THE Warsaw Philharmonic bristled with competition last week. No less a figure than Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, presented the top prize for the Chopin Competition on Thursday night. Other politicians used the gala event to make subtle pitches for their respective parties. On October 25th Mr Duda’s right-wing Law and Justice party decisively won Poland’s parliamentary elections. The outcome of the Chopin Competition, however, was less straightforward. Seong-Jin Cho, a 21-year-old South Korean, won first prize, followed by Charles Richard-Hamelin of Canada and Kate Liu of the United States. But it was a close race between Mr Cho and Mr Richard-Hamelin, and any difference between the two pianists was lost on most listeners. Indeed, with nine of the competition’s ten finalists performing Chopin’s piano concerto in E minor (Mr Richard-Hamelin alone chose the concerto in F minor), attendees could be forgiven for feeling that they had heard the same piece nine times.

The Chopin Competition, held every five years, wants to be known as the Olympics for pianists. But musical contests are rather different from athletic ones: once the technical skills of playing the right notes at the right time have been mastered, the artistry is often a matter of taste. “Competition victories can seem a bit arbitrary,” said Paul Jacobs, chair of the organ department at the Juilliard School in New York and himself a winner of several prestigious competitions. “Competitions are for horses, not artists,” quipped Béla Bartók, a Hungarian composer who died in 1945.

Given the seeming arbitrariness of these victories, some are mired in allegations of foul play. Yulianna Avdeeva’s triumph at the 2010 Chopin Competition was greeted with comments such as “politics sealed the deal”. Some argued that her win was helped by the fact that she had studied with a member of the jury (judges are often accused of rewarding the students of friends). There were no suspicions of horse-trading at this year’s Chopin Competition, which even posted the judges’ grading of the finalists online. Still, the ambiguity of these victories raises obvious questions: if the winner can’t claim to be the world’s fastest pianist, or best trombonist, or most profound Chopin performer, what is the point of these competitions?

The main benefit is exposure, explains Meng-Chieh Liu, a professor of piano at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, whose student Aimi Kobayashi made it to the Chopin finals. Though the stress of these competitions can be “destructive”, he says the motivation is “similar to an unknown singer appearing on American Idol, the participant is hoping to be talent-spotted.”

Many young musicians see competing as their best chance for getting a good manager, says Gabriela Montero, a former child prodigy who won third prize in the Chopin Competition in 1995. But she is quick to add that participants must understand that the outcome is never completely fair. “When I did the Chopin Competition someone told me that the result depends on what the judges had for lunch,” she laughs. “You should compete not expecting to win but as a way of growing artistically.” The intense pressure of a competition, whereby musicians toil in solitude in preparation for a high-stakes performance, is essentially a concentrated version of the life of a performing artist, Ms Montero adds.

There is certainly no shortage of young musicians who are willing to subject themselves to this pressure. And there is no harm in failing to win, says Mr Jacobs, as plenty of managers look for something different from the judges. Many musicians compete as often as possible before ageing out, which tends to happen at 30.

Indeed, there is something to be said for weathering the rigour of these competitions without ever actually placing, as victories can take on a pyrrhic quality. “Life is squeezed out of the winner, as he has to keep touring and play his winning pieces,” said Ms Montero.

This is not to say that a Chopin triumph is problematic: first-prize winners of this competition include Maurizio Pollini, Krystian Zimmerman, Marta Argerich and Garrick Ohlsson, all of whom rank among the world’s great pianists. But plenty of victors have since faded into obscurity, whereas many runners-up have gone on to enjoy great careers. Time will tell whether Mr Cho will join Ms Argerich & Co in creating a more timeless legacy.