Good contrast?

[mcintyre]

Hi, solo audition question. Are the Dragonetti First Movement (required) and Koussevitzky First Movement good solo contrasting pieces?

[Eli_Upright12]

Yes, but I'm not sure if that would be a wise choice, not because it would be seen as bad by auditioners, but because thats just a huge amount of music to work up. Is it for college? if so maybe you could pick just one of those. Perhaps if you picked the koussevitzky you could contrast with a piece like Marcello or Eccles. Or Dragonetti you could go with one of the short koussevitzky pieces like Valse Miniature or Chanson Triste.

[mcintyre]

Oh i have till November '10, i'm not rushed at all, and already know the Dragonetti. Again the Dragonetti is a required piece for the audition.

[Eli_Upright12]

If you want to do koussevitzky I would check out the short pieces. Otherwise you'll be spending all of your practice time on just two piece and you wont have much time for stuff like technique, scales, etudes, orchestral works, etc. Plus even with eight months to spare working up a concerto as hard as the koussevitzky is no small task. I've been on it for about nine months and will be auditioning at the end of this month and in february, but still if it were up to me I would ask for two more months to really polish it; its a very difficult piece.

[mcintyre]

again...that's 18 months....not 8.

[Eli_Upright12]

sorry, I read that as November 10th for some reason. In that case you could very well do both, but keep in mind that something like 12 minutes of music and for the audition they will probably cut you off for both of those. If you want to do it go for it.

[ADissen]

where you auditioning for? just curious.

[davidzgeorge]

not a good idea to play two concertos. it's just too much music, regardless of whether you have enough time to get it prepared. i think what school faculty are looking for when they ask for 2 contrasting solos is a movement of a concerto and then something else, like a movement of bach or a baroque sonata. even a bottesini piece like Elegy or Reverie.

[NewYorkBassist]

Originally Posted by davidzgeorge

not a good idea to play two concertos. it's just too much music, regardless of whether you have enough time to get it prepared. i think what school faculty are looking for when they ask for 2 contrasting solos is a movement of a concerto and then something else, like a movement of bach or a baroque sonata. even a bottesini piece like Elegy or Reverie.

I completely agree with that. I think Dragonetti (classical show piece), paired with something like Bach or Eccles (Baroque), would be a better contrast than Dragonetti and Koussevitzky.

[Eli_Upright12]

Originally Posted by Louisa W

I completely agree with that. I think Dragonetti (classical show piece), paired with something like Bach or Eccles (Baroque), would be a better contrast than Dragonetti and Koussevitzky.

Definitely, the Dragonetti shows your technique and one kind of style, so you should come back with something that shows your ability to play lyrically and in a different style. You can show completely different styles of phrasing, vibrato and where you apply bow pressure.

[mcintyre]

thank you all, i appreciate the help.