Would Chopin Win the Chopin Competition?

Obviously not, he’s been dead for almost 200 years. Just kidding, read on.

The Timeless Question

Every five years, eighty of the best young pianists gather in Warsaw to beat the living daylights out of each other. Their goal: capture the essence and magic of Chopin in their playing and impress the jury enough not to be marked for elimination. Whoever comes out on top wins €60,000 and a jump-start to their international career. It’s what the Super Bowl is to football; it’s what Wimbledon is to tennis; of course, it’s the International Chopin Piano Competition.

Each iteration of the competition, one question keeps appearing in forums, Reddit posts, and nerdy discussions. Every five years, classical music meatheads revisit and speculate on this hypothetical.

What if Chopin were the one seated at the piano?

If he were to enter the Competition anonymously, would he sway the jury in his favor? Would the jury recognize or punish his style? Would Chopin win his own competition, or be eliminated in the preliminaries?

To answer these questions, we need to understand how Chopin himself played, and how that compares to the modern standard in competitions.

Chopin’s Attention to Delicacy

According to research by the Chopin Institute, his peers described his playing as delicate and intimate rather than powerful. Pianist Adolph Gutmann said Chopin “played generally very quietly, and rarely, indeed hardly ever, fortissimo.” Chopin himself disliked “walloping” on the piano and noted that this set off many Germans who were accustomed to hearing their pianos hammered. His sound was refined, nuanced, and inward—never theatrical for its own sake.

“His sound was refined, nuanced, and inward—never theatrical for its own sake.”

And this was on instruments far softer than a modern Steinway. Even if Chopin adapted to today’s pianos, it is doubtful that his approach would align with contemporary expectations. Listening to the Competition today, you hear the thunderous fortissimo codas in the Ballades, the expansive grandeur of the Heroic Polonaise, and the sheer volume of the Winter Wind Etude. The competitors don’t play softly; they wallop. The Germans would be proud.

Liberal Interpretations

Furthermore, Chopin himself was a bold interpreter with a uniquely personal style. He encouraged his students to play as they felt, valuing authenticity and self-expression. He said to a student, “Be bolder; let yourself go more.” His own performances of his mazurkas bent the rhythm toward something closer to 4/4 rhythm instead of the written 3/4 due to his lingering on the first beat.

Ferdinand Hiller said of Chopin’s playing: “Rhythmic constancy was combined with a freedom in the declamation of his melodies, so that they seemed the fruit of the moment. What in others was exquisite ornamentation, in him seemed like multi-colored flowers; what in others was technical skill, in him resembled the flight of a swallow.”

Would the Competition Reward Chopin’s Style?

Competitions usually reward:

• Flawless control at high volume and speed
• Consistency across rounds
• Interpretation within an “accepted” style (in this case, the style of Chopin)
• Staying true to the written score

(This isn’t necessarily a criticism of competitions, it is just the nature of competitions in general. Plenty of world-renowned pianists have never won a competition, and plenty of competition winners have had their careers fade away into obscurity.)

Free and creative interpretations are not always rewarded in competitions. This is seen in the case of Ivo Pogorelich, hailed by some as a visionary individualist but eliminated in the 1980 Chopin Competition, causing the renowned Martha Argerich to resign from the jury in protest.

If I’m being honest, competitions aren’t where I take risks in my playing. They are where I rely on the interpretations I’ve hammered into my hands a thousand times in the practice rooms. Chopin, on the other hand, rarely played a piece the same way twice. His performances were spontaneous and improvisatory and left listeners feeling invigorated and refreshed.

The Scoring Problem

The Chopin Competition’s scoring works by taking each juror’s initial score (on a scale from 1-25) and averaging them. Next. outlying high/low scores are corrected if they exceed the initial average by too many points to prevent outliers from warping a competitor’s score by too much. Then, these “corrected” scores are averaged to obtain the final score.

This scoring system doesn’t reward creativity due to risk. A bold interpretation could possibly tick off certain jurors because it doesn’t fit their taste/opinion. These jurors could bring your overall score down. Sticking to a more conventional interpretation reduces a lot of critique the jurors could possibly have. It’s a safe way to maximize your score.

The Verdict

In order for Chopin to win today, I would probably have to tell him not to play like himself: bite your lip, and follow everything written in the score. The Chopin Competition ironically rewards very un-Chopinistic playing.

Before you go, consider another question: what if Chopin sat in the juror’s chair? Would he be amazed by the technique of today’s pianists, or disappointed by their mechanical interpretations?

A final word: predicting the results of piano competitions is futile. All judges have their own tastes and ideals of the “right” way to play. There is no single verdict. Not even for Chopin himself.