Gershwin Piano Concerto and Rhapsody in Blue

[joaosousa]

Hey, how would you compare this two ''concertos'' to others like Rachmaninoff's, Mozart's, Beethoven's or Prokofiev's (etc.) in therms of difficulty?

[superman1980]

I would also be very interested to see how Gershwin's Concerto in F would compare to other concertos.

[pianoman1349]

Depends on which context:

In general terms ... Gershwin's works are a fickle nature, especially when performed for a classical audience.  The audience expectations can vary very greatly due to the interpretation of these works, whether more in the jazz realm or in the classical realm.  Which realm in which you choose to interpret these concertos will affect its difficulty, depending on your particular strengths (rhythm and pacing will generally be dramatically different).

Difficulty wise, they aren't that bad.  I would put the concerto in F at the level of Prokofiev 3 (played at the level of most student performances) or a extremely well played shostakovich 2.  Rhapsody in Blue is harder to gauge as it depends on your particular strengths.  It's written approximately at the same level as the concerto, but I find it harder to pull off.