I am very competitive applicant otherwise. I have a 4.0 GPA (so far, lol), started my own non profit which fund raises for music for underprivileged kids, I have 99th percentile test scores and I’m a low income, first generation American and college student who had refugee status. I have won major international writing awards and I am a national merit scholar. I want to add some context to my playing ability but I also don’t want to shoot myself in the foot by doing it. My teacher, who I know VERY WELL would NEVER tell me to record if he did not think a performance to be exceptional has advised pieces that he says I own. Not necessarily the most difficult pieces of all I have played, but pieces that I have revealed the most of my musical intuition in playing.
No offense meant to anyone on here but the Shostokovich in particular, is according to my teacher and even my own self, not a piece acceptable for any non-conservatory high school student. Not technically (though it is a serious beast) but musically and while the first movement of the Haydn is relatively easy the third requires serious ability and since it is in the key of c major, it requires perfect intonation, no room for error. I think that whether or not a piece is prodigious only has a remote amount of weight placed on what is played compared to how it is played. Just about anything can be prodigious if played masterfully, not that I’m laying claim to that title 