20th Century piano concertos!!!

[Rooster_Ties]

I have a real soft-spot for piano concertos written during the 20th Century, and I'm always looking to discover new ones and/or ones that are just new to me.

Neo-classical, neo-romantic, modern, serial, aleatoric, conservative, progressive, you name it -- there's probably several-to-many in every category that really float my boat. In a bit I'll post some of my favorites, and some lesser-known ones I also love. But I thought I'd go ahead and get the ball rolling by starting this thread.

What are your favorites?? Well known, or especially those that aren't well known.

Edited December 29, 2004 by Rooster_Ties

[Ron S]

On the VERY well-known side, Gershwin's Concerto in F.

[A Lark Ascending]

I prefer the equal balance of instruments in a symphony to the soloist and orchestra nature of concertos. However, there are plenty I enjoy.

* The Three Bartok Concertos are my favourite.

* Ravel's two Concertos are gorgeous.

* The two Shostakovitch are nice too.

Some interesting, but lesser known British concertos:

* Two by Alan Rawsthorne

* John Ireland's lovely concerto.

* Frank Bridge's 'Phantasm'

* EJ Moeran's Three Rhapsodies (not strictly concertos but...)

[Peter Johnson]

I just got this, and am still warming up to it:

I think you'll like it, if you don't have it already.

I'm also a huge fan of the Bartok concerti, which you probably already have, and although close, but not from, the 20th century, the Saint Saens concerti; current favorite recording of the Saint Saens is the complete concerti on Hyperion with Stephen Hough and the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

[Ron S]

I prefer the equal balance of instruments in a symphony to the soloist and orchestra nature of concertos. However, there are plenty I enjoy.

* The Three Bartok Concertos are my favourite.

* Ravel's two Concertos are gorgeous.

* The two Shostakovitch are nice too.

Some interesting, but lesser known British concertos:

* Two by Alan Rawsthorne

* John Ireland's lovely concerto.

* Frank Bridge's 'Phantasm'

* EJ Moeran's Three Rhapsodies (not strictly concertos but...)

Bev, didn't you know that jazz fans aren't supposed to know so much about SERIOUS classical music???

[Rooster_Ties]

* Two by Alan Rawsthorne

Rawsthorne has a wonderful double-piano concerto as well. Great stuff, all of it!!!

[A Lark Ascending]

I prefer the equal balance of instruments in a symphony to the soloist and orchestra nature of concertos. However, there are plenty I enjoy.

* The Three Bartok Concertos are my favourite.

* Ravel's two Concertos are gorgeous.

* The two Shostakovitch are nice too.

Some interesting, but lesser known British concertos:

* Two by Alan Rawsthorne

* John Ireland's lovely concerto.

* Frank Bridge's 'Phantasm'

* EJ Moeran's Three Rhapsodies (not strictly concertos but...)

Bev, didn't you know that jazz fans aren't supposed to know so much about SERIOUS classical music???

I 'know' precious little about it. But I enjoy it.

Anyway, I'm a music fan, not a jazz fan!

One of those smiley faces!

Incidentally, Herbie Hancock recorded the dreamy slow movement from the Concerto in G on his Gershwin album. It's once of those classical pieces that tried to incorporate jazz elements; though this is more obvious in the outer movements.

Edited December 29, 2004 by Bev Stapleton

[mikeweil]

Günter Bialas (*1907), Musik für Klavier und Orchester.

(I witnessed the very first performance!)

It is on a CPO CD together with his Concerto lirico for piano and orchestra and the Trois Moments musicaux for piano solo.

The diverse pieces for piano and orchestra by Harald Genzmer (*1909), a Hindemith disciple, are favourites on mine, too.

Edited December 29, 2004 by mikeweil

[A Lark Ascending]

Seek 'Phantasm'...and then the rest of Frank Bridge.

[Larry Kart]

Michael Tippett's.

Karol Rathaus' -- the most melancholy piece of music I know.

[Rooster_Ties]

Karol Rathaus' -- the most melancholy piece of music I know.

I'm a big fan of Rathaus (what little's been recorded), but I'll have to give his piano concerto a spin again soon.

(The Rathaus disc I spin the most is his Symphony #1 coupled with his ballet "Der letzte Pierrot". )

Haven't listened to his piano concerto in ages, though I remember liking it quite a bit the last time I heard it. Will make it a priority soon.

Edited December 30, 2004 by Rooster_Ties

[Claude]

Among the well known concertos, the Ravel (both), Prokofiev (2+3), Shostakovich (both), Rachmaninov (3rd) and Bartok (all) are my favourites.

The lesser known I like are Britten, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Barber.

My recommendation for concertos to be discovered are the three by Rodion Shchedrin, which are Shostakovich-like, with some jazz elements.

[BruceH]

I'm a Bartok man, myself.

[Spontooneous]

Me for Bartok, Shostakovich 1, Carter, Schoenberg and the Bridge "Phantasm."

Overlooked gem: A brief concerto by Willem Pijper. Sounds kind of like the Ravel Concerto in G, though more compressed and less fizzy. Pre-dates the Ravel by a couple of years.

Another overlooked one: Aaron Copland's.

Another: Martinu wrote five piano concertos, but the Fourth is the one that really sticks with me.

Una mas: Symanowski's Fourth Symphony is a piano concerto-lite in disguise.

Edited December 30, 2004 by Spontooneous

[Rooster_Ties]

ROOSTER-- DID YOU GET ANY OF THE EGON WELLESZ SYMPHONIES ON CPO YET?!

Sorry, no Wellesz as yet (haven't been buying much lately, pinching pennies), but do I get half-credit for already owning nearly everything you mentioned in that same post??? Off the top of my head, I've already got...

The Geirr Tveitt concertos on BIS and Naxos. The William Bolcom. The Ligeti. Scriabin. Roberto Gerhard -- both the harpsichord and piano concertos. Frank Martin. (I may have one or two of the others too, but my memory is fading.)

[vibes]

On the VERY well-known side, Gershwin's Concerto in F.

Yes! Love that one, and just found a copy of the CD I first heard it on many years ago.

[A Lark Ascending]

If we're including harpsichord then the De Falla Harsichord Concerto must be mentioned. One of my favourite neo-classical pieces alongside things like the Stavinsky Violin Concerto. Spikey, colourful, melodic.

Thinking of De Falla, "Nights in the Gardens of Spain". Again, not a piano concerto by name or form but a piano and orchestra composition on the same sort of scale. And quite gorgeous.

Recommended to anyone who was smitten by the Maria Schneider disc this year!

[AllenLowe]

I'm out of my depth here but I second Gershwin's Concerto in F - especially if you can find the old Oscar Levant recording. The piece to listen to if you feel, as I felt, that Gershwin's aspirations to "serious" music were doomed -

[Epithet]

Prokofiev's second, Wuorinen's third, Henze's second. Of course, the Ravels, Bartóks, the Ligeti, etc.

[Rooster_Ties]

Listened to a bunch of 20th Century piano concertos this past weekend...

Roberto Gerhard's harpsichord (1956) and piano (1951) concertos (both already mentioned in this thread). Both are great, and very full of energy!! – and I'd love to give them another spin sometime soon.

Roger Sessions' piano concerto (1956). Much more "normal" than I was expecting (for Sessions), give his serial tendencies. I'm a BIG fan of Sessions' symphonies (especially his later ones, 6-9), which are very thorny and exciting.

On the same disc as the Sessions (New World label), is a more recent piano concerto from Francis Thorne, written in 1989. Nice work – with plenty of mallet-percussion, if I remember right, which is often a good thing (though sometimes decidedly not, in the wrong hands).

Gunther Schuller's piano concerto (1962). I was working on other things while this was playing, so I need to revisit it.

Two piano concertos (1947 and 1952) and a Theme and Variations for piano and orchestra (1961), all by Boris Blacher. Haven't heard anything yet by Blacher that I haven't liked. Not all of his output is probably important, but most of is very enjoyable.

Karol Rathaus' lone piano concerto written in 1967 (already mentioned in this thread). Not as wildly chromatic as his first symphony (perhaps the work I know best by him), and not quite as bombastic either. Still, a very good work. Hadn't heard it in at least three years, but I recognized/remembered quite a bit of the work -- which usually the mark of something good (at least in my book).

And probably the most obscure piano concertos in this post...

Ahmed Adnan Saygun's first (1952-58) and second (1985) piano concertos. Saygun is a Turkish composer, born in 1907.

Edited January 4, 2005 by Rooster_Ties

[Epithet]

Gunther Schuller's piano concerto (1962). I was working on other things while this was playing, so I need to revisit it.

Have you checked this one out yet?

Anyone down with Rautavaara's piano concertos?

[Rooster_Ties]

Heard a live performance of the Ravel piano concerto today (KC Symphony), and had forgotten how good it was -- and thought I'd bring this thread back up.

[DTMX]

Peter Mennin's Piano Concerto (1958). Had forgotten how much I enjoyed it until it randomly popped up on the iPod the other day.