Best contemporary piano concertos

[snyprrr]

Wow, big time consensus here. See what we can do when we work together?


Peter Leiberson

Milton Babbitt (THIS ONE!)

[raduneo]

I suppose my list of would look something like this (in no particular order):

Rautavaara: Piano Concerto No. 3
Lindberg: Piano Concerto
Salonen: Piano Concerto
Tippett: Piano Concerto
Adams: Century Rolls (some may roll their eyes with this choice but I like it)
Ligeti: Piano Concerto
Barber: Piano Concerto

Your list is almost identical to mine! I will have to look into the Rautavaara! Does anyone else here enjoy Tveitt's #4? To me it paints a good picture of the Northern Lights!

The Xenakis Concertos are indeed great works! Nothing like them out there!

[Mirror Image]

Your list is almost identical to mine! I will have to look into the Rautavaara! Does anyone else here enjoy Tveitt's #4? To me it paints a good picture of the Northern Lights!

The Xenakis Concertos are indeed great works! Nothing like them out there!

I'm not too much into Contemporary classical music but I do enjoy some composers.

[Mirror Image]

I'm the opposite ,,  the music that resonates with me the most, and is the most alive & fresh is the music of my time and today. Bar a very few, small handful of historical exceptions.

My soul is from another era. I'm a late 19th to mid 20th Century guy through and through. This is the music that resonates the most with me. Please keep Stockhausen on your side of the fence.

[DieNacht]

Can you please provide recording details? (Label, performers, etc.) I wasn't aware there were recordings of his concertos.

ít´s a Dutch readio performance a friend gave me, not commercially available yet, cf.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaikhosru_Shapurji_Sorabji#Partial_list_of_performed_and_recorded_works

A short ecerpt of the 5th Concerto can be found on you-t,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYt-SU7AJuU

[Lethevich]

Peter Dickinson's piano concerto.

One of those pieces by a rather marginal figure, and one who's not done anything comparable, so easy for this piece to get lost through the cracks. (I found it on LP first, by a fluke. So I was on the lookout for it appearing on CD, too, which it did.)

It's a really spiffy piece and well worth a listen--one of my favorites,* anyway. If you like a lot of different things and pieces that sample/refer to a lot of different things, you might find this piece as enjoyable as I do. Plus there's the slow and inexorable climax that's practically the whole piece and that will strike one as either excruciating or terrifically exciting (or, as I do, as both).

[...]

*I should say "was." I haven't listened to it in several years. I wonder....

Woah, I almost mentioned this one but didn't for the same reason you footnote. With the EMI disc, the organ concerto has remained more strongly in my memory - I suppose because of the rarity of the form.

[Karl Henning]

The Wuorinen Third and Fourth Concerti

[raduneo]

My soul is from another era. I'm a late 19th to mid 20th Century guy through and through. This is the music that resonates the most with me. Please keep Stockhausen on your side of the fence.

My soul is from... BOTH ERAS (strictly musically speaking at least). I used to be only interested in the past. I used to think nothing good was written after Stravinksy. Then I told my self that's bull**** and I decided to get into modern/contemporary music at all costs. This is not me trying to push anyone into doing what I did! This is just me telling my story.

I can't say I like all modern/comtemporary music, but I definitely LOVE a lot of it. Xenakis is a genious (plus I find out he is the architect for the Casino in Montreal, during the Expo' 67, how cool is that?), Norgard is almost like an outer-body experience, Ligeti is amazing, so is Lutoslawski, Messiaen. I can't wait to see what Lindberg, Aho, Salonen, Saariaho and Unsuk Chin come up with in the future! (so far, I feel they are not YET the top 20-21st century composers. I need to see what else they will write!). I do have trouble with Carter and Simpson though. Havergal Brian isn't as easy as I thought either!

I will have do look into Stockhausen ASAP, he is one of the few "new" composers I am not that familiar with!

[PaulSC]

The Wuorinen Third and Fourth Concerti

I was going to mention the Third — so I guess I'll have to check out the Fourth, which I never heard.

[Karl Henning]

I don't think it's largely available, Paul. Peter Serkin played the premiere here in Boston . . . if anything, an even stronger piece than the Third.

[Mirror Image]

My soul is from... BOTH ERAS (strictly musically speaking at least). I used to be only interested in the past. I used to think nothing good was written after Stravinksy. Then I told my self that's bull**** and I decided to get into modern/contemporary music at all costs. This is not me trying to push anyone into doing what I did! This is just me telling my story.

I can't say I like all modern/comtemporary music, but I definitely LOVE a lot of it. Xenakis is a genious (plus I find out he is the architect for the Casino in Montreal, during the Expo' 67, how cool is that?), Norgard is almost like an outer-body experience, Ligeti is amazing, so is Lutoslawski, Messiaen. I can't wait to see what Lindberg, Aho, Salonen, Saariaho and Unsuk Chin come up with in the future! (so far, I feel they are not YET the top 20-21st century composers. I need to see what else they will write!). I do have trouble with Carter and Simpson though. Havergal Brian isn't as easy as I thought either!

I will have do look into Stockhausen ASAP, he is one of the few "new" composers I am not that familiar with!

I'm glad you enjoy a lot of Contemporary music and don't get me wrong, I do like Lindberg, Salonen, Ligeti, Part, Rautavaara, Adams, Reich, and a few others, but as I get older I'm finding less and less enjoyment in today's music. I'm finding that, with the exception of a few composers, it's just more difficult to find music that I'm emotionally, and intellectually, moved by. I do need to give Aho a listen though as he's been on my to-listen-to list for quite some time. Simpson and Havergal Brian aren't difficult composers for me, but I'm not too attracted to their music either.

[PaulSC]

I don't think it's largely available, Paul. Peter Serkin played the premiere here in Boston . . . if anything, an even stronger piece than the Third.

Well, can a recording on Naxos be far off? (I know: yes, it could be. But I'll cross my fingers all the same.)

[raduneo]

I'm glad you enjoy a lot of Contemporary music and don't get me wrong, I do like Lindberg, Salonen, Ligeti, Part, Rautavaara, Adams, Reich, and a few others, but as I get older I'm finding less and less enjoyment in today's music. I'm finding that, with the exception of a few composers, it's just more difficult to find music that I'm emotionally, and intellectually, moved by. I do need to give Aho a listen though as he's been on my to-listen-to list for quite some time. Simpson and Havergal Brian aren't difficult composers for me, but I'm not too attracted to their music either.

Aho is very good, althugh something keeps me from calling him as one of the greatest of 20/21st century. His 7th of course is great to start, and it really shows his skill as a master orchestrator! Symphonies 11, 12 (which is basically the musical depiction of a mountain in Finland) and the chamber-like 14 (Rituals) have some amazing use of exotic/Shamanistic percussion (makes me think of early Stravinksy), though my  favorite remains #11! Also consider #4 (the best from his early Shostakovich-influenced period) and #10 (mysterious yet quite Romantic), many say these are his best works, although I feel that his 8th is his most profound statement. It is the best organ-symphony from any period in my opinion (although keep this one for later, it is fairly challenging)!

As for his concertos, his Flute Concerto and Clarinet Concerto are his best I feel (and both approachable, and quite melodic). His Tuba and Trombone Concertos are quite neat. For some reason, I also have a guilty pleasure for his earlier Violin Concerto!

Aho was never too modernist, he often tries to evoque music the past or far-away cultures.

Just so that I don't go completely off topic, I wasn't that impressed with Aho's Piano Concerto.

[Mirror Image]

Aho is very good, althugh something keeps me from calling him as one of the greatest of 20/21st century. His 7th of course is great to start, and it really shows his skill as a master orchestrator! Symphonies 11, 12 (which is basically the musical depiction of a mountain in Finland) and the chamber-like 14 (Rituals) have some amazing use of exotic/Shamanistic percussion (makes me think of early Stravinksy), though my  favorite remains #11! Also consider #4 (the best from his early Shostakovich-influenced period) and #10 (mysterious yet quite Romantic), many say these are his best works, although I feel that his 8th is his most profound statement. It is the best organ-symphony from any period in my opinion (although keep this one for later, it is fairly challenging)!

As for his concertos, his Flute Concerto and Clarinet Concerto are his best I feel (and both approachable, and quite melodic). His Tuba and Trombone Concertos are quite neat. For some reason, I also have a guilty pleasure for his earlier Violin Concerto!

Aho was never too modernist, he often tries to evoque music the past or far-away cultures.

Just so that I don't go completely off topic, I wasn't that impressed with Aho's Piano Concerto.

Thanks for your feedback about Aho! I really need to investigate his music.

[Karl Henning]

Well, can a recording on Naxos be far off? (I know: yes, it could be. But I'll cross my fingers all the same.)

Fingers crossed here, too!

[Kontrapunctus]

ít´s a Dutch readio performance a friend gave me, not commercially available yet, cf.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaikhosru_Shapurji_Sorabji#Partial_list_of_performed_and_recorded_works

A short ecerpt of the 5th Concerto can be found on you-t,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYt-SU7AJuU

Thank you for that tantalizing sample!

[some guy]

Woah, I almost mentioned this one but didn't for the same reason you footnote. With the EMI disc, the organ concerto has remained more strongly in my memory - I suppose because of the rarity of the form.

I listened to it again just now. (And made some edits to my original post about it, too.)

It's still fine.

Good thing, too. I really liked it when I first heard it. And it's nice to hear it again seeming just as good as before.

And the other two pieces on the CD seemed better than before. Good times!

[raduneo]

I listened to it again just now. (And made some edits to my original post about it, too.)

It's still fine.

Good thing, too. I really liked it when I first heard it. And it's nice to hear it again seeming just as good as before.

And the other two pieces on the CD seemed better than before. Good times!

I am definitely planning to explore Dickinson's 2 concertos VERY soon!

[Elnimio]

Peter Mennin's piano concerto. You honestly won't find a more exhilarating piano concerto than this:

http://www.youtube.com/v/N_pOrbkJu-E

[Kontrapunctus]

I'm looking forward to Lindberg's Piano Concerto No. 2, with which the NYP and Bronfman are touring/premiering this spring. I hear them in SF on 5/13.