Am I ready to learn a concerto?

[davidjosepha]

I've been thinking lately about learning the first movement of a concerto, not to perform (well, eventually, but I have no immediate plans), just for the practice and enjoyment. Some pieces I've played recently include Brahms' Rhapsodies nos. 1&2 op. 79, Rachmaninoff's Prelude no. 5, Alla marcia, Bach's Prelude no. 17 from Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (and working on the fugue now), Chopin's Nocturne no. 19, and a couple other small pieces. Obviously, you can't judge my ability without hearing me play the pieces, but from a technical standpoint, I can (or at one point could) play them all with very few mistakes, some I can/could play from start to finish without error. As for musicality, my teacher has told me I play very maturely for my age (I am 18), although I have not played in formal competitions for many years.

The reason I want to learn a concerto is that I just graduated from high school and this fall, I'll be moving to a different city for college and will have a new teacher, so I thought I would spend my last couple months with this teacher trying some new things. Also, I've been interested in piano concertos for quite some time and have wanted to play one but don't want to set myself back musically (or technically) by trying one too early.

First, I'd like people's input on if they think this is a reasonable idea. Second, I'd like suggestions for the concerto to learn. I'd like a Romantic or 20th century concerto, and I'm only planning on learning the first movement of the concerto. Some concertos I like a lot from those periods include Grieg's, Rach 1&2, Brahms 2, Tchaikovsky 1, and Prokofiev 1. I've heard Grieg's concerto is relatively easy (accent on "relatively") and have heard several of the others are very difficult.

Would anyone help me with this?