Favourite 5 Piano Concertos

I don't even know 5 piano concertos. I know, I'm a musical Philistine >)>

I just listened, FINALLY, to Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #2 last night. It's something I've been meaning to do for a very long time, but never got around to. (I listened to the one where VL provides the piano.)

Needless to say, it was positively beyond mind-blowing. So many goosebumps... I think my goosebumps had goosebumps. I didn't know that was physiologically possible.

Well, 1 piano concerto down, 20 billion more to go. Gotta pick and choose, I suppose.

I don't even know 5 piano concertos. I know, I'm a musical Philistine.

Cool. A composer who absolutely owns the piano himself - yet hasn't listened to piano concertos...? I hope you'll someday come up with a concerto by yourself.

I don't like that romanticism, I do like the other romanticism, Grieg, I like it, I studied that concert, but never played it with an orchestra.

I'm not really fond of the piano concerto for a couple reasons. The first is that I just don't care for how the piano (or other similar percussion instruments) blend with the orchestra. I'm not sure why, really. (I also really can't stand the clarinet). There are exceptions to this of course and there are many beautiful piano concerto passages. I just think the piano really shines solo.

The other reason is that I believe it comes from the idea of being flashy, showing off, or featuring a person rather than the music. I'm also not sure why this is such a major turn off for me, I guess I just feel it detracts from the music.

I'm not really fond of the piano concerto for a couple reasons. The first is that I just don't care for how the piano (or other similar percussion instruments) blend with the orchestra. I'm not sure why, really. (I also really can't stand the clarinet). There are exceptions to this of course and there are many beautiful piano concerto passages. I just think the piano really shines solo.

The other reason is that I believe it comes from the idea of being flashy, showing off, or featuring a person rather than the music. I'm also not sure why this is such a major turn off for me, I guess I just feel it detracts from the music.

My wife also does not like the sound of clarinet. :)

You begin to love instrument when hearing a real master playing it. I hated viola for a long time, but now that I cooperate with my former solfeggio student, a young viola player Spela Pirnat, I suddenly find viola more exciting. I also used to think the bassoon being boring instrument. Now I love it!

I wouldn't say piano is a percussion instrument though...

Piano and percussion both blend well with the orchestra in many, many situations. Once you have a little more experience with orchestration, you'll come to learn this.

The majority of concerti are written in ways which puts great technical demand on the players featured, in many situations. That's just the nature of the business.

I've been composing longer than you and I'm older than you. Can you please stop with the condescending stuff. Do you understand what an opinion is?

The piano concerto practically evolved to feature a showoff, like a composer such as Mozart.

haha, you laugh but heck, it's true

What, that you're a hypocrite? Certainly.

well, no, it's like sojar voglar I'm sure has been composing a while longer and knows what he's talking about more, I actually feel like I have stuff to learn, it says he's 35 as well, meanwhile I remember you saying you've only been composing for 2 years, no offense, but I don't think you can really spout "Once you have a little more experience with orchestration, you'll come to learn this." and expect me to listen

You don't need to worry about offending me: it doesn't matter how long I've been composing so much as how much I've learned in that amount of time.

Someone who states that modern music is collectively "bad" and doesn't believe that the piano or clarinet can blend satisfactorily in an orchestral setting, still has a lot to learn: no matter if they've been composing for 2 years, or 20.

Also: aren't you embarrassed at the least, in thinking that being one year older than me is any sort of merit or qualification in itself? We're adults: not toddlers.

Good talk.

I never said clarinet/piano can't blend satisfactorily with an orchestra...I said I don't care for HOW the piano blends with an orchestra......that implies it blends with an orchestra, obviously -_-

And no, I don't really think age matters (past a certain point), just how long you've been composing. I'm no professional, and I have a lot to learn, but as I said, 2 years isn't that long.

Hopefully, this was a good lesson in being more deliberate in judgment-forming.

I honestly couldn't believe I just read that.

Some would say it's the lack of blending that makes it a successful instrument for concerto purposes. ;)

Stravinsky felt the sound of a piano did not mix well with strings, which is why he deleted the entire section (save for basses) in his. "A sound scraped does not mix with a sound struck," or something to that effect.

I agree about the danger of concertos turning into virtuosic pieces or having too many passages that stress that and take away from the music. I feel that's generally more of a post-Beethoven phenomenon (yes, he had passages which are virtuosic, but they don't detract from the music).

As for my picks, I'll restrict myself to one per composer, although for, say, Beethoven and Mozart, I feel several of their concertos are almost as good. I won't limit myself to 5, though. Truthfully, I like the earlier concertos more than the later ones.

Beethoven 4--I probably choose this as the greatest piano concerto, period, and am glad to see how many others have also picked it. 5 is also great, but not quite as innovative.

Mozart 21--very difficult to choose among his, but his piano concertos are the ultimate achievement in his art (well, equal to his operas...I view them almost as instrumental operas) and pretty much better than almost all concertos that have since followed. Among early works, I really love the concerto for two pianos in E-flat.

Schumann

Brahms 1

Rachmaninoff 2

Prokofiev 1 or 3 (I can't really decide)

Liszt 1 (although I don't take it too seriously...it's just fun)

Bach--the first one in d minor...although I'm not sure it counts as a "piano" concerto

Tchaikovsky 1

Stravinsky

I seem to recall liking one of Bartok's, but it's been so long, I don't really remember

I like Shostakovich's second, but something makes me feel like I shouldn't (i.e., it's just a little too uncharacteristically "nice")

I would strongly urge lovers of Chopin's concertos to check out Hummel's, even if only for educational purposes (I think you'll see the link between Chopin and Mozart more clearly once you hear Hummel). Chopin's e minor and Hummel's a minor in particular share some things in common. (I personally think Hummel's b minor, at least the first two movements, is a rather underrated work.)

I guess the number 5 has grown substantially larger than I last encountered it.

I said I wasn't limiting myself to 5.

Yeah, I just read that now. Kinda takes away from the idea of the thread to list like 20 concerti, no?

Maybe, but I have trouble confining myself to a certain number. I'd probably have less trouble restricting myself to 5 concertos than 5 symphonies, though. You'll probably hate me once I get to that thread.

:facepalm:

The point is it stands out more from other instruments because it's in a different category and does sound quite different. That does not mean it doesn't blend well with instruments if a composer wants to do that. That's especially true in the upper and lower registers. But it's also easier to make it stand out from the orchestra compared to a solo violin or solo flute or solo whatever because those instruments are all represented in the orchestra already and a composer has to take that into account when orchestrating.

The orchestra is not limited to only stringed instruments (nor is the piano incapable of blending with stringed instruments in many situations).

I wasn't saying that or even agreeing with it; that's what Stravinsky said. He felt it was better not to have them around in his concerto because he preferred the combination of struck sounds with blown sounds rather than scraped ones.

How does one weigh virtuosity to musicality? Some of the most agile lines I've ever heard (concerto or not), have been the most musical.

Passages that don't enhance the music but instead bog it down just so a performer can show off. Too many notes when less would do and sound more effective. The music of lesser composers who were virtuosos would probably give you a good idea of what I mean.

It's really hard to think of 5 favorites as I really enjoy a lot of different piano concertos, but the ones that I keep going back to are the following.

1. Bach - Concerto for Keyboard in G minor

2. Bach - Concerto for 2 Keyboards in C minor (BWV 1060)

3. Bartok - Piano Concerto no. 2

4. Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto no. 2 and 3

5. Shostakovich - Piano Concerto no. 2

There are many other piano concerto's that I like, though.

I don't have any disagreement with what you just said, I just think that regarding the following:

I think that it's all about an individual's taste. For me, the lesser composers who wrote overly demanding stuff, might be another person's favorite composer ever. I wouldn't want to get in trouble now! :shifty:

You just need to learn how to duck quickly when they throw things at you.

I consider myself a concerto afficionado.

1. Ravel Concerto in G

2. Ravel Concerto for Left Hand

3. Rach 2

4. Lou Harrison's Piano Concerto

5. Bach Keyboard Concerto in D Minor

God I love piano concertos.

1. Bortkiewicz - PC No. 3. "Per aspera ad astra", what better subtitle could there be for such a dramatic work. Really a contrast from his first two PC's, which were frivolous and bland (2 is almost cheesy, no forgiveness for its one-hand nature, 1 is typical Romantic but shallow).

2. Lyapunov - PC No. 2. Lyapunov anything. What else do I have to say?

3. Rautavaara - PC No. 1. What a great piece, modern but still passionate. The kinetic final movement leaves me feeling like I just ran the Iditarod.

4. Arensky - Fantasia on a Russian Theme (not strictly PC but hey). Great short little piece with just enough drama and brilliance.

5. Rach - 2, of course. The heartthrob of all pc literature.

I find Chopin and Liszt's orchestral/concerto works lacking.