It can't be said enough, "It's music!!!"

Because of my being primarily an orchestral player at the outset of my career, I have taught, coached, and scrutinized many orchestral excerpts for students and auditioners.  I have grown increasingly concerned about the fetishization of the orchestra repertoire for audition purposes.  These are often non-musical descriptions of musical passages that are diminished only to a technical category without an artist underpinning. While the most important aspect of a successful audition is the total understanding of the audition music, most only study and prepare these truncated passages or parts of movements. It is the performer's job to find the music of the entire work in the required excerpt.  When one starts to find musical indicators like sequences, orchestration relationships, and polyphony, one can greatly improve one’s technical capabilities.  The orchestra profession needs thinking and passionate musicians, not overly careful, dispassionate, technicians.