I'm auditioning for a music sixth form scholarship, and have absolutely no idea what to play. At the moment I'm working on 2 (well sort of 3) pieces. Violin by the way.
Beethoven romances opus 40 and opus 50
Bach E major

The problem with these I've been playing the Beethoven for so long, i'm sick of it! even though they are gorgeous. ANd the bach is nice but it doesn't really so off much and so I don't know if either are really appropriate.

Can anyone suggest anything, flashy enough for an audition but that I'll be able to learn to a good standard by the Feb? I'll be asking my tecaher as well, but its always nice to be armed with a few good suggestions! : D

2 contrasting pieces is usually the requirement for an audition.
Is the Bach E major, the concerto or solo sonata. Have a look at all the syllabus, past and present and try to pick something you like from List C. There are lots of Kriesler pieces which are a delight, Bartok Romanian Folk Dances, Svensden Romance, Hindemith from list C (current syllabus) although I wouldn't necessarily choose 2 unaccompanied pieces.
I am sure your teacher will guide you.

Good Luck

Katie

Hey,

I just got a full 6th form music scholarship so maybe I could help a little...
I played one of the Weiniawski Marurkas, a hard unaccompanied piece and some Vivaldi. They apparently like to hear something unaccompanied and something from a concerto/sonata. The reason for the concerto is to see whether you would perform in an orchestra, either as a soloist or as a member. Make sure you involve a modern(ish) piece whenever possible, as this demonstrates versatility.

They don't base the scholarship entirely on the prepared pieces by any means. Interview plays a very major part, because they are essentially giving you money to come and pla music and for that you need to be enthusiastic about ensemble playing and A level music, which contribute to the school in a larger way. Try and sound really interested too, if they explain something to you ask questions and so on. You will most likely have to sight-read an orchestral part and do some simple aural tests.

How about a Bach Partita? Couple of movements of that and maybe a Romantic concerto movement or something similar.

Good luck!

Paganini Caprices/Sonatas?

IrisH - LoonY

If you can do that the school probably would never let you leave!

Whyso?

Why don't you do two contrasting pieces? Maybe a classical piece and a jazzy piece. By doing this you can show how well you play different repetoires.

If you have enjoyed the Beethoven, why not try his Spring sonata. The first and fouth movements are of a similar standard to the Romances, and both are great show pieces (although you will need access to a really good pianist).

Because the Caprices are amoungst the very hardest pieces for violin ever written...they were considered unplayable when written until Paganini himself proved everyone wrong by performing them. I know only one person who has attempted them...even he has only tried 5 and he's played in top professional orchestras. Imagine a 15/16 year old turning up and demonstrating that kind of technical ability.


Spring Sonata is a good one! I'm just starting that, 1st movement is cool and everyone knows what sort of standard it is.

Oh I've been thinking of Kreisler all this time XD Whoops! Not Paganini!

Nah Paganini is just *scream*

Although, No.11,12 and 24 don't seem *too* bad...I think

Wouldn't the Violin Concerti be more challenging? In fact, a friend of mine who moved to Liverpool told me that a girl played the Paganini 1, aged only TWELVE!!!!

IrisH - LoonY

Whoops...Kreisler is much nicer!! I love some of his pieces, and they tend to sound a lot harder than they are.
Part of no 24 (the theme and an adapted variation) was in grade 3 back in the day when I did it...the 1997 syllabus I suppose. I played it! I would love to play that before I leave school but...nah. No5 is meant to be OK too.



Sorry, but if someone is 12 can they really understand the Paganini properly? They would have to be amazingly mature, not just musically, to understsand what's going on emotionally and harmonically. It's one thing to play the notes how your teacher tells you but it doesn't necessarily make a performance. How can ANYONE claim to play Paganini 1 at 12, unless the intended outcome was increased technical ability? I would never attempt a huge concerto like the Mendelssohn/Tchaik/Paganini/Weiniawski until I'm a lot more mature mentally, never mind my technical standard. Otherwise if I carry on and improve, I'll see how badly I played it and probably never play it as well as possible...sorry about the rant but that kind of thing gets me.

As to the matter of the difficulty of caprices vs concerti, the concerti and technically not easy, nothing impossible though, but also have emotional content which requires a lot from a violinist, whereas the caprices are technically extremely hard but it is basically a matter of playing the right notes at the right time (makes it sound so simple). Depends on your style. The concerti must be more enjoyable though...

*End thread hijack*

Well I may have the girl's age wrong, but it was actually in the paper!!! Yes I was bowled over also but you know.

As far as other repertoire is concerned
Weiniawski Scherzo Tarentelle/Legende in G minor?
Tartini Devil's Trill Sonata?
Vaughn Williams The Lark Ascending? (mammoth work!)

IrisH - LoonY

Since you mention it, a really important thing is easy piano parts for auditions since you don't get much rehersal, so a big concerto or orchestral thing is useless as the pianist will never play in time with a 5 minute run-through. It's really annoying, I had problems with a really hard arrangement of a concerto for piano - bad idea to try it. Another pro for the unaccompanied option.

Hmmm, most of the concerto arrangements I've done haven't been bad actually! I tried to do a runthrough with a friend taking DipABRSM Sax playing the Creston Rapsodie and the Binge Concerto oh god the finale to the Binge was far too fast! and the Creston was just *scream*

In fact! Try one of my favourite pieces! Grieg's Violin Sonata in C minor Op.45, I'd LOVE to do the 1st movement!

IrisH - LoonY

Did you hear Jennifer Pike in the (2002?) BBC Young Musician, aged 12? I heard her play the Debussy Sonata on Radio 3, in a part of the competition that was not televised. This is a work I know fairly well, and every time I thought, "It would be nice if she did this [rubato, accent, etc.]" she did, plus several others I had not thought of. On the basis of that extremely mature performance of a very subtle and demanding piece, I thought, "I shall be pleased and not surprised if she wins this year", which she duly did.

Ahhh yes Jenifer Pike, made a fantastic job of everything she played. In fact she played some Paganini also! La Campanella I think it was (NOT the finale to the B minor Concerto) That was just magical!

IrisH - LoonY

Fair point Kenm, you do get the odd genius. She was ridiculously good for her age, still is no doubt, but could you compare her performance favourably to that of an older, more experienced musician? For her age, she is spectacular.

I don't know if you need particular musical maturity to play Paganini - certainly you need the technical proficiency, but his compositions I have heard don't seem particularly "deep" musically, but are obviously technically fiendish!

Re. original question: why don't you learn the first part of Bartok's 1st Rhapsody for violin? It's on the current grade 8 list and is really fun to play.

This may be the same girl who played this piece in a competition this year, aged 14. She played the first movement of the Concerto No. 1 with an orchestra for a competition final. I was in the audience - I can see what you mean about the 'not-so-deep' musical content of his work. Also, the violinist in question hadn't really managed to overcome a lot of the technical challenges of the music, eg intonation in double stops. Also the sound was rather thin. So although it was a bold choice she could have done better with a more musical, less technically demanding work. She didn't win the competition but this was an experience I certainly learnt something from.

Jennifer Pike is in a different class, however - not surprising considering the many years of expert training she's had.

[quote name='hannah' date='Dec 21 2005, 07:47 PM' post='213973']
[quote name='IrisH - LoonY' post='209056' date='Dec 16 2005, 12:04 AM']

Jennifer Pike is in a different class, however - not surprising considering the many years of expert training she's had.
[/quote]

Well, yes, and I'm sure it can't hurt having a composer/music professor for a father, either. Some of us don't have that kind of advantage.

I agree, Paganini isn't so much emotion as it is EXTREME technical demands. Recently saw the solo part to Concerto No.1 and there's LOADS of quad stops, harmonics, huge runs and leaps and other techniques which I imagine violinists would understand, unlike Bruch No.1 or Brahms for example, Paganini doesn't appear to need much emotion in his music (especially in fast works) but the slower works do need a fair amount, but as I say, not as much as Brahms etc.

IrisH - LoonY

Hhhm.... Yeah I agree about the Brahms and Bruch being more emotionally challenging...

Here's an astonishing fact of the year (and it's a true story) : I heard someone play the Paganini concerto when they were only 5 YEARS OLD!!!!!!!! It's so scary!! Lol

Yes the Bartok Rhapsody would be a good piece to play for an audition... it's a lot of fun, I did it for my exam But the piano accompaniment is really difficult!!

FIVE?!?!?!?!?!?

IrisH - LoonY

I KNOW!!!!!!!! It's insane!! Ah well... maybe it's better to go slower and be able to interpret the emotional aspect of the pieces more effectively.

I don't think you need to be particularly emotionally mature to play Paganini well - a lot of his work isn't exactly 'deep', is it? But you do have to be amazingly good technically, and it would help to have huge and unusually flexible hands and fingers. Probably helps to start around age 4 with a fantastically good teacher, and practise several hours a day all through your childhood. Then no doubt you'd find Paganini a bit of a doddle.

Violinia

Exactly what I thought. Although his slower works (Like the Op.17 Cantabile) does need more expression than say the finale to the Op.7 Concerto in B minor (which is just *screams*)

IrisH - LoonY

hey everyone, thanks for all your suggestions. Hope you are having a fantastical christmas!

I've had a chat with my teacher and I'm thinking about doing the first movt (or v. possibly the 3rd) from Winter and Kreisler/ Dvorak's Slavonic Fantasie.

Good? Bad? Are they easy to learn or not a good idea at all??

hjp

P.S. Wow! Paganini at 5!!

Winter = (IMO) Hardest of the 4 seasons

IrisH - LoonY

Winter = (IMO) Hardest of the 4 seasons

IrisH - LoonY

3rd movement of Winter!! Do it!! So much fun...but you should learn the whole thing, with it being one of the best concerti ever written, just check out the amazing harmony at the beginning of the 1st movement, you never know where it's going, but to be fair it doesn't have the same effect with a piano as with a chamber orchestra. The 3rd is full of everything, really exciting, you can show off a lot in it, it's not as hard as it sounds either, even though it's by no means easy. Maybe you could play it with the 2nd movement which is very nice note-wise but can sound amazing played really well, the melody is simple and very beautiful.

It is the hardest season, true, but probably the most fun to learn. I have done Spring and some of Summer, and am just starting Winter, it's so much fun to play

You'd want to think about contrast if you play Winter though, that's why I reckon it might be good to do the 2nd movement with it, and call it one piece, then you have a free choice for the 2nd piece, it can be slow, fast, anything.

I reckon that Autumn is the trickiest of the 4 seasons? all those huge fast scales in the first movement, not to mention double stops and the string crossing in the third movement and everything else... I guess f minor is the tricky bit about Winter... But SUMMER!!! what a wicked concerto!

Paganini, like lots of other 19th century works, I feel are all dazzle and show-offy... I much rather repertoire which comes from the soul, something which is really saying something. As my friend was told by her teacher "what? do you want to go out there and show them tricks?!?"...

There was a beautiful piece in the ABRSM syllabus a few year ago for grade 7... Cradle Song... that was really nice, and the Sonata at the end by someone whose name I've forgotten... an English dude... they may go down well as a recent work for the audition?