concerti

[imapnotchr]

What are the four easiest piano concerti to learn?  Which concerto would you teach to a high school student as her first concerto?  This student has played for four years.

[stevehopwood]

How about Mozart K 488 in a major? Ok, so she will murder it, but a girl has to start somewhere 

Beethoven 4th is one that is musically, rather than technically, challenging. I am not talking easy here, you understand, but Rach 3 it aint.

If she is musically naive but technically powerful, try the Greig.

The previous suggestions I make because I play these concerti and have taught them to students. Another suggestion made without such knowledge of the piece is Shostakovich F major. He composed it for his son to play at his audition to the Moscow conservatoire, so it is a real young person's piece.

Steve 

[pianistimo]

or, if she can memorize patterns easily - try prokofiev.  the reason i say this isn't ease as much as usually people have nothing bad to say about ur technique.  saint-saens is piggish - i don't know what i mean by that.  perhaps i mean - it's just oink oink here and oink oink there here an oink there an oink everywhere an oink oink - but it sounds pretty anyway. 

amy beach wrote some good stuff.  i really like her piano concerto.  not sure how easy it would be for a beginner - but it sounds good.

and, my fav - leroy anderson's.  when people haven't heard a certain pc before - they are less likely to murder u.  thus a good experience for her.

rimsky-korsakov supposedly has a short 20 minute pc - but i haven't heard or played it - so must listen.

[teresa_b]

How about Mozart K 488 in a major? Ok, so she will murder it, but a girl has to start somewhere 

Beethoven 4th is one that is musically, rather than technically, challenging. I am not talking easy here, you understand, but Rach 3 it aint.

If she is musically naive but technically powerful, try the Greig.

The previous suggestions I make because I play these concerti and have taught them to students. Another suggestion made without such knowledge of the piece is Shostakovich F major. He composed it for his son to play at his audition to the Moscow conservatoire, so it is a real young person's piece.

Steve 

I disagree completely!  Mozart K488 (maybe not the 3rd movement) may be within reach of a talented and hard-working newbie, but if you choose Mozart, try K453 or K415. 

As for Beethoven 4--NO NO NO!!! Not to a teenager who has studied piano for 4 years.  Yes, it's easier technically than Rach 3, of course!  But it is quite difficult to achieve clarity even technically, let alone in-depth understanding of its interpretive subtleties. 

If you want Beethoven, how about Beethoven 1 ?  Easier technically and interpretively. 

Good luck--
Teresa

[mschopinliszt]

I totally agree...K.488 is quite a mature Mozart piece and not one i'd recommend as the 4 easiest.  Nor the Beethoven #4. The emotional requirements for these are immense.  The suggestion for K. 453 or Beethoven #1 are good.  Also, #2 in B-flat, though i find it rather trite and boring. How about Kabalevsky 'Youth' Concerto?  the first movement is quite accessible to a newbie.  Also, Haydn D Major.  Unfortunately, most of the 19th century masterworks in this genre are monsters, technically.  I'd work up to them with the ones mentioned above, first.   As an example, one quite  advanced student began last year with the Grieg concerto, and this year will be playing Beethoven 3rd because i feel she has the emotional maturity to pull it off now.   Also had an 8th grade late intermediate student play Haydn D Major last year.  It was great experience even though he didn't win the auditions. This year, he'll progress to beethoven 1st, 3rd movement.   

As for Mozart - the early concerti are fairly lacking in musical content, but of the mid-late concertos - D Major, *Coronation* - or G Major K.453, are good starting places.  I tend to think of the d minor and #21, C Major in league with the 'big guns' of the 19th century, and withhold them accordingly, until the student is ready for them. That includes K.488.   

Good luck!
MsChopin