Chopin competition with the Guardian newspaper

Forgive an adult beginner posting here, but thought some of the pianists on here might be interested in this:


http://alanrusbridger.com/playitagain/competition

This is somewhat bizarre! On the one hand, they ask for video submissions "if you have what it takes to play Chopin's 'Ballade No. 1', while on the other they add that "Pianists of all standards and levels of experience [are] welcome."

I don't believe that everyone who fits into the second category would necessarily qualify for the first.

While the judges might constitute a viable jury, I'm not sure that the grand prize, including a tour of the Guardian offices and a chance to meet Alan Rusbridger are great incentives, are they?

Regards,

That was my main thought too.

But dunno, maybe if you read that paper you're dying to meet one Alan Rusbridger.

I think winning it may be the incentive rather than the prizes!

The contest seems to be a (perhaps) clever way to promote the book which was about the author's attempt to learn the G minor Ballade.

In case anyone doesn't know the background to this competition, Alan Rusbridger set out to learn the Chopin G minor Ballade within six months, and perform it publicly. Which he did (though he had to extend it to 18 months), but to what degree of proficiency, I don't know because the performance isn't (as far as I know) available on YouTube. Apparently, due to work pressures, he rarely managed even twenty minutes of practice time a day, but he certainly wasn't a beginner before he started on this venture.

He wrote about his trials and tribulations in his book 'Play It Again', in which he even gets to discuss the piece with people like Stephen Hough, Murray Perahia, Charles Rosen and Daniel Barenboim, among others (he obviously has connections ).

I'd certainly enjoy a trip to London. Too bad most beginners don't have Chopin's first Ballade in their repertoire (ironic given reasons seen in BruceD's post).

I read artcle about it and Alan is not a beginner. Among the true adult beginners, I only met one such beginner who can fit the description in my life. So these people exist.

Separately, my teacher knew another who went on to be a piano performance major in a well known conservatory. She noticed his incredible talent at her Class Piano. He could play anything by ear. She would sing a tune and he immediately played back the tune on the puano. She taught him how to read music litterally from ABC. The first real piece he wanted play was 1st Ballade. He not only played it but totally played it well. It was one of his audition pieces.

I would love to learn the piece someday. Not now. I am not ready to tuckle this yet. I think this is a great competition for those who meet the requirement. Maybe high chance of winning?

Looking at the section where there's an analysis of the score and various artists' opinions on the piece, it's a bit upsetting that most of it talks about how difficult everything really is. Certainly there are better things to talk about, right?

Um... Yeah.

Although, a trip to London would be pretty neat.

... except for the fact that rule no 2 eliminates most of us :

"2. The main competition is open to anyone aged 13 or over who is a resident of the UK or the Republic of Ireland ...."

We could move there, and then we'd be eligible to win the trip to London!

Its backwards for me; I'm eligible, but I can't play Chopin's first ballade. In fact that only Chopin piece I currently know almost fully is Op28 No4.

Where would we move to? London?

Preferably -- that would cut down on the organization's expenses!

"When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life." (Samuel Johnson)

Classical concerts (including the International Piano Series which this season include Benjamin Grosvenor, Daniil Trifonov, Behzod Abduraimov, Mitsuko Uchida, Yulianna Avdeeva, Alice Sara Ott, Stephen Kovacevich, Kirill Gerstein, Angela Hewitt, Denis Kozhukhin, Piotr Anderszewski, Steven Osborne, Karim Said, Francesco Piemontesi...) almost every day, the Queen at Buckingham Palace, Kate & William, Horseguards Parade, Westminster Abbey, the Beefeaters at the Tower of London......what more incentive do you need to live in London?

Apart from entering the competition, of course...