Preludes and Fugues

What are some of the hardest P&F's that one could perform for a college audition?

I recall that the G minor from book 2 is rather hard.

The other hard one that I know of escapes me. I'm pretty sure it's in a key with a B in it(but that's 8 fugues, so I'm of no help here)

Maybe you are talking about the Bminor one from WTC Book 1. I think both prelude and fugue are quite long.

First off, remember it's not about finding the most difficult repertoire in an audition. It's about playing your pieces well. Many judges would prefer to hear a slightly less difficult piece played exceptionally well, than a very hard piece played only so-so.

That said - some good and difficult ones from book I you might want to look at are the c# minor, Eb major, bb minor, and b minor. The c# and bb are 5-voice fugues, and the c# minor is a triple fugue to boot. The Eb prelude is actually quite fugal in nature (if I'm not mistaken I believe it's a double fugue in and of itself). And the b minor is a great fugue using some interesting harmonies (and all 12 tones in its subject). Thinking about it, the a minor fugue might be a good one too.

I'm less familiar with book II, so I'll let others chime in on that one.

Agree with 8ude for Book I (C# minor and Bb minor are among my favourites), for Book II I would recommend the C# minor as well (Prelude is quite a challenge to bring off well in terms of lyricism and ornamentation, and the fugue is a riot of gorgeous counterpoint and harmony); the F# minor from Book II is my all time preferred pair. Many of these feature on professional performance diploma examination repertoire lists, so I'd imagine that a good performance of any of these would satisfy most college undergraduate entry judges.

-Michael B.

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned D Major from book 2. It's a popular audition choice.

I got into Michigan with Eb Major, book 1. (Not a popular choice, though. Almost nobody plays it, and I have no idea why - it's gorgeous!)

The Bach-Liszt Prelude and Fugue in A minor (BWV 543, S462 No. 1) would be enormously difficult and impressive. ( ) Similarly difficult would be the Bach-Liszt Prelude and Fugue in e minor (S462 No. 5)

Nobody has yet mentioned the Mendelssohn E minor P&F. (The topic title didn't specify Bach.) Very impressive prelude, and a fugue which builds to a thrilling climax complete with Protestant chorale.

Check out Charles Rosen in "The Romantic Generation" for some humourous -they were supposed to be humourous weren't they?- comments re the Mendelssohn.

But I've always loved playing it...

The Prelude and Fugue is one of my favorite piano pieces by Mendelssohn, behind the Variations Serieuses.

Jason,

I played a Mendelssohn P&F (the somewhat more straightforward D major) for ABRSM Grade 8 back in the dim and distant past, and thought it quite charming. Of course, Franck's Prélude, Chorale et Fugue would be another possibility if one were looking for technical difficulty .

Michael B.

I'm working on the Mendelssohn E minor right now for a competition. I'm very glad to know that someone else has heard of it. I'm quite fond of the whole set of Op. 35 (6 preludes and fugues, for those who don't know), and I plan to play all of them at some point.

I played the Bach-Liszt A minor prelude and fugue for my college audition - the prelude is far less daunting than it looks, but the fugue is indeed quite difficult. It's a beautiful piece, though, and I would recommend it if the schools you're applying to allow it.

There are also preludes and fugues written by Rimsky-Korsakov, Lyapunov, Taneev, Glazunov, and Shostakovich, but I am quite unfamiliar with all but the Shostokovich.

- Silence

I didn't think schools would allow transcriptions?

Email the school before you apply and ask. Many smaller and medium-sized schools will be quite accomodating.

- Silence

Right now I can play both C-minors from I & II... I really enjoy the fugue from the first book but I fear that the Cm one's been played too many times for me to use it as an audition piece.

I did really mean Bach P&F's, sorry for not specifying.