REPERTOIRE 2025
Video preselection round (recording) – max. 20 minutes
The program needs to include:
a) one Bartók piece or movement of the competitor’s choice (except pieces from Mikrokosmos or For Children)
b) one romantic work of the competitor’s choice
c) one virtuoso etude of the competitor’s choice
The pieces of the video qualifying round can be repeated in the later rounds.
Preliminary – max. 20 minutes
The program needs to include:
a) one virtuoso Scarlatti sonata
b) one Bartók piece or movement of the competitor’s choice (except pieces from Mikrokosmos or For Children) all together min. 7 minutes
c) one virtuoso etude from the following series of the competitor’s choice:
· Liszt: Études d’exécution transcendante, S. 139
· Liszt: Grandes Études de Paganini, S. 141
· Liszt: Three Concert Études, S. 144
· Liszt: Two Concert Études, S. 145
· Bartók: Three Studies for Piano, BB 81 [Op. 81]
· Dohnányi: Six Concert Etudes, Op. 28
Semi-final – max. 40 minutes
The program needs to include:
a) one Bartók piece or group of pieces from the following list:
· Fourteen Bagatelles for Piano, BB 50 [Op. 6] (selection by the candidate, min. 7 minutes)
· Three Burlesques for Piano, BB 55 [Op. 8c]
· Allegro barbaro for Piano, BB 63 AND 2nd movement (Poco allegro) from Two Romanian Dances for Piano, BB 56 [Op. 8a]
· Romanian Christmas Songs, BB 67, Series I OR II
· 4th movement (Scherzo) from Four Piano Pieces, BB 27
· 1st OR 2nd Elegy from Two Elegies, BB 49
· Three Hungarian Folksongs from the County of Csík for Piano, BB 45b AND 1st movement (Allegro vivace) from Two Romanian Dances for Piano, BB 56 [Op. 8a]
· Suite for Piano, BB 70 [Op. 14]
b) a complete classical sonata by Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or Ludwig van Beethoven
c) one of the following pieces*:
· Hanuri Lee: Vertigineux (video link to the performance)
· Mátyás Papp: Kirakós (Puzzle) (video link to the performance)
You can listen to the piece by clicking on the title. The recording was made at the gala concert of the 2024 Composers' Competition, performed by pianist József Balog.
*prize winning compositions of the Bartók World Competition – Composition 2024, published by Universal Music Publishing Editio Musica Budapest. Sheet music will be available for free download from the publisher’s website.
Solo Final – max. 45 minutes
The program needs to include:
a) one of the following Bartók pieces:
· Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs, BB 83 [Op. 20]
· Dance Suite, BB 86b
· Sonata, BB 88
· Out of Doors, BB 89
b) a romantic work or several movements of a romantic work of the competitor’s choice
c) a piece or one or more movements of a piece by the following composers:
Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Sergey Prokofiev, Alexander Scriabin, Igor Stravinsky, Ernő (Ernst von) Dohnányi, Zoltán Kodály
Grand Final
Competitors must choose one of the following piano concertos (selection from Bartók’s piano concertos and his repertoire):
· Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2, BB 101
· Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3, BB 127
· Liszt: Totentanz
· Liszt: Piano Concerto in E-flat major
· Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37
· Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 (‘Emperor’)
The Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of János Kovács, will accompany the candidates.
The order of the works played in the Preliminary, Semi-final and Solo Final is of the competitor’s choice.
All pieces must be performed from memory, with the exception of the contemporary composition in the Semi-final.
All works shall be performed only once during the Competition. (Pieces from the video qualifying round can be repeated once in the live rounds).
CONTACT
office@bartokworldcompetition.hu
bartokworldcompetition.hu
Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music
Secretariat of the Bartók World Competition
H-1077 Budapest, Wesselényi utca 52. (Hungary)