Concerto instrument - a poll

[Franco]

While listening to the Copland Clarinet Concerto it struck that the clarinet is my favorite featured solo instrument in the concerto form, and then my next thought was I wonder what other GMGers would say.

So, a poll was born.

I put the major choices in alphabetical order - and left the last one open for choices I did not include.

[DavidW]

Piano/keyboard for me.  From Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Bartok, Prokofiev, Shostakovich wrote some great ones.  And even though they also wrote some other great concertos, I turn back to the piano concertos more than any other.

[Franco]

Yes, I love PCs and almost voted that way - but my heart belongs to the clarinet.

[Gurn Blanston]

That's way too hard a question. I chose cello, but it could have been violin just as easily, or fortepiano, bassoon or oboe. Or violin in tromba marina....

[Sef]

Sorry for the obvious, but for me it would have to be the violin. So many superb concertos over centuries of different styles. I feel I have only heard the tip of the iceberg.

[Franco]

That's way too hard a question. I chose cello, but it could have been violin just as easily, or fortepiano, bassoon or oboe. Or violin in tromba marina....

So, in which camp do you fall re: violin in tromba marina?  The sympathetic stringed buzzing violin or the eerie overtone single-stringed beast?

[Gurn Blanston]

So, in which camp do you fall re: violin in tromba marina?  The sympathetic stringed buzzing violin or the eerie overtone single-stringed beast?

The second, I think. Although I'm pretty sure that the first is the one you tend to hear in recordings. I read a long article about the second one and it seemed intriguing. Plus, I think it's the original real deal.

[Franco]

As expected, the Piano/Keyboard choice is taking the lead, and will probably be the ultimate "winner" - but I am hoping more clarinet lovers will register their preference.

Or someone will remind me of some fantastic concerto for, um, marimba (Creston) or some such "other" instrument.

[Sergeant Rock]

Violin...perhaps because I've been under the spell of the Elgar VC all day but really, it goes back to 1966 when I was 17 and heard the Tchaikovsky for the first time (at a concert, Perlman with the Cleveland Orchestra). My mother was an accomplished pianist--I grew up with the sound of the piano in the house--but I remember coming home after the concert and telling my mother the violin was an even more expressive instrument than the piano: more capable of expressing human emotion. We had a small argument about that   But I still think it's true.

Sarge

[Bulldog]

Definitely keyboard for me.

[greg]

Piano, because of the range (and second to that, cello, for the same reason).
That way, you can get away with writing music that feels more like a symphony (ex. Brahms and Prokofiev piano concertos, Prokofiev Symphony Concerto).

[hornteacher]

Clarinet for me.  Love the creamy mellow tone, and the huge range of the instrument.

After that it would be violin and horn.

[WI Dan]

It's all good, but I must take this opportunity to cheer for the oboe, .... it needs more love! 

Next in line would probably be the violin, then the cello, then the clarinet.  Piano is great, too, but I seem to enjoy it more when played solo or in a chamber group.

[secondwind]

As a clarinetist, I'm gratified to find clarinet the favorite of some of you GMGers, but, schizophrenic as it seems, I voted "violin"--with clarinet and cello tied for second place. 

[eyeresist]

I just can't choose between piano and cello. Piano has a greater repertoire, but that can't really be a factor in my choice, I think. I love the rich sound of both (in the right hands); piano has greater tonal range, and of course can play all those notes at once, but cello has such a soulful sound combined with timbral variety (and without the shrillness of the violin).

[kishnevi]

I voted "other".  By which I mean "all of the above".   Almost every instrument is capable of expression and of partnering/contesting with the orchestra, if the composer and the performers know what they are doing.

[listener]

As expected, the Piano/Keyboard choice is taking the lead, and will probably be the ultimate "winner" - but I am hoping more clarinet lovers will register their preference.

Or someone will remind me of some fantastic * concerto for, um, marimba (Creston) or some such "other" instrument.
*edit by Listener

The Genzmer concertos for Trautonium (1938-9) and Mixtur-Trautonium (1952)
Jacques Charpentier Concertino "alla francese" for ondes Martenot, strings and percussion.
Vaughan Williams  Tuba Concerto
Villa-Lobos   Harmonica Concerto

a reminder only, not a preference.

[abidoful]

I had to vote violin becouse I just love it as an instrument- though I know that more great works have been composed for piano and orchestra.

[Que]

The Horn!  

Just joking - but seriously, the instrument used does not influence my preference. Naturally the repertoires for keyboard and violin concertos are the richest.

Q

[abidoful]

Yes, but I think the question was about a favourite instrument- not about favourite works