For the first round of the Carl Nielsen Violin Competition contestants have 25 minutes in which to play their very best in the hope of progressing to the next round. Rie Koch and violinist Jevgenij Skuratovskij have looked at the music being played during this round.

“The programme is one of considerable diversity and complexity. There are plenty of aspects the contestants must show they master”, Jevgenij Skuratovskij says. He goes on:

“They can choose between Bach’s sonata or partita, two compositions which make slightly different demands. The sonata requires huge technical precision, intonation and bowing in order to bring out all the different voices in the piece, while the partita is more a question of invoking the character of the many dance-like variations. The listener must be able to tell them all apart”.