Choosing a bloody concerto - urgent!

[frederic]

Hey guys, i'm desperate.
I need to prepare for a concerto competition next year and I can't settle on a concerto! I've gone through practically the whole piano concerto repertoire. I've even been wondering whether I'll have enough time to take up the violin so i can have more concertos to choose from.
Please help.
The "X" concerto should:
Not be classical
Not of extreme difficulty (Brahms, Rachmaninov)
Not too easy
Not too long
and most importantly....
NOT TOO POPULAR

[thalbergmad]

Dreyschock, Weber, Thalberg, Kullak or Kalkbrenner.

[g_s_223]

This thread is about non-concerto works for piano and orchestra, which might fit the bill:  https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,13746.0.html

[donjuan]

Play my favorite piano concerto -

Scriabin: Piano Concerto in F-Sharp minor Op. 20


beeeeaautiful!

[sharon_f]

Saint-Saens #2 or Mendelssohn G minor - neither is terribly difficult and both are quite brilliant,  but the Saint-Saens is quite popular.

For non-popular how about either the Weber Konzertstucke or my favorite, the Franck Symphonic Variations.

[hodi]

anton rubinstein piano concerto no.4 in d minor
very underrated, rarely played, beautiful, and i don't think a 30 minutes concerto is long...

[superstition2]

Play my favorite piano concerto -

Scriabin: Piano Concerto in F-Sharp minor Op. 20


beeeeaautiful!

Agreed. That's my vote.

[prometheus]

I would recommend Cramer No.8, but I guess its too classical. I guess more modern ones are generally way harder. But do check out Rautavaara and Respighi. No idea how hard these actually are.

[brahmsian]

Barber Concerto Op. 38

Bach concerto (?)

Schoenberg- Concerto in C Major Op. 42

Strauss- Burlesque for Piano and Orchestra

Corigliano Piano Concerto

Hindemith Piano Concerto

[prometheus]

Yeah, check the Corigliano concerto, very fresh. Hindemith wrote one? How is it? I never heard it.

[apion]

Go with Saint-Saens, Piano Concerti nos. 4 or 5 (they're not nearly as popular as his 2nd concerto, but they have a lot to offer -- great stuff).

Other possibilities:

Franck, Symphonic Variations
Strauss, Burleske in d minor
Carter, Piano Concerto

[klavierkonzerte]

clara schumann wrote a fine concerto.

kullak concerto is one of my favorits but it's somhow difficult.

moscheles 3rd concerto in g minore is great if you like early romantics as i do and technically it's mangable.

stenhammar wrote 2 superb romantic concertos that are NEVER preformed.

or have a look at litolff concerti, i have no idea why are they not in the standard repertoir
i prefer them to the concertos of liszt and chopin.

or try hummel concerto in a minor it's not hard and it's a very attractive work, chopin had it in his repetoir.

herz 7th concerto is fine,light and attracive and not long.

[brahmsian]

Hindemith wrote one? How is it? I never heard it.

It's great. One of my favorite modern concertos.

[presto agitato]

The "X" concerto should:
Not be classical
Not of extreme difficulty (Brahms, Rachmaninov)
Not too easy
Not too long
and most importantly....
NOT TOO POPULAR

Scriabin concerto is very difficult IMO

I recomend you Dvorak piano concerto in G minor or Mendelssohn piano concerto in D minor

[superstition2]

Scriabin concerto is very difficult IMO

This is an excellent choice if you like melodic non-dissonant 20th century music:

Concerto for Piano no 1 in F major, Op. 1
Composer: Geirr Tveitt (1908 - 1981)   
Written: 1928   
Country: Norway
Length - 20 minutes

If you want to hear the piece, there is a Naxos CD.

---

If you're looking for a "modern" sound, take a serious look at Tcherepnin's 5th concerto. It's more difficult, however. If you want to hear the piece, there is BIS CD of Noriko Ogawa/Singapore symphony. Unlike many mid-late 20th century pieces, this concerto has enough melody to keep listeners engaged.

Concerto for Piano no 5, Op. 96 by Alexander Tcherepnin
Country of Origin: Russia
Written: 1963

---

I have to disagree with the choice of Dvorak's concerto. I think it's really bland. It wasn't successful during his lifetime, and the Richter recording I have has no redeeming qualities.

[superstition2]

Rautavaara

[Ruro]

What's wrong with Rautavaara? O_o I have the First and Third recordings, although admitedly not indulged enough in the first to give my opinion, but the third is certainly... pretty good The CD actually featured a conversation between Ashkenazy (yey!) and Rautavaara, where Rautavaara agreed the Third was much more focused or something... Sounds very... "Pessimistic" though the piece, most the chords seem very dull/flat en mi opinion.

[pianistimo]

schulz-evler:  arabesques of themes from the "blue danube" waltz

don't know the difficulty level - but it sounds good.

[g_s_223]

Liszt Totentanz should wake em up...

[thalbergmad]

schulz-evler:  arabesques of themes from the "blue danube" waltz

don't know the difficulty level - but it sounds good.

A brilliant suggestion my little American sweetie, but we are talking about concerto's.

[rob47]

man Rautavaara first concerto is just awesome. The opening of the first movement wow.

i've only just heard this work recently its really really impressive.

[frederic]

This is all great guys, but you all seem to have a knack for suggesting obscure works, once again!
When I said "Not too popular" i didn't mean "Hardly played at all".
Remember people, this is for a competition. And for a competition you need to be realistic. All these pieces may sound "awsome" on recording, but what's the chance of finding the sheet music, the full score, the orchestral parts, a non-lazy conductor willing to carefully study an unfamiliar piece, an orchestra that would play a piece they've never heard before in their entire life well, AND still give an "awsome" performance of it?
Thank you to those who suggested the Mendelssohn and the Saint-saens, that's the kind of things i'm after.

[superstition2]

Saint-saens

I believe his 2nd is considered a "warhorse". It's a good piece, but it's played frequently. The 5th isn't bad, but it's a bit bland. It's my second choice of his concertos.

Tviett's concerto is not difficult to conduct. Yes, it might take a bit of effort to get the music, but that's the price one pays for playing something rarely heard.

[superstition2]

What's wrong with Rautavaara?

I have three or four Naxos discs of Rautavaara, and there are two pieces I enjoy listening to. The concerto for birds/orchestra and the "thirds" etude. I really like that etude.

His concertos aren't very good and the sonatas aren't very good. But, that's my opinion. I don't know if I've heard the 1st concerto. The two or three I've heard were quite forgettable.

[MattL]

Khachaturian's piano concerto in d minor, its moderate in length and is challenging but nowhere on the lines of rachmaninov

[Dazzer]

litolff 4 or 5.
shosty 2nd.
moskowski?

[Tash]

bartok? i'm not sure how difficult or overplayed they are but i love no.3....

[shasta]

Saint-Saens #2 or Mendelssohn G minor - neither is terribly difficult and both are quite brilliant,  but the Saint-Saens is quite popular.

I'd recommend the Saint-Saens 4th over his 2nd, and the Mendelssohn D minor over the G minor, since Frederic doesn't want something too popular.

My other vote goes for Gershwin's piano concerto in F.

[pianowelsh]

I feel your pain!!  The problem is that many of the none famous concertos are non famous for a good reason ie either too difficult or just really rubbish! Or extraordinarily long.  I would recommend Prokofiev 1. Its short not of exceptional difficulty, It has romantic gestures but is kinda 20th c in style and is not the worlds most well known concerto - although admittedly it is quite famous. khachaturian IS hard - I looked over it! not perhaps as visibly hard as rachmaninov ones ( but I felt it was less pianistic and therefore just as hard). You could look at Krakiawick variations of Chopin (its kinda piano concerto) one of first years played it in coll concerto competition and it was accepted (didnt win).  the Rautavaara concerto no 1 is excellent!! but hard.  All the saint saens concertos are hard.  What kinda level of solo pieces are you working on?

[prometheus]

Famous concerto's aren't hard and long?

Surely all concerto's are extremely hard. They are supposed to be extremely hard. Chopin's concerto's are rubbish if you ask me. So what is so bad about the less famous ones? Yes, some aren't that good or just very lacking. But I don't see a major difference between famous and less known concertos.

A set of variations is generally very different from a piano concerto.

[frederic]

I feel your pain!!  The problem is that many of the none famous concertos are non famous for a good reason ie either too difficult or just really rubbish! Or extraordinarily long.  I would recommend Prokofiev 1. Its short not of exceptional difficulty, It has romantic gestures but is kinda 20th c in style and is not the worlds most well known concerto - although admittedly it is quite famous. khachaturian IS hard - I looked over it! not perhaps as visibly hard as rachmaninov ones ( but I felt it was less pianistic and therefore just as hard). You could look at Krakiawick variations of Chopin (its kinda piano concerto) one of first years played it in coll concerto competition and it was accepted (didnt win).  the Rautavaara concerto no 1 is excellent!! but hard.  All the saint saens concertos are hard.  What kinda level of solo pieces are you working on?

Thank you.

At the moment I am working on:

Haydn E-flat Sonata Hob XVI:52
Chopin Scherzo No.2
Liszt: Chapel of William Tell and The Bells of Geneva

[I Love Xenakis]

Barber Concerto Op. 38

Bach concerto (?)

Schoenberg- Concerto in C Major Op. 42

Strauss- Burlesque for Piano and Orchestra

Corigliano Piano Concerto

Hindemith Piano Concerto

This has to be a joke.  He said "not too difficult" and the Barber and Corigliano (1968) are pretty damn tough.  I would know.

[I Love Xenakis]

Yeah, check the Corigliano concerto, very fresh. Hindemith wrote one? How is it? I never heard it.

Hindemith wrote two: a normal one and one for left hand.  Neither of them are particularly spectacular IMO

I can upload them if you'd like.

[I Love Xenakis]

And by the way, your obscure but not too obscure, hard but not too hard competition concerto is the Ravel Concerto for Left Hand

[burstroman]

How about either of the concertos by  Jules Massenet or Gabriel Pierne!!!!!!!!!

[pita bread]

This has to be a joke.  He said "not too difficult" and the Barber and Corigliano (1968) are pretty *** tough.  I would know.

He also asked for a bloody concerto.

[frederic]

He also asked for a bloody concerto.

yes very true. I want guts and gore left on the keyboard once i finish.

[pianowelsh]

Looking at your rep I would say prok 1 is about your level.  i would say be carefull when choosing that you choose a work which will be usefull to you if you want to take a competition.  Many competitions exclude the less main stream works.  Check out some competition syllabuses and see if anything takes your fancy off thoses.

[sergei r]

I'd suggest the Mendelssohn 1st. Not too hard, yet impressive sounding. It seems to me to best fit your circumstances.

[freakofnature]

There's this great concerto by Isaac Albeniz called 'Concierto fantastico'. I really like it very much but don't know, how difficult it is. It clocks in at around 30 minutes...

[burstroman]

oops, "bloody" concertos, that's easy:  Bartok #1 or Prokofiev #1.  Problem solved.

[apion]

Thank you to those who suggested the Mendelssohn and the Saint-saens, that's the kind of things i'm after.

Both are excellent choices (but go with Saint-Saens). 

[apion]

I would recommend Prokofiev 1. Its short not of exceptional difficulty, It has romantic gestures but is kinda 20th c in style and is not the worlds most well known concerto - although admittedly it is quite famous.

Prokofiev 1 is a very good choice.  Excellent, in fact.

[frederic]

Prokofiev 1 is a very good choice.  Excellent, in fact.

I don't like it. In fact i don't really like any of the Prokofiev except the G minor. Now THAT is a bloody concerto.

[superstition2]

The problem is that many of the none famous concertos are non famous for a good reason ie either too difficult or just really rubbish! Or extraordinarily long.

Many, but certainly not all. There is some music that's barely played because of reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the music, or unapproachable difficulty. Rachmaninov's superb 1st symphony wasn't played from the time of its premier until 1947 (or something like that). Now, it's quite popular. Tcherepnin's superb 3rd symphony is barely played, but I've written to several conductors, hoping that that might change.