Repertoire

[abe]

To help me decide, could you list the following (a) in order of difficulty, and (b) in order of greatness. Or else direct me to other threads that discuss the following repertoire:

1) Saint-Saens 2nd PC (Mvt. 1)
2) Schumann PC (Mvt. 1)
3) Beethoven 3rd PC (Mvt. 1)*
4) Beethoven 3rd PC (Mvt. 3)
5) Chopin E-minor PC (Mvt. 1)
6) Gershwin Rhapsoy in Blue

*The cadenza to this movement is so amazing, almost as powerful as the famous Rach 3 cadenza. However, the parallel trilling passage near the end of it would be near insurmountable for me, which probably puts this movement out of the question.

Thanks for you help!
-Abe

[viking]

Hi. I don't listen to beethoven concertos much (not that there not good, there excellent, I just havent bought the recordings yet) so i'll leave them out of my list.
The list, in my own humble opinion
Difficulty                                                              Greatness (popularity?? )
Chopin                                                             Chopin
Saint-saens (very close with chopin)                Gershwin                                             
Schumann                                                          Saint-saens
Gershwin (although extremely difficult                Schumann
if you dont get jazz *obviously)

If your deciding, try to pick the style that suits you the most.  If you love chopin, go for chopin, its not OUTRAGEOUSLY difficult, but will require much time spent.  (its 20 min long).  But if you can play the gershwin rhapsody well, go for it. Its much easier technically, and only challenging if you havent played any jazz, but still its not THAT tough.  Saint saens is a well respected concerto, but i think the chopin would beat it if played equally well IMO.  Have fun deciding, theres probably no wrong choice.
SAM