Chapter 185 (1/2)

Volume 5 / Chapter 185

TL: LightNovelCafe

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This is different from how the Queen Elisabeth Competition is progressed in reality. This was created by the writer in interest of the story.

In October, submissions for the composition section of the Queen Elisabeth Competition began.

12 judges gathered in one place to go over 100 pieces that flew in from over 30 countries.

54 year old judge Marion Cotillard is the standing conductor of the Berlin Deutsche Symphony Orchestra. She was given the ‘Nobel Prize of contemporary music,’ the Grawemeyer, for a 30 minute cello concerto that she composed especially to perform with a movie to allow the audience to interact with music and film.

Most of the competition entries are contemporary music, so the judges were configured appropriately. They investigated their past statements and actions to rule out anyone who venerates the classics while disparaging contemporary music. It is to eliminate the concern that they may not be able to evaluate the value of the music due to prejudice.

“Alright. I’m sure everyone knows, but I’ll say it again in case. There will be experimental and avant garde music. But we need to keep in mind that we are evaluating music. We cannot choose a winner just because the song is novel. A score that we look at and want to hear the music for! This is the best criteria for judging.”

The judging began with Committee head Marion Cotillard’s greeting words.

The judges split into groups of 3 people and begin the trial. The trial is held so that if all 3 people are in agreement, the piece is eliminated.

Songs that clear the trial go back to primary screening. In the primary screening, all 12 judges go over each song and must choose between pass and fail. The pieces are ordered in the number of passes they receive, and they choose the top 12 to go into the finals.

The judges discuss each song and decide on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places with the last standing pieces.

The majority of entries are short songs of 10 to 30 minutes. There are songs that are entirely ‘experimental’ and there are songs that squeeze ‘emotion’ out. Pieces that only seek novelty were filtered out by the 3 judges.

3 judges had their last and most curious piece in front of them, and scoffed.

“‘Choral’… It can’t be what we’re thinking of, right?”

“So there are people who compose such large works these days.”

Looking at the thickness of the score alone, they could tell that it is a symphony and would take over 1 hour to perform.

“I just hope it’s not a song that’s been stretched out by unnecessarily repeating a thematic progression.”

Notes filling up the score. And there were so many instruments organized within it that it was hard to see the flow of the song in one run through. They needed to look over this one song with as much time as they had taken to look at over 10 songs.

The 3 judges took almost 3 hours to look over the score and only sat in silence. They did not say anything in evaluation during the trial. It is only a place to state whether or not it will be eliminated. If all 3 decided to eliminate it, not even Mozart could refute.

The judges need to be particularly careful because they do not know who the composers of the entries are.

“Well. How do we interpret this…..”

“Criticism isn’t our responsibility. We need to do that in the finals. All we need to do now is make a decision.”

When 1 judge spoke up, the other 2 shut their mouths.

“Then shall we make a decision?”

The 2 people lightly nodded their heads.

“Will you tell me? Does this song need to go up to finals?”

“Oxi (No).”

“Nai (Yes).”

Nai and oxi is Greek and used in official matters to contribute opinion. It is used commonly in the west and is used when the U.S. Congress passes bills.

“So it’s one vote each. Then my opinion doesn’t matter. I’ll put it up to finals.”

“Why don’t you tell us your opinion anyway?”

“I’m Nai.”

Jun Hyuk’s song received 2 votes in favor and went up to finals.

20 out of over 100 songs made it to the finals, so the competition is 5:1. There are less works that made it to the finals than in previous years. There are normally about 30, but it has been reduced by more than 10.

This means that either there were a lot of submissions that did not meet standards, or that the judges’ standards had gone up.

The judges gathered for the final evaluation and started talking about the preliminary.