Tchaikovsky's first concerto

[Pianofan]

Hi there  !

I'm currently a piano student and I start to learn Tchaikovsky's first concerto.  I just want to know how do you find this concerto ? Is it hard ? I think yes, especially the first movement.  Do you think Liszt's first concerto is harder or also the Grieg's concerto ? Tell me what do you think of this beautiful concerto !

thanks  

[thierry13]

Well this one is IMO one of the easiest of the romantic period,if not THE easiest. But they are all hard. It depends on what energy and time you want to put on this piece, because it's very long, but it is not that hard. If you put the energy needed for it, i'm sure you'll be able to play it!

[dreamaurora]

Thierry13, well, nevermind, I will not waste my precious time explaining to you, just try to not mislead people with you so called 'advices'.

[thierry13]

I did'nt said it was an easy piece. But the easiest of the concertos, wich are from the hardest of the pieces. And someone who begin seriously to make the tchaikovsky's as not made only 1 year of piano. The tchaikovsky's is the easiest on the bunch of concertos of rachmaninoff,liszt, and all other romantic period concertos. I precised romantic period because some by mozart or bach are easiest than this one.

[liszmaninopin]

I would like to give you suggestions, but ask yourself one thing.  Do you honestly feel technically ready for this concerto?

It's a beautiful piece, but very long; and I'd say a fairly difficult concerto.  No, it's not as hard as the Rachmaninoff concertos, or the Prokofiev, or many others, but it is certainly, in my opinion, harder than Grieg's or Schumann's.

As for what I think of the concerto-I enjoy it.  It's not my favorite, but I do enjoy it.  It has moments of passion, moments of beauty, and many regal sections.

[Rach3]

Tchaik is harder than Liszt 1, but they're both harder than Grieg, unless you count the other movements, in which case Grieg is harder than Liszt (but not Tchaik); of course Liszt requires less sophistication. Brahms 1 is probably almost as hard as Tchaik, the Mendellsohns are not as hard as Grieg, and Saint-Saens is on par with them; the Chopins are about as hard as Grieg, maybe the second is a little harder... and Brahms 2 is the hardest of them all. Just go with whatever you feel is the hardest and everyone will be impressed with your virtuosity.

Obviously don't go with the Schumann concerto, there is nothing in it, just easy stuff  (all eight notes), who'd listen to that?

[liszmaninopin]

I hope your last comment was a joke-the Schumann concerto has many absolutely beautiful moments.  As a listening experience, I actually prefer it to the Brahms 2, which is far more virtuosic.

[JK]

I agree with lisztmaninopin, the schumann is an absolutely wonderful concerto and when you study it in depth you realise just how clever schumann is in his development and use of thematic material, especially the opening "Clara" theme. As for the earlier comment that it is "just all eighth notes", I will assume this is a joke!(if not then you might want to actually listen to this piece!)

As for Thaik, this is certainly not the easiest of the romantic concertos, in fact "easy" is not a word that I would apply to any concerto, all pieces are hard in different ways and this is why we practice so much! Technically it is managable, not as hard as Rach, but structurally it is hard to pull off due to the length of the first movement. It is made managable by one or two quite lengthy tutti sections in the first and last movements. This is a playable piece which isn't too abitious in my opinion (unlike "certain" people who are obsessd with Rach3!), only give it a go if you can play double octaves very fast and loud! Also a potential problem with this piece is that it is so well known and played so often, therefore it is very easy to play it in manerisms, this is why I don't like Lang Langs' performance, if you do this piece then you will need to make sure that your interpretation is personal.

good luck!

[f0bul0us]

Thierry are you a complete moron? You're going to compare a Tchaikovski concerto to  Mozart and Bach...and say it's easier? You're a joke(r) (pick which one you want to be).

[Rach3]

We live in a post-sarcastic world... of course it was a joke.  

For those of you who are easily confused, I love the Schumann concerto, and I resent the fact that it is extremely underplayed.

[JK]

We live in a post-sarcastic world... of course it was a joke.  

It's sometimes very hard to know for sure!!

[thierry13]

I'm not comparing him to mozart and bach, it's why i said i classed them in another category. I did'nt said that tchaik was easy, but the easiest(of the romantic period),this is different. And Tchaik is surely harder than bach and mozart.

[Rach3]

I disagree - Tchaik is obviously one of the hardest of the romantic period, second only to brahms. It is extremely lengthy, arduous, and has a variety of technical challenges. It also is very musically demanding.

[rhapsody]

well pianofan, if you're not sure to tackle the tchaik, i suggest you start with grieg. It's beautiful, one of the highlights of romantic favourite concerto. I attend a music academy which has grieg and gershwin's rhapsody as a "must" for any student.
I've done the gershwin, but still postpone the grieg. So i really think there are some different level of difficulties.

As for the technique... let's say that it has the summary of almost all piano technique... the infamous octaves, in syncronise left and right, not to mention a difficult tempo to play the 3rd con fuoco

I LOOOVE it so much, all the movements are beautiful, a real master rendition.  but there's only one problem:
It's just sooo many notes!!!

[Dave_2004_G]

How can you say the Schumann is underplayed?  It's one of the most popular concertos in the repertoire!

Dave

[f0bul0us]

I disagree - Tchaik is obviously one of the hardest of the romantic period, second only to brahms. It is extremely lengthy, arduous, and has a variety of technical challenges. It also is very musically demanding.

You think Tchaik's concerto would've been a lot easier to perform judging from his previous works (the seasons ). I must say, I bought the concerto without actually flipping through it first. I took it home, and found out the hard way that no refunds were allowed. So here it sits! In my piano bench!