Best Concerto

Sinfonia Concertante: Mozart

OMG how could I have possibly forgotten that one??!!! Ok, that one is one of my favourites as well.

I always find it strange to come across "best of" threads on forums.
it's all so arbitrary.

my "favourite" concerti are Prokoviev's 2nd piano concerto, Barber's piano and cello concerti, Bernstein's 2nd symphony (a concerto desguised as a symphony), Szymanowski's two violin concerti, Alan Belkin's violin concerto, and Rachmaninov's 4th piano concerto.

but there are so many more, it's hard to say with any certainty... so why bother? These are just among some of my favourites. They all have their qualities.

^ I'm with QC on the Barber piano concerto. Great piece. I also like the Ravel piano concerto as well as the Chopin E minor concerto. I'm mostly a piano man so that's where the bulk of my knowledge lies...but I also like the Dvorak cello concerto, too.

Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9

(Especially the Rondeau-Presto Finale)

I always find that the "best of" threads turn into listings of the most frequently-heard music.

Some of my favorites are also quite frequently performed (Beethoven Violin Concerto, Brahms Violin Concerto, Sibelius Violin Concerto, Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1, Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1, Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3, Dvorak Cello Concerto), but there are other great pieces that are somewhat less often heard:

Bach, Double Concerto for Violin, Oboe, and Orchestra
Brahms, Double Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra
Bruch, Double Concerto for Viola, Clarinet, and Orchestra
Bruch, Scottish Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra
Gliere, Horn Concerto
Mackenzie, Pibroch Suite for Violin and Orchestra
Mozart, Sinfonia Concertante for Winds and Orchestra
Rheinberger, Piano Concerto
Shostakovich, Piano Concerto No. 2
C. Stamitz, Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola, and Orchestra
R. Strauss, Horn Concerti No. 1 and No. 2
Walton, Viola Concerto

Here are some of my favorites:

Beethoven violin concerto
Mendelssohn E minor violin concerto
Brahms violin concerto
Greig A minor piano concerto
Tchaikovsky piano concerto no. 1

Originally Posted by Qccowboy

I always find it strange to come across "best of" threads on forums.
it's all so arbitrary.

my "favourite" concerti are Prokoviev's 2nd piano concerto, Barber's piano and cello concerti, Bernstein's 2nd symphony (a concerto desguised as a symphony), Szymanowski's two violin concerti, Alan Belkin's violin concerto, and Rachmaninov's 4th piano concerto.

but there are so many more, it's hard to say with any certainty... so why bother? These are just among some of my favourites. They all have their qualities.

The Barber Cello Concerto has nothing on his piano or violin concerto.
The Szymanowski's violin concerti are amazing.. I've seen the first one live...
His poems though for his boyfriend... were... different... and explicit... and they are on wikipedia. Ha..

My favorite concertos are Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3.

I also like Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso by Saint-Saens even though it's not technically a concerto.

This is a funny coincidence. I was thinking of this not to long ago. I decided that my very favorites were Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto # 2 in C minor and Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor. If I could compose like that than I would be a hermit for the rest of my life composing, sleeping, eating, composing - composing, sleeping, eating, compsing!

I need to host my recordings of Prokofiev playing his own 3rd Piano Concerto, he was a phenomenal pianist. Today's pianists take much of his concertos too slow.