I wonder if anyone could tell me what sort of standard the following pieces (for violin) are.
The first is in the Suzuki Book 5. It is piece number 6; the Veracini Gigue in D Minor.
The second is Elgar's Salut d'amour.

These pieces would be for an audition, so will have to be played well. To have any chance, I think my daughter will need to be at least about Grade 6 standard, probably Grade 7. She is also working on the Mozart Sonate in E minor, that is on the Grade 7 syllabus and doing quite well at it, but this isn't really suitable for the audition.

She has worked on a few of the Grade 6 pieces and got them to a good standard, using one to audition in the spring for the county senior schools orchestra, but she hasn't taken Grade 6 yet, as she has only just sat Grade 5 theory. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Violinma

This might be useful. It is a list from edexcel of well known repertoire with their view of the grade of the pieces.

http://www.edexcel.org.uk/VirtualContent/4...web_version.pdf

It has your two suzuki pieces down as grade 6.

Why don't you think the Mozart is suitable for an audition? I think it depends on who is auditioning and for what. If it is for an orchestra or music school place and the selection panel are knowledgeable then Mozart may be very suitable as it will show a high level of precision and accuracy (if played well) which is more useful in an orchestra than a showy performance of something more romantic. I can undertand that if there are a huge number of candidates for very few places and/or the judges are not specialist violinists then perhaps something more showy might be better to stick in their minds.

Mainly don't be too ambitious and play something too hard not very well. Why not revive some of the previous grade 6 level pieces. It is often possible to play a piece much better when it is being worked on for a second time after having a rest.

I play Salut d'Amour with my daughter, yes I reckon its about Grade 7, similar to the Mozart E Minor Sonata.
Also try the Meditation form Thais by Massanet. Its a super piece of similar standard

Thanks so much for the replies, they are really helpful.

I guess I the thinking was that the Mozart is a Sonata for Violin and Piano, so maybe not the best for a violin audition. Also it might be a little long I think.

Yes it would need an accompanist, but then so would many candidate pieces. What are the arrangements for that, have they told you? They may supply one, but then it depends how used your daughter is to playing with new accompanists. It does depend a bit on what the audition is for

I would say definitely get accompaniment. they are about grade 5-7 some of the elgar is currently on the trinity grade 5 sylabus, it depends though on what they are looking for.

Salut d'Amour was one of the exam pieces for 2003 ABRSM violin grade 5 exam

I thought that the Salut d'amour was harder than Grade 5. It is the original, or very nearly, I think that Elgar edited himself a few years after he wrote it. Anyway it hasn't been changed since.
The audtion is for the NCO. I thought that as the Mozart was for piano and violin, it wasn't as suitable as a piece of purely violin music. It is good that some of you think otherwise! Yes, she will be accommpanied. Any other advice gratefully received!!
Violinma

The ABRSM version of Salut d'Amour is not in the original key and is fingered a little easier. The original is in C minor (I think).

Regards
Jon

Somewhere in the NCO information they say straightforwardly that

"It is much better for you to audition with pieces that you can play confidently rather than attempting pieces that are really too hard for you"

And the SIGHT READING part of the audition is crucial to success in my experience...(I've had kids in NCO for er....17 years now, think we had a year off in the middle somewhere when no-one was the right age though)

But I did Salut D'Amour for my grade '5' violin exam back about 2 years ago.
It can't be grade 7 surely.

That's actually on the trinity guildhall grade 5 list, but it's a hard grade 5 piece.

Is it the original, in the original key, or is the Grade 5 piece an edited version?

I thought the original was more like Grade 7.

Violinma

Regarding Salut D'Amour, The version set for grade 5 is in D major. (It was also on the grade 5 syllabus back in 1982-3 when I did my grade 5!!)

I have come across a version (not sure if it's the 'original') which is in E major and - as a result - rather more difficult.

Of course it's always worth remembering that it takes a more advanced player to really do justice to a performance. Nigel Kennedy recorded this, along with the '6 easy pieces' (at least one of which has been set for grade 1!!) on a CD of Elgar Violin music on the Chandos label a few years back. Needless to say, his performance could not be matched by a grade 1 or 5 candidate!!