I am going to be sitting an exam and just want some thoughts on the pieces I have chosen. The syllabus says I must choose ONE piece of list A, ONE piece of list B, and at least TWO pieces from list C. The performance must go for 25-35 minutes (I believe I'm not required to play repeats). I guess I have the following questions:

1. Have I chosen too many pieces?
2. Are my pieces diverse enough? (if you need an idea of what I have to choose from, let me know)
3. Are there any obvious difficulties from my selection? (i.e. are my pieces too famous and therefore have a higher standard/expectation)

LIST A
Etude Op 749 No 1 (Czerny)

LIST B
Sonata in D major No 50 Hob XVI:37 (Haydn)

LIST C
Mazurka in C# minor Op 50 No 3 (Chopin)
Liebestraume S541 No 3 (Liszt)
Prelude C# minor Op 3 No 2 (Rachmaninoff)
Capulets and Montagues Op 63 No 6 (Prokofiev)

Comments, hints and observations will be greatly appreciated.

Which exam is it?

It's a new certificate offered by the Australian Music Examinations Board called the Certificate of Performance.

Is there any alternative to Czerny?

Chopin/Liszt/Rachmaninoff might be too much of the same, why not throw in some Debussy/Ravel instead? Czerny, mm, why not something more appealing indeed..

I agree with dolce sfogato - Chopin, Liszt AND rachmaninoff might be a bit of an overkill. List C includes Schubert, Scriabin and Debussy, amongst others. You might want to think about swapping the Chopin or Liszt for something a little different?

There does seems to be appealing choices in the Certificate syllabus for List A too... but perhaps you like the Czerny?

What does your teacher think? Any suggestions from your teacher?

My sylllabus says that the Czerny should be op 740 - was that a typo?

List A would be the hardest for me to choose; lots of etudes by Cramer, Mocsheles, Moskowski, Mendelssohn, Czerny, the only other option being a selection of Scarlatti sonatas. It seems an odd combination, but I've never played any Scarlatti so I don't really know.

I like your Haydn selection, that's one I'm thinking of in the distant future when and if I do this exam, and I'm pretty keen on the Prokofiev and have purchased it already and read through.

When is your exam?

I did mean Czerny Op 740. There isn't much choice that I'm familiar with. For List A I have Cramer Studies, Moscheles Etudes, Moskowski Etudes and Scarlatti Sonatas (selections obviously).

For List C, I was thinking of dropping the Chopin, it's the one I am least in love with. Some other pieces I considered in its place are:

- Bartok Allegro Barbaro
- Debussy Reverie
- Grieg Op 65 No 6
- Schumann Arabesque

I guess from the comments, I will have to change my program. I think I will leave the Czerny though, it's a good piece to warm my fingers up. Even if it is boring, it takes up 2 minutes of the audience's time, so it'll be over soon after it begins.