100 romantic piano concertos superior to the Schumann

[ronde_des_sylphes]

d'Albert 2

[thalbergmad]

Music transcends words.

[fnork]

That's very cool. I vaguely know someone who has learnt Scharwenka 4, but I doubt he's had the chance to play it with an orchestra.

You don't get such requests very often....Think of Earl Wild - when he got the call asking if he wanted to record Scharwenka 1st, he said - "I've been waiting for this call for 40 years"...

[fnork]

I would have to concede that on this occasion, Schumann does appear to be superior to Schumann.

Yeah, I find this one rather more successful in many regards! The only complaint some may have is that there's more interaction between soloist and orchestra in the concerto. But for me, the piano writing is better here, there are no dull moments, and I have no significant complaints at all on the orchestration. Looking forward to doing this one again in a year from now.

[visitor]

[visitor]

Boissier Glamour Concerto
ie

[ahinton]

Boissier Glamour Concerto
ie

The English composer and pianist John McCabe who years ago did so much to put Haydn's keyboard works on the map where they'd always belonged once clamourfed for a moratorium on performance of Beethoven sonatas (albeit with at least part of his tongue in one of his cheeks, I don't doubt); I cannot help but find myself to be reminded of this by the above which might be seen as commending a similar moratorium of the composition of piano concertos in A minor...

...and that's without even mentioning the title of the above!...

Best,

Alistair

[visitor]

The English composer and pianist John McCabe who years ago did so much to put Haydn's keyboard works on the map where they'd always belonged once clamourfed for a moratorium on performance of Beethoven sonatas (albeit with at least part of his tongue in one of his cheeks, I don't doubt); I cannot help but find myself to be reminded of this by the above which might be seen as commending a similar moratorium of the composition of piano concertos in A minor...

...and that's without even mentioning the title of the above!...

Best,

Alistair

Perhaps but to cut the composer some slack , it is an unpublished "student " work, and unsurprisingly it manages to be more interesting than that stinksville of a Schumann one...

The thread didn't say 100 fine concertos better than Schumann and I think it's interesting to note some less than genius or masterpieces type works that still mange to eek out in front of Bobby's poo-cierto

[thalbergmad]

The Raff PC is way beyond anything Schumann could have dreamed of.

Thal

[mjames]

The Raff PC is way beyond anything Schumann could have dreamed of.

Thal

jesus christ that was unbelievably beautiful. It really is a shame that this work is practically unknown.

You are the ultimate piano guru.

[eusebius12]

I thought that Gernsheim was potentially a great composer when I first heard his music. The more I listened I realized that it was pretty conventional. This piece is extremely conventional. Such boring dull, empty passage work, tired cliche melodic writing, certainly Schumannesque (really, sub-Schumannesque) but not equal to the worst of Schumann.

But I see some people of no great acumen or taste are still attacking compositional Gods (e.g. Schumann) on behalf of 2nd rate, 3rd rate (or 11th rate) mediocrities.

[eusebius12]

Mon dieu, you equate Schumann with Bennett? You're a sicko. You're taste is incomprehensible, and contemptible. You probably disembowel small fluffy mammals for erotic kicks. When did you realize that music wasn't for you, in fact you loathed it? Your musical 'taste' is the culinary equivalent of coprophagia.

[eusebius12]

We seem still to be a very long way away from naming and citing 100 such concertos but, who knows, we may well get there (or even beyond) in the end. Perhaps also the thread title might better be amended from "100 romantic concertos superior to the Schumann" to "100 Romantic piano concertos superior to the Schumann", as I feel sure that no one here is seeking to compare Romantic concerti for other instruments with poor old Schumann's aberration (which I cannot help but wonder why he omitted to suppress as, irrespective of how "inferior" it might be to other Romantic piano concertos, it's undoubteldy inferior to most of the remainder of his own work).

OK, no one has yet mentioned the Busoni, Rachmaninov's four, Medtner's three, Brahms's two, the second concertos respectively by Liszt and Tchaikovsky, the two Concerti da Camera by Alkan or even the Dvořák - and these are just fifteen of the better known ones! Then there's the works for piano left hand and orchestra by Strauss and Korngold, the concertos of English composers Ireland, Bowen and (Alan) Bush and perhaps the most obvious choice, given its name - the Romantisches Klavierkonzert by Marx.

Best,

Alistair

But objectively, most of the works you've mentioned are not superior to the Schumann. The Liszt are really trash, and I don't hate Liszt. They are enjoyable perhaps, and the 2nd has more worth than the 1st imho. But really. And Korngold? Actually the Korngold is better than his violin concerto, but I don't rate it much. The Schumann hate around here is pretty disturbing.

Although I do think that the Dvorak is highly underrated.

[thalbergmad]

Ignoring the pathetic virus which every now and again infests this thread (see above), anyone who has not heard the Thalberg Concerto should take the opportunity to do so.

Musical confetti it might be, but Thalberg could carry a tune and add a fair bit of excitement, unlike  the Schumann Concerto which is about as exciting as the shipping forecast.

Thal

[visitor]

Ignoring the pathetic virus which every now and again infests this thread (see above), anyone who has not heard the Thalberg Concerto should take the opportunity to do so.

Musical confetti it might be, but Thalberg could carry a tune and add a fair bit of excitement, unlike  the Schumann Concerto which is about as exciting as the shipping forecast.

Thal

[visitor]

Even the shmaltzy stuff is prettier and more interesting!

[ahinton]

But objectively, most of the works you've mentioned are not superior to the Schumann. The Liszt are really trash, and I don't hate Liszt. They are enjoyable perhaps, and the 2nd has more worth than the 1st imho. But really. And Korngold? Actually the Korngold is better than his violin concerto, but I don't rate it much. The Schumann hate around here is pretty disturbing.

Although I do think that the Dvorak is highly underrated.

We'll have to differ on most of that, then - but please understand that I do NOT hate Schumann!

Best,

Alistair

[ronde_des_sylphes]

£6 well spent.

[thalbergmad]

Whilst not a concerto, I think the shipping forecast is way superior to the Schumann PC.

Thal

[ahinton]

Whilst not a concerto, I think the shipping forecast is way superior to the Schumann PC.

Thal

Yes, I think that most if not all of us had already gathered that without your having to reiterate it for the forty-eleventh time...

Best,

Alistair