Piano Concertos-Do they HAVE to be hard?

Hi there-
I absolutely love piano concertos and am working on my own, but I was wondering, do they have do be difficult? I know that they are supposed to show off the performer's virtuosity, but is it actually a "rule"? See, mine really isn't very difficult, but I don't want to add complex rhythms and scales and technical things just for the sake of making it more difficult. Can it still be considered a piano concerto? Thanks.

You can write anything you want.

A concerto I believe is some style of writing (similar to a Sonata I think; correct me if I'm wrong). If you're worried about adding complexity, you can always add something to test the endurance of a performer (daunting octave passages, for example) as opposed to testing simply skill. But that's just me.

Hope this helps.

That does help, thank you!

It doesn't have to be difficult per se. It should showcase the piano though. Sometimes a few simple melodies that gleam can make a piano shine, other times it's some very difficult passages. Really, just write with a focus on the piano and it should work itself out.

Shosta 2 isn't that hard.

Thanks for the replies everybody, they really help!

It's your music......do what you want

Think in practical terms:

find a pianist
find an orchestra
find a concert promoter


the pianist is going to want a piece that is at least interesting/challenging to perform.

the orchestra is going to want a pianist who is a "name card" soloist, someone to draw in the audience

the concert promoter has the same interest as the orchestra

for the investment of time necessary to write a concerto, then to perform it, it's not a wise investment to write an "easy" piece.

It won't attract the same calibre of performer.

The Schostakowitch 2nd piano concerto was written for his son. So its level of difficulty is a rather particular case. (and by the way, the final movement is not exactly "easy" music even if it's almost entirely written in octaves)

It IS up to you, as the composer, to decide on the level of difficulty of your work. But the "real life issues" will intrude as well, and it's a good thing to take into consideration.

The Schostakowitch 2nd piano concerto was written for his son. So its level of difficulty is a rather particular case. (and by the way, the final movement is not exactly "easy" music even if it's almost entirely written in octaves)

True the thirds (etc.) make it cumbersome, but it is not in the league of other concertos. While it was written for his son, it is a popular concerto and the composer did record and perform it numerously. The first movement and second are quite simple (for an advances pianist).

In response to QcCowboy's comments;

Yes, in general, but as well as this a lot of modern concert music, especially British music, is going through a process of simplification: Howard Skempton and Laurence Crane are two good examples. Many of their pieces appear as if they are being viewed through glass cases: they have a kind of clarity, often extreme clarity. Of course, clarity, is by no means the same thing as simplicity. From a performer's standpoint, these pieces are often tricky as they require a certain degree of precision, but precision which is not mechanical; human precision, or precise imprecision.

A player who is interested in performing modern British concert music is often confronted with the most complicated notation for musical gestures (the "new complexity" group, which nowadays is neither new nor particularly complex, which included composers like Ferneyhough and Finnissy, was interested in this), and the intent of the composer is for the performer to attempt to play them, and in doing so create a valid representation of the piece (rather than have the thing played exactly, which might, especially in the case of Ferneyhough, be impossible). The Skempton school is related to this, but instead of the player having to come to terms with a piece of music they cannot play, they have to come to terms with a piece they can play, and with great ease most probably. They then must pay attention to each little nuance of sound and inflection, tone and colouration. With wind and string instruments particularly, this is often just as difficult as playing more complex figures, as the player's technique is far more exposed.

This is not even considering the American take on this approach - Morton Feldman being a prime example. Indeed his music is even more physical than perhaps the most difficult of pieces, just because of its extreme length.

Here are two contrasting piano pieces to demonstrate the idea.

Laurence Crane - Looking for Michael Bracewell (1989)
Michael Finnissy - Song 9 (1968)