GMG’s Favourite Piano Concertos

[eyeresist]

You should visit his house in Montfort l'Amaury. ... It held me spellbound, it is the physical expression of his personality, mirroring his music perfectly.

Wow, thanks for showing those pictures, Luke! It does look like a very "Ravel" sort of place, beautiful but odd. The narrow house reminds me of an episode of the show Great Houses of Europe, in which they looked at a place which was basically little more than a beautiful facade separating the house proper (a mansion) from the grounds below.

BTW, I note the Lalo concerto is still on the List, presumably because no-one has actually heard the thing! People are welcome to sample the Dosse performance on youtube and then vote it down if they so wish.

[kishnevi]

After: Leon
Mozart 24 +3
Villa-Lobos +2
Rachmaninov PC 3 +1  which means he now ascends to Olympus
Mozart 21-1
Busoni -2


15   Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1 in D minor, op.15
14   Mozart: Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.49
13  Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2 Sz. 95
13   Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat, Op. 73
10   Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.1 in D flat major, op.10
09   Alkan: Concerto pour piano seul, op.39/8-10
09   de Falla: Nights in the Gardens of Spain (Noches en los Jardines de España)
07   Scriabin: Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, op.20
06   Poulenc: Aubade, Concerto chorégraphique for piano and 18 instruments
06   Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor, op.22
05   Dvořák: Piano Concerto in G minor, op.33
05   Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor op.11
05   Villa-Lobos: Choros No. 11 for piano and orchestra
04   Scriabin: Prométhée: Le Poème du Feu, op.60
04   Mozart: Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K.466
04   Tcherepnin: Piano Concerto No. 2  op. 22
02   Bach: Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra in D Major, BWV 1054
02  Busoni: Piano Concerto in C major, Op. 39
00   Hummel: Concerto in C Major, Op. 34
00   Bach: Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra in D minor, BWV 1052
-1   Stravinsky: Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra
-2  Mozart: Concerto No. 21 in C, K.467
-2   Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 5 in G major, op.55

[Brahmsian]

After: Jeffrey Smith
Brahms PC# 1 in D minor +3
Saint-Saens - PC# 2   +2
Prokofiev PC# 1     +1  (love the wooden sound of the 1st movement)

18   Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1 in D minor, op.15
14   Mozart: Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.49
13  Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2 Sz. 95
13   Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat, Op. 73
11   Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.1 in D flat major, op.10
09   Alkan: Concerto pour piano seul, op.39/8-10
09   de Falla: Nights in the Gardens of Spain (Noches en los Jardines de España)
08   Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor, op.22
07   Scriabin: Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, op.20
06   Poulenc: Aubade, Concerto chorégraphique for piano and 18 instruments
05   Dvořák: Piano Concerto in G minor, op.33
05   Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor op.11
05   Villa-Lobos: Choros No. 11 for piano and orchestra
04   Scriabin: Prométhée: Le Poème du Feu, op.60
04   Mozart: Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K.466
04   Tcherepnin: Piano Concerto No. 2  op. 22
02   Bach: Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra in D Major, BWV 1054
02  Busoni: Piano Concerto in C major, Op. 39
00   Hummel: Concerto in C Major, Op. 34
00   Bach: Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra in D minor, BWV 1052
-1   Stravinsky: Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra
-2  Mozart: Concerto No. 21 in C, K.467
-2   Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 5 in G major, op.55

[Wanderer]

BTW, I note the Lalo concerto is still on the List, presumably because no-one has actually heard the thing! People are welcome to sample the Dosse performance on youtube and then vote it down if they so wish.

No, they can't. 
The fast-track vote is supposed to ensure everyone has one work they cherish that goes straight to The List; and once a work makes The List, it's unassailable. So, I hope you chose wisely. 

[eyeresist]

With great power comes great responsibility...

[Luke]

After: ChamberNut

Busoni +3
Alkan  +2
Brahms 1   +1
Hummel -1
Villa Lobos - 2

19   Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1 in D minor, op.15
14   Mozart: Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.49
13   Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2 Sz. 95
13   Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat, Op. 73
11   Alkan: Concerto pour piano seul, op.39/8-10
11   Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.1 in D flat major, op.10
09   de Falla: Nights in the Gardens of Spain (Noches en los Jardines de España)
08   Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor, op.22
07   Scriabin: Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, op.20
06   Poulenc: Aubade, Concerto chorégraphique for piano and 18 instruments
05   Dvořák: Piano Concerto in G minor, op.33
05   Busoni: Piano Concerto in C major, Op. 39
05   Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor op.11
04   Scriabin: Prométhée: Le Poème du Feu, op.60
04   Mozart: Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K.466
04   Tcherepnin: Piano Concerto No. 2  op. 22
03   Villa-Lobos: Choros No. 11 for piano and orchestra
02   Bach: Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra in D Major, BWV 1054
00   Bach: Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra in D minor, BWV 1052
-1   Hummel: Concerto in C Major, Op. 34
-1   Stravinsky: Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra
-2  Mozart: Concerto No. 21 in C, K.467
-2   Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 5 in G major, op.55

[mc ukrneal]

After: Luke

+3 Saint Saens
+2 Chopin 1
+1 Beethoven 5
-1 Bartok 2
-2 Poulenc

19   Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1 in D minor, op.15
14   Mozart: Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.49
14   Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat, Op. 73
12   Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2 Sz. 95
11   Alkan: Concerto pour piano seul, op.39/8-10
11   Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.1 in D flat major, op.10
11   Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor, op.22
09   de Falla: Nights in the Gardens of Spain (Noches en los Jardines de España)
07   Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor op.11
07   Scriabin: Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, op.20
05   Dvořák: Piano Concerto in G minor, op.33
05   Busoni: Piano Concerto in C major, Op. 39
04   Poulenc: Aubade, Concerto chorégraphique for piano and 18 instruments
04   Scriabin: Prométhée: Le Poème du Feu, op.60
04   Mozart: Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K.466
04   Tcherepnin: Piano Concerto No. 2  op. 22
03   Villa-Lobos: Choros No. 11 for piano and orchestra
02   Bach: Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra in D Major, BWV 1054
00   Bach: Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra in D minor, BWV 1052
-1   Hummel: Concerto in C Major, Op. 34
-1   Stravinsky: Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra
-2  Mozart: Concerto No. 21 in C, K.467
-2   Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 5 in G major, op.55

[Wanderer]

After: mc ukrneal

[new] Medtner: Piano Concerto No.1 in C minor, op.33 [+3]
[new] Liszt: Piano Concerto No.1 in E flat major [+2]
Scriabin Concerto [+1]

I'll update the board later on (I'm posting from my mobile, to see if it is at all convenient - it isn't:)

[Amfortas]

Rachmaninov PC 3 +1  which means he now ascends to Olympus

Excellent -
Now we just need to get the Bartók 2nd up there.

[Cato]

For the Anti-Busoni faction:

http://www.youtube.com/v/v/-rFV_g6T5lM

[Luke]

written before Leon's post 

How anyone could be anti-Busoni's-PC I don't know - it is the piano concerto to end all piano concertos, complex, dense, intense, long, dark and weighty....and yet, at the same time, so lucid, so light and sunny and playful, stunningly virtuosic, full of colour. Somehow the two sides coexist, inflect each other, the work is shot through with shadows and half-lights because of it, and yet these is a mysterious unity - the disparate elements add up to a unified whole. I suppose this is the famous Germanic-Italian dichotomy in Busoni writ large in one piece, but it makes for a fabulously summatory work, whatever.

[Luke]

If I had ignored this work before, I will, after hearing this excerpt, consider voting against it.      We get over four minutes of orchestral quasi Brahmsian swells, nice, but then when the piano finally enters, not much happens.

Sorry, Busoni fanboys, no list for you - NEXT!

The work is on a huge scale, and a clip can't give a sense of that. Just as the peroration at the end of Beethoven symphony sounds ridiculously overblown out of context but is just the right length to 'ground' the work's tonal tensions when it is heard complete, so the opening piano salvoes of the Busoni may sound emptily bombastic if one stops there. Carry on, however, and all becomes clear...

[Wanderer]

How anyone could be anti-Busoni's-PC I don't know - it is the piano concerto to end all piano concertos, complex, dense, intense, long, dark and weighty....and yet, at the same time, so lucid, so light and sunny and playful, stunningly virtuosic, full of colour. Somehow the two sides coexist, inflect each other, the work is shot through with shadows and half-lights because of it, and yet these is a mysterious unity - the disparate elements add up to a unified whole. I suppose this is the famous Germanic-Italian dichotomy in Busoni writ large in one piece, but it makes for a fabulously summatory work, whatever.

The work is on a huge scale, and a clip can't give a sense of that. Just as the peroration at the end of Beethoven symphony sounds ridiculously overblown out of context but is just the right length to 'ground' the work's tonal tensions when it is heard complete, so the opening piano salvoes of the Busoni may sound emptily bombastic if one stops there. Carry on, however, and all becomes clear...

Quoted for truth.

Leon, the scherzo movement (All'Italiana: Tarantella) might prove the most instantly enjoyable if you take the (considerable) time to give the work a listen (videos 7 and 8 from that youtube series Luke posted).

[Drasko]

after Wanderer

Mozart: Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.491 +3
Poulenc: Aubade +2
Scriabin: Prométhée: Le Poème du Feu, op.60 +1
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 5 in G major, op.55 -1
Liszt: Piano Concerto No.1 in E flat major -2


19   Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1 in D minor, op.15
17   Mozart: Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.491
14   Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat, Op. 73
12   Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2 Sz. 95
11   Alkan: Concerto pour piano seul, op.39/8-10
11   Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.1 in D flat major, op.10
11   Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor, op.22
09   de Falla: Nights in the Gardens of Spain (Noches en los Jardines de España)
08   Scriabin: Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, op.20
07   Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor op.11
06   Poulenc: Aubade, Concerto chorégraphique for piano and 18 instruments
05   Dvořák: Piano Concerto in G minor, op.33
05   Busoni: Piano Concerto in C major, Op. 39
05   Scriabin: Prométhée: Le Poème du Feu, op.60
04   Mozart: Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K.466
04   Tcherepnin: Piano Concerto No. 2  op. 22
03   Medtner: Piano Concerto No.1 in C minor, op.33
03   Villa-Lobos: Choros No. 11 for piano and orchestra
02   Bach: Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra in D Major, BWV 1054
00   Liszt: Piano Concerto No.1 in E flat major
00   Bach: Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra in D minor, BWV 1052
-1   Hummel: Concerto in C Major, Op. 34
-1   Stravinsky: Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra
-2  Mozart: Concerto No. 21 in C, K.467
-3   Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 5 in G major, op.55

[karlhenning]

Drasko, did you adjust the amounts after your vote?  At least not for the Poulenc which was 6 before and after you voted - should be 8.

No, the voter prior to Drasko docked the Poulenc 2.

[karlhenning]

Voter anonymized for his protection ; )

[karlhenning]

after Drasko:

Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 5 in G major, op.55 +3
Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1 in D minor +2
Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2 +1
Villa-Lobos: Choros No. 11 for piano and orchestra -1
Mozart: Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.491 -2 (tactical, not aesthetic)


21   Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1 in D minor, op.15
15   Mozart: Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.491
14   Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat, Op. 73
13   Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2 Sz. 95
11   Alkan: Concerto pour piano seul, op.39/8-10
11   Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.1 in D flat major, op.10
11   Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor, op.22
09   de Falla: Nights in the Gardens of Spain (Noches en los Jardines de España)
08   Scriabin: Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, op.20
07   Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor op.11
06   Poulenc: Aubade, Concerto chorégraphique for piano and 18 instruments
05   Dvořák: Piano Concerto in G minor, op.33
05   Busoni: Piano Concerto in C major, Op. 39
05   Scriabin: Prométhée: Le Poème du Feu, op.60
04   Mozart: Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K.466
04   Tcherepnin: Piano Concerto No. 2  op. 22
03   Medtner: Piano Concerto No.1 in C minor, op.33
02   Bach: Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra in D Major, BWV 1054
02   Villa-Lobos: Choros No. 11 for piano and orchestra
00   Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 5 in G major, op.55
00   Liszt: Piano Concerto No.1 in E flat major
00   Bach: Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra in D minor, BWV 1052
-1   Hummel: Concerto in C Major, Op. 34
-1   Stravinsky: Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra
-2  Mozart: Concerto No. 21 in C, K.467

[not edward]

Quoted for truth.

Leon, the scherzo movement (All'Italiana: Tarantella) might prove the most instantly enjoyable if you take the (considerable) time to give the work a listen (videos 7 and 8 from that youtube series Luke posted).

Seconded on that one. It's one of the most exhilarating pieces of music I know, even if Hamelin can't match the live Donohoe recording for cumulative momentum in the cadenza.

[Conor71]

After Karl

Chopin +3
Prokofiev No. 1 +2
Brahms +1

22   Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1 in D minor, op.15 (Goes to list)
15   Mozart: Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.491
14   Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat, Op. 73
13   Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2 Sz. 95
13   Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.1 in D flat major, op.10
11   Alkan: Concerto pour piano seul, op.39/8-10
11   Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor, op.22
10   Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor op.11
09   de Falla: Nights in the Gardens of Spain (Noches en los Jardines de España)
08   Scriabin: Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, op.20
06   Poulenc: Aubade, Concerto chorégraphique for piano and 18 instruments
05   Dvořák: Piano Concerto in G minor, op.33
05   Busoni: Piano Concerto in C major, Op. 39
05   Scriabin: Prométhée: Le Poème du Feu, op.60
04   Mozart: Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K.466
04   Tcherepnin: Piano Concerto No. 2  op. 22
03   Medtner: Piano Concerto No.1 in C minor, op.33
02   Bach: Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra in D Major, BWV 1054
02   Villa-Lobos: Choros No. 11 for piano and orchestra
00   Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 5 in G major, op.55
00   Liszt: Piano Concerto No.1 in E flat major
00   Bach: Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra in D minor, BWV 1052
-1   Hummel: Concerto in C Major, Op. 34
-1   Stravinsky: Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra
-2  Mozart: Concerto No. 21 in C, K.467

[Lethevich]

After: Conor

+3 Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2 Sz. 95
+2 Poulenc: Aubade, Concerto chorégraphique for piano and 18 instruments
+1 Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor, op.22
-1 Scriabin: Prométhée: Le Poème du Feu, op.60
-2 Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat, Op. 73

16   Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2 Sz. 95
15   Mozart: Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.491
13   Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.1 in D flat major, op.10
12   Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat, Op. 73
12   Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor, op.22
11   Alkan: Concerto pour piano seul, op.39/8-10
10   Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor op.11
08   Poulenc: Aubade, Concerto chorégraphique for piano and 18 instruments
09   de Falla: Nights in the Gardens of Spain (Noches en los Jardines de España)
08   Scriabin: Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, op.20
05   Dvořák: Piano Concerto in G minor, op.33
05   Busoni: Piano Concerto in C major, Op. 39
04   Mozart: Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K.466
04   Scriabin: Prométhée: Le Poème du Feu, op.60
04   Tcherepnin: Piano Concerto No. 2  op. 22
03   Medtner: Piano Concerto No.1 in C minor, op.33
02   Bach: Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra in D Major, BWV 1054
02   Villa-Lobos: Choros No. 11 for piano and orchestra
00   Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 5 in G major, op.55
00   Liszt: Piano Concerto No.1 in E flat major
00   Bach: Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra in D minor, BWV 1052
-1   Hummel: Concerto in C Major, Op. 34
-1   Stravinsky: Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra
-2  Mozart: Concerto No. 21 in C, K.467