Best modern piano concerto

[communist]

discuss

[richard black]

Well, how modern, for a start?

[retrouvailles]

Yeah, define modern. Maybe even give a time period for this mysterious musical period.

[jlh]

Is this a poll?  Maybe you give us a list of concerti that fit your description?

[healdie]

I know my definition of Modern is different to Thals definition so a time period would be useful

[communist]

1950+

[richard black]

Hmm, well I'm particularly fond of the Panufnik, McCabe and Stevenson (numbers one and two) concertos within that timespan.

[retrouvailles]

Alberto Ginastera's two piano concertos deserve a mention. Roberto Gerhard's similar concerto for piano and strings also deserves one. From those who didn't dabble in serialism, Peter Sculthorpe has a really lovely one. The quirky Ligeti concerto is also a notable one. From the last ten years, Rautavaara's 3rd, Kevin Volans's Atlantic Crossing, and maybe Salonen's deserve a mention. I could go on for a while, but I'll stop here.

[communist]

i would say the Khacaturian concerto

[retrouvailles]

i would say the Khacaturian concerto

That's not from 1950 or later. That was composed in the 30s.

[healdie]

Shostakovich piano concerto no. 2 (1957)

could i get away with Poulenc piano concerto? (1949)

[retrouvailles]

Shostakovich piano concerto no. 2 (1957)

could i get away with Poulenc piano concerto? (1949)

It doesn't really do anything that sounds like it was written after the 50s, so I would think not. Heck, the two Antheil concertos, written in the 1920s, are more progressive than either of the two concertos you named.

[thalbergmad]

I rather like the Ogdon myself, but i am biased towards the Brits.

However, whilst it is 1950+, it looks back to an era past.

Thal

[healdie]

It doesn't really do anything that sounds like it was written after the 50s, so I would think not. Heck, the two Antheil concertos, written in the 1920s, are more progressive than either of the two concertos you named.

whether it sounds like it was written after 1950 is irrelevent, i am sticking well to the brief and the rules say nothing about the progressive nature of the pieces just the time frame

[retrouvailles]

whether it sounds like it was written after 1950 is irrelevent, i am sticking well to the brief and the rules say nothing about the progressive nature of the pieces just the time frame

Well, if you just consider time, then then Poulenc wouldn't qualify anyways, being from 1949. Sorry. Shostakovich 2 does qualify.

[point of grace]

i like ginasteras' too, and hate the john cage piano concerto

[furtwaengler]

I am particularly fond of Salonen's vibrant Piano Concerto, an overwhelming array of colors, and of so much to take in. It's a concerto for orchestra starring the piano. The Ligeti is also tremendous fun and well written. 

[retrouvailles]

I have recently come to love the piano concerto by Salonen's classmate Magnus Lindberg, who I personally think is who Salonen would have turned out to be, had he focused more on his composition from the beginning, or had he not got his gig in Los Angeles (which, sadly, comes to an end this summer). Lindberg's piano concerto has a lot of similarities to Salonen's piano concerto, but takes a much more no-holds-barred approach, much like Salonen's early work. It never treats the piano as a percussion instrument, but rather as a very resonant and colorful instrument, almost in an impressionistic fashion (the piece in no way sounds impressionist though). It is definitely something to behold. Also, Lindberg himself is a well accomplished pianist (and recorded the concerto), so there aren't any unabashedly unpianistic parts, which the Salonen concerto is full of (my view of the score confirmed my thoughts on its unpianistic-ness).

[jlh]

Gotta go with Liebermann's 2nd concerto.

[retrouvailles]

Gotta go with Liebermann's 2nd concerto.

Really? To me it's nice, but it's also a bad mix of Barber-like pianism and John Williams-like orchestration. Not really a great mix compared to other piano concertos from recent times.

[general disarray]

1950 and on, the criteria here, is, technically post-World War II works, and I nominate Dohnanyi's fabulous Second concerto written just after the war.  Martin Roscoe recorded it for Hyperion.  Splennnndidddd work!

Was the Barber mentioned?  If not, why not? 

[retrouvailles]

1950 and on, the criteria here, is, technically post-World War II works, and I nominate Dohnanyi's fabulous Second concerto written just after the war.  Martin Roscoe recorded it for Hyperion.  Splennnndidddd work!

Was the Barber mentioned?  If not, why not? 

The Dohnányi was written in 1947 actually. Great work though. And yes, I too would nominate the Barber.

[Petter]

I have recently come to love the piano concerto by Salonen's classmate Magnus Lindberg, who I personally think is who Salonen would have turned out to be, had he focused more on his composition from the beginning, or had he not got his gig in Los Angeles (which, sadly, comes to an end this summer). Lindberg's piano concerto has a lot of similarities to Salonen's piano concerto, but takes a much more no-holds-barred approach, much like Salonen's early work. It never treats the piano as a percussion instrument, but rather as a very resonant and colorful instrument, almost in an impressionistic fashion (the piece in no way sounds impressionist though). It is definitely something to behold. Also, Lindberg himself is a well accomplished pianist (and recorded the concerto), so there aren't any unabashedly unpianistic parts, which the Salonen concerto is full of (my view of the score confirmed my thoughts on its unpianistic-ness).

I listened to this work on naxos, it´s going to take a few listening s to get it in. 
Some of the sonorities in the strings sounded like they blended in with the timbre of the piano but that may just have been my bad speakers.  I was thankful for the ending of the third movement when the density wasn´t as heavy. The third movement started really cool aswell, sounded like some drone note prolonged for awhile.
 None of these observations are probably correct, so could you elaborate a bit on this piece?
 I´m curious about Finnish composers and their high esteem internationally compared to Sweden and what it was that triggered their artistic demands. I watched some program on TV about what I think was the generation before Salonen and Lindberg, but I don´t really remember. They looked kinda depressed and serious.

[ryguillian]

discuss

I'll go late 20th century: Ligeti's Konzert für Klavier und Orchester and Elliott Carter's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. Hands-down.

Ginastera's highly-touted (in these circles) concerti are overrated and miscellaneous in conception (esp. the 2nd).

Best,

Ryan

[retrouvailles]

Some of the sonorities in the strings sounded like they blended in with the timbre of the piano but that may just have been my bad speakers.

That is actually one of Lindberg's signature devices in the piece, and I think it works to great effect. The way I see the piece is that it is a sort of journey that he takes you on. He explores many different textures, tone colors, and atmospheres in general. It is interesting to hear how the piano interacts so well with the orchestra, and how neither soloist nor orchestra is drowning each other out with overtly bombastic gestures, like in so many piano concertos. I am still not quite sure what to make of the piece entirely, for it does take a while to comprehend the piece. So, listen to it a few more times, and see what you think. The other piece on the disk, KRAFT, is also worth looking at. That piece is a sort of "super concerto", but it is even harder to understand.

Ginastera's highly-touted (in these circles) concerti are overrated and miscellaneous in conception (esp. the 2nd).

I wouldn't say they are overrated at all, really, given that the only people that have really mentioned or raved about them on this forum are me and skepto. I actually think these two piano concertos are largely overlooked and should be played more. They are both under appreciated masterpiece concertos. I personally would love to learn the first, but it is deathly difficult, as is the 2nd, also.

[ryguillian]

I wouldn't say they are overrated at all, really, given that the only people that have really mentioned or raved about them on this forum are me and skepto. I actually think these two piano concertos are largely overlooked and should be played more. They are both under appreciated masterpiece concertos. I personally would love to learn the first, but it is deathly difficult, as is the 2nd, also.

I'll listen to them again and then start a relevant thread on my final verdict! Bwahahaha!

B,

Ry

[thalbergmad]

Has anyone ever heard the Cage - Concerto for Prepared Piano.

I found the score in an old book shop and it looks kind of strange to me.

Thal

[retrouvailles]

Has anyone ever heard the Cage - Concerto for Prepared Piano.

I found the score in an old book shop and it looks kind of strange to me.

Thal

That piece has some cool effects in it, but it isn't that great in my opinion (as with most of Cage's music). If you want to talk about prepared piano works by Cage, his Three Dances for 2 Prepared Pianos is by far his best work in that genre, and Bacchanale is also worth a mention. What about the score of the concerto is strange?

[indutrial]

I'll go late 20th century: Ligeti's Konzert für Klavier und Orchester and Elliott Carter's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. Hands-down.

These two, Wuorinen's third (and maybe his fourth  , as per my post on the American concertos thread), and Feinberg's concertos are amongst my favorites. Does anyone else like Penderecki's relatively recent concerto, 'Resurrection' ?

Not sure what modern actually stands for, since there's plenty from before 1950 that I like a lot but wouldn't put in the ring with the ones mentioned above.

[franz_]

Where can I hear Ginastera's Piano concerto?

[retrouvailles]

Where can I hear Ginastera's Piano concerto?

You can hear Ginastera's piano concertos if you buy the disk. Naxos publishes it.

[sharon_f]

I also go with the Barber.

[retrouvailles]

Does anyone else like Penderecki's relatively recent concerto, 'Resurrection' ?

I didn't really care for it a whole lot, and i don't find it to be one of his better late pieces. It just seems like a wash of late romanticism with some cheesy recordings of bells tolling which drags on for over a half hour. He also seems to be overdoing that minor 2nd/tritone motive that you find in all of his later pieces. It gets rather annoying in the piano concerto sometimes. However, he revised the piece in 2007, so he might have done something about the length and rambling, I hope. I personally think his earlier Partita for harpsichord and orchestra is better, but that isn't a work for piano and orchestra, but for harpsichord and orchestra. It's the closest he got to writing a piano concerto in his early years, though.

[point of grace]

That piece has some cool effects in it, but it isn't that great in my opinion (as with most of Cage's music). If you want to talk about prepared piano works by Cage, his Three Dances for 2 Prepared Pianos is by far his best work in that genre, and Bacchanale is also worth a mention. What about the score of the concerto is strange?

Can i get it from you? thanks

[retrouvailles]

Can i get it from you? thanks

Sorry, but I cannot upload copyrighted material here.

[furtwaengler]

I am not nominating this for the thread title, but I wonder if anyone here has heard the Finnish composer, Kimmo Hakola's rather bizarre but entertaining piano concerto? Most bizarre is the use of a synthesizer which appears in some stretches with (maybe) sarcastic humor; bombastic, never ending cadences; wild scale exercises; a certain chromatic chordal sequence (which pretty well determines the whole atmosphere) repeated obsessively; a beautiful English horn solo to an accompaniment near to Messiaen's Quatuor pour la fin du temps; and of course its length and its direction.

What an interesting piece! For as much of it that causes me to shake my head in disbelief, there is more that keeps me interested and coming back to hear it again. Although there are some strange things happening throughout, also there is much inventive and entertaining writing. Most impressive is that with all that stuff, Hakola has managed to keep a single direction toward the end, as if it is one giant statement being made, which is far more serious than the many details.   

What do you guys make of this?

[retrouvailles]

I am not nominating this for the thread title, but I wonder if anyone here has heard the Finnish composer, Kimmo Hakola's rather bizarre but entertaining piano concerto? Most bizarre is the use of a synthesizer which appears in some stretches with (maybe) sarcastic humor; bombastic, never ending cadences; wild scale exercises; a certain chromatic chordal sequence (which pretty well determines the whole atmosphere) repeated obsessively; a beautiful English horn solo to an accompaniment near to Messiaen's Quatuor pour la fin du temps; and of course its length and its direction.

What an interesting piece! For as much of it that causes me to shake my head in disbelief, there is more that keeps me interested and coming back to hear it again. Although there are some strange things happening throughout, also there is much inventive and entertaining writing. Most impressive is that with all that stuff, Hakola has managed to keep a single direction toward the end, as if it is one giant statement being made, which is far more serious than the many details.   

What do you guys make of this?

Where might one find a recording of this? I am definitely interested in hearing this.

[furtwaengler]

Released on the label, Ondine, a pianist named Henri Sigfridsson has recorded the Hakola concerto with the Tampere Philharmonic, conducted by John Storgårds. It can be found at Amazon and other places:

https://www.amazon.com/Kimmo-Hakola-Concerto-Henri-Sigfridsson/dp/B001OBBSRS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1241153836&sr=1-1

And here's a little bit on Hakola which came up in a google search:

https://www.fennicagehrman.fi/highlights/hl11_hakola.pdf

[gep]

Released on the label, Ondine, a pianist named Henri Sigfridsson has recorded the Hakola concerto with the Tampere Philharmonic, conducted by John Storgårds. It can be found at Amazon and other places:

https://www.amazon.com/Kimmo-Hakola-Concerto-Henri-Sigfridsson/dp/B001OBBSRS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1241153836&sr=1-1

And here's a little bit on Hakola which came up in a google search:

https://www.fennicagehrman.fi/highlights/hl11_hakola.pdf

You can find some more here:
https://www.fimic.fi/fimic/fimic.nsf/mainframe?readform&hakola+kimmo

[communist]

Has anyone ever heard any of the Tveitt piano concerti?

[retrouvailles]

Has anyone ever heard any of the Tveitt piano concerti?

Yes, I have heard all of the extant piano concertos of him. I like his 4th concerto the most. It's not really modern though.

[mephisto]

Marc- André Dalbavie's piano concerto is also worth noticing. I like it a lot. It is quite accessible too.

And what about Shchedrin's 2nd piano concerto? It is recorded by Hamelin. Really cool piece.

Also Lutoslawski's piano concerto is a hugely emotional piece. Well worth listening too.

Pluss the Corigliano kicks ass

[retrouvailles]

Marc- André Dalbavie's piano concerto is also worth noticing. I like it a lot. It is quite accessible too.

And what about Shchedrin's 2nd piano concerto? It is recorded by Hamelin. Really cool piece.

Also Lutoslawski's piano concerto is a hugely emotional piece. Well worth listening too.

Pluss the Corigliano kicks ass

All great pieces, although the only one I think that will stand the test of time from this list is the Lutosławski concerto. The other ones sort of seem like they're going to fizzle out over time, which is a shame, because I like all 4 of these.