Concerto Suggestions

[ianm]

Hey Guys!

So the school year is coming up and I was wondering if you guys had any concerto recommendations. I've never actually worked on one and was thinking this would be an awesome time. To get an idea of where my technique is at, what I have been working on lately is...

Beethoven - Grande Sonata (op. 7)
Bach - WTC I - Prelude and Fugue in E-flat (BWV 852)
Chopin - Etude op. 25 no. 5
Brahms - Rhapsodie op. 79 no. 1
Messiaen - Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant Jesu, no. 11

I really love the Grieg piano concerto, as well as Mozart's Piano Concerto in c minor (K. 491), Medtner's Piano Concerto no. 2, Ravel's Concerto in G, Ligeti's Piano Concerto, Rautavaara's Piano Concerto no. 1 to name a few--however, I haven't really delved into the sheet music of these concerti and I don't really know the difficulty of most of the concerti in the standard rep. I would love any insight or suggestions as to where I should start looking!

[visitor]

How much time did you spend using the search function? This same questions has been addressed multple times in the past, it's best to read through thise existing discussions as this has been unpacked really well before.


also, you only listed solo pieces but concerto lit is for more than 1 person. Listing your previous collaboration experience helps. Ensemble is a huge part of these works, both w the group and conductor and w a collaborative pianist doing piano ii orch. reducrion, so how much collaborative work have you done ie accomoanying serious pieces like sonatas for violin or cello and piano?  Do you play another instrument in a group so you know how to follow and work with a conductor? How much pia o duet and piano duo work have you done? smaller chamber works like piano trio, quartets or quintets?

your listening skills and ability to adjust to other players during play, balance, etc are critical skills to develop first.

basing the decision on a snapshot of your current solo lit is sort of like assuming  you are ready to play short stop in  a baseball game because you have practiced throwing a ball by yourself at a target or because you go to the batting cages a lot to take swings at a few perfect strikes thrown by the pitching machine.   There is more to it.

i would likely reccommend you maybe work a solo transcription of a concerto, ie Balakirev - Chopin slow movement, or Grainger's paraphrases on Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Grieg and Rachmaninoff.
but also start playing for vocalists and choir, and start some Mozart and Beethoven string solo plus piano work.

the chopin trio would be good too. also work up several pieces for two pianos.

after that Haydn and Mozart and Beethoven piano concerto would be good
 Then review the suggestions made in any of the dozens of discussions on this subject in the board history.

good luck and make sure when you do a concerto give yourself about 6 to 9 months + avg to wok to performance std more time if you work up some solo pieces and do more accompanying, less time if you cut out all other solo pieces and focus just on the concerto and do just a little bit of accompanying.