Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Suggestions for <5 minutes audition pieces

How about a Liszt transcription of a song? Nice tune to get going, followed by fireworks.

There's the famous Schumann/Liszt Widmung (3:30).

Or Schubert/Liszt like the lovely Auf dem Wasser zu singen. Or even Erlkönig, if you really want to show off.....
(Both clock in around 4:30).

Hi ABC. You want to show these folks a good time. Don't sit them down with Rachmaninoff or Listz, whup 'em up with some Schubert! Danses, ländler and so on. Played at a brisk tempo and with plenty of Alpine swing!

I would second a Schubert/Liszt or Schumann/Liszt transcription.

The third of the Liszt "Three Concert Etudes," "Un sospiro," might be a good choice too, given that it provides lyricism, some mildly virtuosic intensity in the middle section, and a couple of fleeting cadenzas. My playing of it runs to just a little over five minutes, and I don't play it as fast as some.

Regards,

A couple more from Alkan: Comme le Vent, Op.39 No.1; or Le Chemin de Fer, Op.27..a lot of his works are either too long or too short, but many of the etudes fall into the area you're looking at...um...if you think you could manage it I believe a convincing performance of Op.15 No.2 may be theoretically possible in under five minutes...not that I know of anyone doing anywhere near it just yet Um...Prokofiev's Toccata is perfectly exciting and amazing for an audience; with the right temperament it can be surprisingly tear-jerking also. Certainly I would consider it very seriously; it's a cracker. Good luck for the future! ...And well done so far! <3
Xxx

The Widmung, I believe, was actually just featured at the competition. I was checking out their site to get an idea of what they accept and saw someone perform it. Shame, it would have been very nice, indeed.

Prokofiev 7th sonata, 3rd movement - always brings down the house. Much more musically interesting than the Toccata.

It's also a good choice yes, but much more musically interesting than the Toccata? I'm not saying the Toccata is greater, but I think the Toccata is a perfectly fine and musically interesting work, too..

I would be inclined to agree with Jeffrey. The Toccata is fun, exciting, and generally satisfying, but I just have this feeling that I would find the finale of the 7th more stimulating to practice for long hours: more variety?

Re OP: You only have a couple of genre options, the way I see it.

a) Romantic etudes or bigger character pieces
b) early 20th century sonata finales (or possibly etudes)

A great etude, impressive and insanely difficult as well as gorgeous is Scriabin Op. 42, No. 5.

For the latter, another option that would suit you well (knowing your playing) and really give even you a workout is the Barber Sonata fugue finale

Not sure how "serious" it's supposed to be, but there's Grainger's In Dahomey, a show piece if there ever was one.

How about Gottschalk' Pasquinade?

I think this is good for the show's rating. This, however, makes me look old.

Hi,

Thank you very much for all your suggestions. Since the list is rich, it will take me some time to digest.

Although I have not had time yet to think through all suggestions (just finished my homework), I immediately like the idea of learning a Schubert/Liszt transcription. In general, I am very fond of Schubert's music. I am also familiar with and like some of his lieders, such as Auf dem Wasser zu singen, Gretchen am Spinnrage, and Erlkonig. I just quickly checked Youtube and found that these three lieder transcriptions are rarely played by pre-college pianists, which is good for someone like me who is rather old relative to the show's usual featured soloists.

The funny thing is that the festival where I will be studying with Prof. Arie Vardi this coming summer asked me which chamber music piece I would prefer to learn and perform. My answer was: Schubert Piano Trio No. 1. I hope they will assign this piece to me this summer.

A lot of Grainger would work, actually!