Mozart's Concertos

[contrapunctus]

I am considering buying recordings and the sheet music of all the concerto's. However, I have only heard the flagship ones: No. 21, 28 and a few others. Could anybody who has heard the recordings and seen the scores answer these questions?

How difficult are they compared to the aformentioned concertos?
Did you like there melodies? How musically engrossing are they?

Thankyou.

P.S. for people who have never heard his Violin sonatas, I reccomend them greatly, as they are some of the greatest things ever written.

[teresa_b]

Well, regarding how engrossing and enchanting they are, you can't go wrong with Mozart concertos!

There is no No. 28--Perhaps you are thinking of No 27 in B-flat?  Or No 20 in D minor, which is very popular. 

My recommendations are No. 9 (K271), No. 14 (K449), No. 17 (K453)--all three about similar difficulty, and a little easier than the others.

No. 19 (K459), No. 23 (K488)--A bit more difficult technically

No. 15 (K450),  Nol 22 (K482), No. 24 (K491)--C minor, and No 25 (K503) C Major--difficult. 

Have fun!
Teresa

[demented cow]

hi, I can't really advise on how difficult they are, except I played number 8, which is not his greatest but is technically easier than some of the sonatas. Lest I get flamed off the planet, I hasten to add that it's a cow to play in a musically decent way.
FWIW my ranking of which are the most beautiful would be (in VERY rough order within each line):
-Greatest: 23, 24, 20, 25, 21, 22
-Nearly as great: 27, 9
-Slightly less great: 19, 26

I think 25 is an underrated masterpiece. The F major section in the Rondo is a piece of beauty I can't live without. You'll know which bit I mean when you hear it.
14 is rarely played but its slow movement is almost as beautiful as 21 in my book. You can get the basic idea at amazon or Naxos.com.
I remember liking 17 & 18 but I haven't heard them recently enough to rank them.

[pianalex]

My recommendations are No. 9 (K271), No. 14 (K449), No. 17 (K453)--all three about similar  difficulty, and a little easier than the others.

great choices

[mikey6]

-Slightly less great: 19, 26

19 has possibly the greatest 3rd movement of all the concertos and the 2nd mov. is glorious - not too many in 6/8.

No. 15 (K450),  Nol 22 (K482), No. 24 (K491)--C minor, and No 25 (K503) C Major--difficult. 

Im learning 15 at the moment! even Mozart said at the time of compostition anyhow "it'll make you sweat!"

[arensky]

Im learning 15 at the moment! even Mozart said at the time of compostition anyhow "it'll make you sweat!"

It's a great one, underplayed; I have a student learning it right now. We think it's virtuoso Mozart, a show off piece; how's it going for you?

[mikey6]

I only started it last week, but it's got some awkward scale passages - trying to get them smooth shall be rather fun!
I was reading that "it gives quite exceptional prominence to the soloist, in long sections of bravura which re calculated as part of the organic growth and not inserted as mere display".
This sort of analysis is not my strong point so i'm not exactly sure but I lik it obviously.

[arensky]

I only started it last week, but it's got some awkward scale passages - trying to get them smooth shall be rather fun!
I was reading that "it gives quite exceptional prominence to the soloist, in long sections of bravura which re calculated as part of the organic growth and not inserted as mere display".
This sort of analysis is not my strong point so i'm not exactly sure but I lik it obviously.

I think that's more along the line of commentary than analysis... whatever yes it does have some slippery scales, particularly the opening of the 1st mvt. piano solo. We didn't get to it in last week's lesson, we'll work on it tomorrow for sure.