Hi there. Okay, so I have my ARCT diploma to work on next year (RCM), and I need some program advice. So far I have chosen:

List A: Bach Toccata and fugue in e minor, BWV 914
List B: Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, c sharp minor
List C: Chopin's Nocturne in c sharp minor, op. 27, no. 1
List D: Rachmaninoff's Prelude in g minor (op. 23, no. 5 I think)
List E: no clue (It's hard to pick late 20th century music because I think it's yucky )
Concert Etude: no clue

I think my last two selections should be in major keys to balance it out, yes, no? And I just noticed that my Lists B and C are in the same key! Is this very bad for this type of exam? And my last question was if I do a major Chopin work for my List C, then a Chopin Etude might be too much of one composer? I don't know. They say the program should be varied. Thoughts?

Hi Christian!

I think lots of pieces in minor keys or in major keys is doesnt matter. Because, should be varied means that the pieces should have variety of composer, period, style, etc.. not about the major or minor.
How about Liszt Concert etude?

That's only my opinion, correct it please if i'm wrong.

Anyway, good luck for your exam.

Firstly, im no expert on this but I will try to help as best I can.........
There are alot of minor keys and personally, id probably choose a list c piece in another key, to avoid having two pieces in the same key, right after each other. Maybe it would be a good idea to have your last two pieces in major keys. Id also probably avoid having too much of one composer, keep it as varied as possible. Is there any Kapustin on list E?? Or can you choose a piece of your own choice for it? You might like Kapustin, his musics jazzy.....
Can hear some here....... http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/composer...p?name=kapustin

Thanks guys for your input. List E has: Anhalt, Barber, Bartok, Buczynski, Champagne, Copland, Crumb, Finney, Ginastera, Hetu, Hindemith, Ho, Honnegger, Jaque, Joachim, Kabalevsky, Kenins, Kennan, Kuzmenko, Kymlicka, Lambro, Louie, Martin, Messiaen, Morawetz, Muczynski, Papineau-Couture, Peeters, Pentland, Pepin, Persichetti, Prokofiev, Rawsthorne, Rochberg, Rudnyts'kyi, Sancan, Shostakovich, Skarecky, Somers, and Webern. As you can see, it's not an easy list to choose for.

I would love to do a Liszt piece, but I've only been playing for a couple years (not doing much else, mind you), so I don't think my technique is up to his standards! I was thinking maybe a Scriabin etude? Dunno.

Now...I'm no expert, but looking at your program....4 consecutive minor pieces? What happened to the major pieces?

Plus, I strongly discourage the Moonlight, far too overplayed! Try a MAJOR sonata that isn't played as much!

As far as the modern piece is concerned, try Prokofiev, he wrote in Neo-Classical style

Thanks for the tips, Irish LoonY. I forgot to mention, though, that I can play my pieces in any order. I was wondering if it's normal to play them in chronological order like that, or if it's nice to mix them up? I do know I'd like to start with the Bach, as it's a good warm up piece. Is the Moonlight STILL overplayed? I thought that maybe people would have been stearing clear of it in exams so much now, that it might be safe again.

I don't think it matters if a piece is 'overplayed' (which I think means played too often, if that is indeed possible). We recently had this discussion on another thread. If you want to do that piece, do it.

And I'd also say go for Bartok - every time! Hungarian folky elements etc. a good contrast to Bach, Beet, Chop, Rach...

By the way, what is ARCT?

Oh come on Ben! E minor, C# minor, C minor, G minor....all very dark keys. Need SOME tonal contrast. And you're right about overplaying. The Moonlight is a very popular choice for diplomas, which renders it VERY hard to interpret it differently!

It stands for Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto. It's equivalent to the DipABRSM in alot of ways, but the repertoire ranges from manageble to insane! Bartok, eh? Let's see, from him I can choose, Allegro barbaro, Sonatina, any three movements from Suite, op. 14, Szabadban (Out of Doors Suite), either no. 1 or no.2 from Two Elegies, either no. 1 or no. 2 from Two Roumanian Dances, op. 8a, or any two from Three Burlesques, op. 8c. Oops, and also two of nos. 142, 144, and 146 from vol. 6 of Mikrokosmos. It might take me a while to find and listen to all of these! Where should I start? Oh, and what thread was overplayed pieces being discussed on?

I think the examiners will be looking for you to interpret it convincingly, rather than differently...

Just noticed Irish Loony's second reply. But guys, what if I mix up the order, and make sure my other two pieces are major? I could stick them in between the first ones?

This one

Hi Christian. I think that should work nicely (in theory - depends what pieces you choose, of course!)...

Why thank you to sbhoa. Wow, it's hard to keep up with you guys!

Um, where is a good place to put them? I think they will both be 20th century.

How much of the programme are you going to memorise? ISTR that is advisable in Canadian exams...

Actually, in an ARCT exam, if you need to look at any music at all even for a second, you fail automatically. You can't loose your spot either. Why?

Well I presume the rationale for the requirement for memorisation is that it reflects the reality of concert performance in certain contexts. For example, solo piano recital, singers in opera, most concertos with orchestra.

However, there are plenty of other contexts where memorisation is unnecessary, and even inadvisable, for example in song accompaniment where the player is transposing at sight.

I think both extremes are wrong, i.e. UK not requiring any memorisation and Canadian mandating total memorisation.

Yes, I think it might be a good idea to do maybe one piece from memory in an exam, e.g. DipABRSM. At the moment you can do this but it is not compulsory and doesn't get you any extra credit...

The official line is that one should attempt to stick to the performance conventions for one's instrument. Organists giving recitals don't play from memory to the same extent that pianists giving recitals do; to this end, I'd imagine that a pianist playing from memory would be viewed as more 'up to the standard', whereas an organist wouldn't gain much.

Okay, my teacher says the Chopin and the Beethoven are too similar, both same key, both same mood, both same triplet accompaniment with single line melody, both same time signature. So I have decided, the Moonlight must go, because I love the Chopin too much. So I was thinking how about Mozart's Sonata in D Major, K 311 instead? It can't be more overplayed than the Moonlight. Is it really popular? Do you guys think in general it's a good choice for my exam? Opinions?

Well, it restores some balance to the force as they say - Beethoven teeters into the Romantic period, which you've got pretty well covered. I love Mozart's sonatas, they sound so graceful and effortless when well played - spent a lot of my non-piano time at the weekend listening to several.

What sort of choice do you have for List E? I agree with you that a lot of 20th century music is "yukky" if by "yukky" you mean more concerned with appearing terribly clever than being pleasant to listen to, but there is some great stuff out there! (I just bought a book of Australian 20th century music, and some of the performance directions are just plain pretentious).