Best Concerto

Favorites:

Shostakovich's 2nd Piano Concerto
Prokofiev's 3rd Piano Concerto
Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto
Rachmaninov's 1st, 2nd, & 3rd Piano Concerti
Saint-Saens' 2nd Piano Concerto
Ravel's Piano Concerto in G
Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue
Bartok's 3rd Piano Concerto

Originally Posted by Rafn

Favorites:
Rachmaninov's 1st

I just heard the 1st the other day for the first time. I absolutely love it.

Originally Posted by Qccowboy

my "favourite" concerti are Prokoviev's 2nd piano concerto

Just wanted to add here that this is my long time favourite. I even started learning it but just gave up and went to Ravles concerto in G... Much easier (still taugh but much easier...)

Originally Posted by nikolas

Just wanted to add here that this is my long time favourite. I even started learning it but just gave up and went to Ravel's concerto in G... Much easier (still taugh but much easier...)

ROFLMAO
I feel the same way.
the cadenza in the final movement is so hard!!!!

I think it's such a shame that his 3rd concerto overshadows this one. I like the 2nd much better.

For those who don't know, it's listed as the 2nd concerto, but was actually composed AFTER the 3rd concerto. The original score was lost and Prokoviev rewrote it ("re-composed it" is closer to the truth). So it ends up showing signs of the more mature Prokoviev.

Funny, after playing the Ravel G I then tried the left-hand concerto (I broke my left hand and was trying out various combinations of left hand concerti transposed to the right hand.... it didn't work with the Ravel), which made me discover the Prokoviev left hand concerto... a VERY strange little piece. It's a lot of fun... it's ... very strange. HEHEHE

And that lead me to a left hand concerto by Richard Strauss - Paraergon to the Sinfonia Domestica for left hand and orchestra. Pretty cool piece.. except at that point in my life I was more into "modern" music and the Strauss post-romantic idiom left me cold. And that lead to the flip side of the disk (vinyl in those days) where I discovered a left hand concerto by Britten, which I STILL love.

and thus ends my ADD - like post!

Originally Posted by Qccowboy

For those who don't know, it's listed as the 2nd concerto, but was actually composed AFTER the 3rd concerto. The original score was lost and Prokoviev rewrote it ("re-composed it" is closer to the truth). So it ends up showing signs of the more mature Prokoviev.

Not only that, but Prokofiev lost the piano he won in the St. Petersburg Conservatory at the same time. He moved (to Paris I believe) and left the papers in his house, and the piano with a friend, and lost both. He rewrote the 2nd concerto and yelled at his friend, trying to get her to replace the piano.

Anyone fan of the second bartok concerto? I like the super fast part in the second movement!

Originally Posted by katchum

Anyone fan of the second bartok concerto? I like the super fast part in the second movement!

for Bartok I have a soft spot in ym heart for the 3rd piano concerto... that final movement is just SO much fun. Talk about a contrast between the composer's life and his art: dying of leuchemia, poor as can be, rejected by the musical establishment du jour, alone in New York, and he writes his final work - the single most joyful peroration to come from his pen.

Originally Posted by Qccowboy

for Bartok I have a soft spot in ym heart for the 3rd piano concerto... that final movement is just SO much fun. Talk about a contrast between the composer's life and his art: dying of leuchemia, poor as can be, rejected by the musical establishment du jour, alone in New York, and he writes his final work - the single most joyful peroration to come from his pen.

Yes, poor Mr. Bartok. Why must he be hated so?

Oh well. I still love Bartok nonetheless.

Shamefully, I haven't heard any of his music (conciously)

Where should I start?

Second piano concerto of course! I don't really like the 3rd one... The second movement of the second piano concerto has nice harmony, almost oriental.

Then you could try the concerto for orchestra maybe.