just studying for my grade 8 at the moment as well as my A levels. So please dont suggest insane repertoire like Liszt or Chopin Etudes!

Thanks!

I'm a bit surprised that you say the Rachmaninoff is 5-6 minutes long - most recordings I have heard are under 5 minutes, and I find those which are over annoyingly slow. But at any rate, I wouldn't play the second movement of a sonata or one part of the Bach fantasy/fugue. The first movement of Beethoven op. 10 no. 1 might work, but I would imagine that it's a bit easy for this kind of audition. Among classical sonatas, I would recommend the first movements of:

Beethoven: op. 2 no. 3, op. 10 no. 3, op.22, 26, 28, or 31-3
Mozart: K. 310, 457, 533, or 576
Haydn: Hob.XVI.20 (C minor), 36 (C# minor), 48 (C major - this one is so short you could do both movements), 50 (C major), 52 (E flat)

For 20th century, you could try selections from Prokofiev's Visions Fugitives or the Romeo and Juliet suite, but I don't know if using two Russian pieces would be a great idea. You could also look into some Debussy preludes or suites (Pour le Piano, Estampes, Images), or maybe Ravel Jeux d'Eau. Best of luck!

I think you need to get advice from your piano teacher, and I would strongly advise you to have an advice audition/ consultation lesson at a conservatoire as soon as possible. My son had one last March, and without the advice given in it I think he would have struggled in his auditions.

Agreed that you should get advice from your piano teacher. I got into the RWCMD with this program:

Beethoven: Pastorale mvt 3
Chopin: Nocturne op 48/1
Takemitsu: Litany mvt 1

With a classical piece, don't feel pressured to do something big. The movement I did takes a minute or two to perform but is littered with technical difficulties; it effectively summarised my ability to deal with quite a lot of things. I could play the rest of the Sonata, but I thought what's the point in doing a big movement when I can demonstrate what they want in a short one.

The 20th century piece, avoid being too obvious. Takemitsu wrote beautiful piano music well worth a listen. Messiaen would be fine, also Sculthorpe, Crumb, Ligeti, Rautavaara, Tan Dun off the top of my head.

Consultation lesson wise, I had one at Birmingham. Yes I got some productive technical advice, but at the end of the lesson I was told "It's a shame you are wasting so much time and money on this, but at least you get to see some beautiful cities". It's not appropriate to name names on here, but I would strongly advice you to steady yourself mentally beforehand.

I think they just do that to put off the ones that aren't committed - same thing happened to my son, but he just ignored that and took the rest of the advice! He got scholarship offers from two conservatoires.

Thanks for all the info guys!

At the moment I think im gonna be doing the Rach Prelude. And Chopin- Nocturne op.32 no 1 B major, because its on the grade 8 syallabus, so i'll be able to use it twice!

I think he did it because he was a massive C word to be honest. Just the vibe I got from him. But yes anyone normal would do it for that reason, which is why I said be mentally prepared for that sort of treatment rather than advising you not to bother at all!