School musicians are sometimes viewed at music academies as individuals who can do a little bit of everything, but nothing particularly well. This assessment is misleading, as demonstrated at the 16th Carl Bechstein National Competition for Practical Piano Playing in Weimar.
Die 18 Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmer von zwölf deutschen Musikhochschulen und Universitäten bewiesen, dass sie vieles auf höchstem Niveau können, dass sie die Experten der Musikvermittlung sind, welche die wichtige Aufgabe erfüllen, Schülerinnen und Schüler frühzeitig für die Musik und das aktive Musizieren zu begeistern.
The competition for practical piano playing in schools differs from most instrumental competitions in that participants can demonstrate their various skills in all three rounds, meaning that in addition to an overall prize and various special prizes, three round prizes can also be awarded.
The competition programme was extremely complex and demanding. In the first round, ‘Liedspiel’, the young musicians had to prepare three additional pieces at short notice, as well as two prepared pieces. They had to accompany themselves on the piano, as well as other singers, and sometimes transpose the pieces. In the second round, they had to accompany a classical choral piece notated in four systems, as well as an art song prepared in a short closed session, and provide ad hoc accompaniment based on a lead sheet. In the third round, they had to improvise based on poems, pictures or tone rows presented at short notice. The improvisations demonstrated the enormous skill of the school music students who had travelled to the competition, ranging from free improvisation to setting poems to music and four-part fugues.
Unlike many instrumental competitions, the students in this competition cheer each other on and celebrate each other’s successes with loud applause. Here, camaraderie takes precedence over competition. Nevertheless, winners were chosen and prizes were awarded. The overall winner of all rounds was Elias Smalko from the University of Music Würzburg. Julius Hutzler (Würzburg) won the first round, ‘Song Performance’. Luisa Steg from the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar won the second round, “Score and Sight-Reading”, and also received the audience award. Anna Bilo from the Mainz University of Music won the prize for the third round, “Improvisation”.
In addition to the overall prize and the round prizes, the jury, chaired by Prof. Dr. Ortwin Nimczik, also awarded a number of special prizes. Max Jenkins (Detmold) won the special prize of the Federal Association of Music Education (BMU) for an excellently prepared and performed folk song. Daniel Sieler (Leipzig) won the Weimar University of Music’s special prize for his particularly convincing improvisation of a fugue. For the first time, the Carl Bechstein Foundation, as a new sponsor of the competition, awarded a special prize for the particularly successful adaptation of a text into song form, which went to Sebastian Wappler (Dresden). Last but not least, Marie Heckmann (Cologne) won the jury’s special prize for her excellent performance of her own song “Fliegen” (Fly).
All of the prize winners thrilled the audience at the prize-winners’ concert at the University of Music. However, the secret highlight of the competition was the party held the evening before, which was attended by all the participants, the jury, the organisers’ assistants, and numerous other professors and students from the school music programme. There was lots of singing and piano playing, and a strong sense of community was fostered in the relaxed atmosphere where everyone was a winner.
Photos © Matthias Eimer
