Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner "The Lark" - piano transcription by Balakirev

I am interested in learning Mily Balakirev’s “The Lark”, a transcription of a song by Glinka. This piece of music is not on the Royal Conservatory of Music syllabus, and I am considered substituting it as an “Own Choice” selection for an ARCT examination. Is anyone familiar with this type of substitution? What list would this piece of music be classified under: List C (Romantic era), List D (20 century music), or Concert Etude?

Furthermore, does anyone know if this piece is listed in any other syllabi? I’ve heard that “Own Choice” selections have more clout when they are found in several different syllabi.

On a side note, I absolutely love this piece of music. I was introduced to it, strangely enough, when I googled “child prodigy” and ran across a breath-takingly beautiful performance of “The Lark” by Benjamin Grosvenor. He is one of the most musical young performers I have ever heard in my life. If anyone else is interested, here is the YouTube link to his performance in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FJeOaRjZaE&feature=related

Grosvenor plays two Scarlatti sonatas before his performance of “The Lark” – if you don’t want to watch them, skip to about 4:10 in the video...

A thousand thanks!

List C defenitely, never seen it in any syllabus, but it should be ok, great transcription, not too difficult, but 'sing' it as a rrrussian singer would do...

Thanks, Dolce Sfogato!

(Pardon me for reviving an old thread, if that`s a crime on this forum...)

Any further insight into the Own Choice Substitution would be much appreciated.

What "further insight" are you looking for?

Thanks for the lead Elizabeth ... I downloaded :The Lark” (more correctly perhaps the Skylark) from IMSLP (7 pages) and followed the racy score in time with the young pianist ... Balakirev was obviously a very nimble-fingered pianist to have dreamt up this arrangement of the Glinka Romance.

It was of interest to read in my reference book

"Balakirev gathered together the group of the Russian Five, consisting of himself, Borodin, Cesar Cui, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov."

"Balakirev (1837-1910) was the only one of the Russian Five who was a trained musician.
It is an astonishing fact that four of these men began their artistic careers as amateurs.
Cui was an authority on military science, Rimsky-Korsakov a naval officer, Borodin a surgeon of repute, Mussorgsky an army officer. Balakiref himself in his youth studied law."

To be specific:

Does RCM grade candidates according to their choices as well as their performances of the piece?

I don't have the current syllabus, and it's not available online... I'm not sure exactly what an Own Choice substitution involves. Do you have to contact RCM in writing before an exam? Are you allowed to substitute one piece per exam?

Thanks in advance!

EB :

Here is what the current syllabus says :

" Substitutions
As outlined in the chart below, candidates may make substitute selections for their examination. If approval is required, candidates must submit an Examination Substitute Piece Request (available online) by the Examination Registration deadline. Candidates are advised to prepare an alternate work in case the request is denied.
Teacher's Choice
[Not applicable to you, as it applies to selections from Grades 1 through 8].
Own Choice
For Grades 9 to ARCT, the substitute repertoire selection must be of equal difficulty, length, and musical quality to works in the appropriate Syllabus list for that grade, and it must be from the same historical style period. The mark for the performance of this selection will include an assessment of the appropriateness of the choice. For this reason, RCM Examinations will not answer questions or give advice regarding Own choice substitutions.

The "chart" refered to states, for ARCT in Piano Performance:

Requires Prior Approval :
One repertoire selection from piano literature comparable in style and difficulty to the corresponding List A, B, or C.

Does Not Require Prior Approval
One Own Choice selection may replace a piece from List D or E."

If you think, then, that the Balakirev is a list C piece, then you will need prior approval. If you consider it a List D piece, then you do not need prior approval. Notwithstanding an opinion already expressed, I would think it would well qualify for a List D piece, but that's a decision you'll have to make for yourself.

At the risk of appearing somewhat impolite, might I say that I think that someone preparing for an examination as significant as the ARCT would make a point of getting a copy of the Syllabus for herself and knowing the pertinent parts thoroughly, rather than seeking information from those online who might - unintentionally - misquote or mistype critical information that you may need.

Regards,

Well, so much for trying to help someone by giving her the information she asked for!

I guess I'll not do that again.

Remember the time that sort of happened to me?

A new poster, someone I didn't know, asked a detailed question about a piece that I know well, so I gave a detailed answer.

No reply for several days.
I decided it hadn't been worth my work, and said essentially that I wouldn't do it again (for someone I didn't 'know').

Consensus seemed to be that I was being too sensitive, or something.

But we make our own judgments and decisions.

BTW: Seeing how Elizabeth doesn't necessarily look here that often, I'd guess she will see it and acknowledge it eventually.....

Hmm.. perhaps Elizabeth did not appreciate being "scolded" online, even though BruceD seems to be right, as always??

or the scolding worked and she is no longer looking online, at all..

or perhaps she has not been back to read the responses yet..

I say continue being generous in responding to people, sans expectations of online gratitude..

Yeah, right!

what is with all the scolding..

that is a lovely piece, such an unusual choice for a boy. he plays it exquisitely.

(also thanks for the reminder of the beauty of K 141 Scarlatti).

The user list shows she hasn't been back since her last post, a few days ago. We don't know why. Not everyone is able to check online anytime they want, and Real Life can often get in the way. I know it's a little vexing when you go to some trouble to answer a query and get (so far) no response, but don't stop your helpful answers, Bruce - we love 'em!

Those "user lists" seem to be incomplete and, if one is relying on them, very misleading. EB has posted since my informative rant on this thread. It's interesting that looking for her posts by clicking on her name from this thread doesn't show her posts on the other; and looking for her posts by clicking on her name on the other thread doesn't show her posts on this one.

Perhaps she's using different computers.

But, hey, I'm not losing sleep over it. I was just venting and no doubt over-reacting, that's all. It's over now.

Cheers!

..... = "artist," more or less.

Welcome.

MEa culpa.. I just can't resist sometimes..

Dear Mr. BruceD,

My sincerest thanks for taking the time to post the information I requested! I do appreciate it very much and I am sorry I did not respond sooner. I just don’t have the time to check PianoWorld everyday...