I know this topic has been discussed a million times before, but there's something extra I'd like to know:

What is your favorite concerto, and why (mood, virtuosity, orchestration, structure, etc)?

Personally, I love Rach 3 because of the nostalgic mood (opening theme of 1st, 2nd movements and other themes in the first). Also, the orchestration is superb, especially the third movement.

I love all of the Rachmaninoff Concertos because of their mood and their incredible emotional brilliance. Same with Chopins two Piano Concertos.

I also just heard a Moszkowski Piano Concerto - Absolutely Brilliant. Technically hard and very well written.

Brahms 1

Its rich, warm, and freshly ground..

Why should anyone have a favorite? It isn't a contest!

Rachmaninov was such a brilliant lyricist. His melodies are so lyrical, so beatiful, so full of meaning....

I like his majestic (yet nostalgic) 3rd concerto the best, but I also love the Prokofiev 2nd, which is very mysterious. Ravel's G Major is very provocative, and Brahms 1 is very depressing yet somehow uplifting. I like the majesty of Tchaikovsky's 1st, and the bravura and pompousness of Liszt's concertos, but I also love the modesty and playfullness of the 2nd movement of Prokofiev's 5th.

i don't know how to explain, but to me all Beethoven concertos are my favourites.

no.1 & 2 have not only some sort of freshness and young spirit but also some thematic and melodic attractions to me, and even in those slow movements there's sense of beauty and mood that set his concerto apart from others' from the very beginning. no.3 is an instant hit to me when i first heard it many years ago, because of its moody and almost tragic themes and the development perhaps (btw, i was drawn to some minor key pieces especially). no.4 is totally beautiful and the dialogue between piano and orchestra sounds like out of the world. no.5 is majestic and thrilling and i love the up roaring scales runs in it for some reason, and a fantastic piece by all means.

i like Rach 2 & 3, mainly because of their melodic themes and developments, which is something i automatically attracted to. i used to like the Tach's 1st but i don't care for it much now, precisely because it lacks something in Rach's.

Saint-Saens's 4th concerto is my favorite too because it has a haunting main theme, which since i heard for the first time many years ago never leave my mind. after many year gap between i heard it and heard it again, i still remember it exactly as it's heard many years ago, and i love the variations on the theme too.

Brahms 1 is simply because it's melancholically beautiful unlike his suppersized 2nd.

I love the Liszt Concertos and somehow I think they're underated, or at least don't get enough attention.

We're not having a contest... We are asking people for their favourite to see why they like it, plus to also realise the Piano Concertos we've never heard of. Like Brahms Concertos.

I actually like Prok 2 because of the emotions, the melancholy and frustration. The cadenza is my favorite part.

Ravel Gmajor, the harmony and absolute perfect driving rhythm.

Reaper:
Funny, I thought everyone had heard the Brahm's 2nd...

I wish I could say I was joking but sadly enough... I haven't. I'm still on the look out for it.

Reaper Man:

Gilels - Brahms Piano Concerti / Fantasien

The Medtner concertos for their brilliant melodies, buoyant rhythms and incredible structure, development and depth of feeling.


Reaper man: Also Fleischer and Pollini.

And Richter.



I'm going to see/hear Grimaud perform the Brahms 1st with the DSO next month... she was scheduled to play the Brahms 2nd, but hasn't been feeling well lately, so decided to change the program.

WHO PREDICTED THAT A MONTH AND A HALF AGO???
(Someone here on PW - I forget who - suggested that she might do the 1st Concerto instead of the 2nd when I mentioned about a month and a half ago that I got tickets to this concert)

We may not be having a contest, but polls that ask "what is your favorite..." always sound like contests. I can't see how a person can have one favorite concerto; there are so many different reasons to like so many different works. I, for one, couldn't go the route of saying one is my favorite for any given reason if it then implies that I like all the others less in spite of their appeal for other reasons.

It's very often the case - no disrespect intended - that the people who vote the loudest for their favorite concerto don't know that many concertos. As one becomes more and more familiar with the great numbers of concertos that have been written, the more one realizes that one cannot - honestly - have a favorite concerto.

Now, as for hearing why other people like the concertos they like, that's an entirely different story, and this forum can serve to educate us and to open us up to listening to works we don't know. I'm always interested in being directed to works I don't know but, among the ones I know and love, I can never say which is "my favorite."

Just my $.02

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I love Richters recording of them, #1 is my favourite.

Indeed.

I used to be very strong in my opinion that Rach 3 was the greatest concerto ever. I refused to let any other concerto hold higher status in my heart.

Even when I heard the Brahms concertos.

Even when I heard the Tchaikovsky 1st.

Even when I heard Liszt and Chopin.

Even when I heard Dvorak, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Ravel, Shostakovich, and Prokofiev.

But when I really listened to the Prokofiev 2nd for the first time, I realized, for the first time, that maybe the Rach 3 isn't my favorite. Maybe the Prokofiev 2nd is!

But then I realized that I still really loved the Rach 3, and refused to acknowledge the Prokofiev 2nd as my new favorite.

And then I came to the wonderful realization that I love Ravel G Major just as much as Rach 3 and Prok 2. And I realized that I can't really choose a favorite from those, especially when there's also Tchaikovsky and Brahms and Grieg and Schumann and other Rachmaninov and Prokofiev Concertos, and others, too.

I guess they're all my favorite.

Funny... that's exactly how I am right now!

I remember liking the intensifying rhythm at the end of the first movement of the Ravel. I just love how it all culminates in the final scale. I used to listen to the end of the first movement 10 times in a row (literally)

Another really good recording of this, and my personal favorite (which is surprising because Richter is one of my two favorite pianists), is the Zimmerman DG recording (which also comes with Totentanz, which happens to be a piece I hold par with many of the big piano concertos).

It's true that I don't know that many piano concertos (Chopin 1-2, Liszt 1-2, Brahms 1-2, Rach 1-4 and Rhapsody, Prok 1-5, Grieg, Ravel, Schumann, Mendelssohn 1, Tchaikovsky 1, Beethoven 5, Mozart 21), hence (in part) this question. A new discovery is always exciting for me. I'll make an effort to give the Saint-Saens a listen some time.

Hey - Got a recording of it. God knows who is playing it... but it's a fairly good performance.

I have his Brahms - Concerto in d minor. Is that the one everyone loves???

Originally posted by Max W.
Liszt captured so beautifully!

Perhaps, but how often does that happen? Most of the people who post here are musical infants. As you said, they haven't heard many concertos. Asking for favorite ones says that they are too lazy to go out and listen (let alone play) lots of them so that they can learn anything new about music.

I make a challenge to all of you: Listen to or play a concerto or some other piece you have never heard before. Then come back and tell us about it, what you liked about it, what you didn't like about it, whatever.

I would like to make my final response here. I used to sit in front of the computer all day, listening to samples of piano concertos from Rachmaninoff, Grieg, Prokofiev and Shostakovich to Nyman and Tippett, as well as solo pieces and symphonies, among others. In fact, that's how I discovered Rach 3 and a ton of other music. I used to listen to the radio classical music station a lot also, and I discovered Poulenc's piano concerto that way. Whenever I hit upon something I like, I try to get a hold on the CD and score and study it further. But understand that I don't always have the luxury of time to do that, especially considering the fact that my concentration is not in music; that was a long time ago. Though I still listen to the radio whenever I can, work takes up most of my time now. While you music majors and professional pianists have 10 or even 15 hours per day entirely devoted to music, I hardly even have a lot more than an hour to practice piano every day. I hope you don't mind me asking for a few recommendations of good pieces to listen to?

In iamcanadians Happy Birthday To.... thread, theres some excellent Richter recordings. I wou ld especially recommend the Strauss Burleske.
There not up for very much longer though, so you better hurry.

And don't worry your not the only one in that position, except for me it's school not work.

this thread is like asking what's your favorite composer?

it's a simple yet very complicated questions, and yet there maybe no answers for it.