15 Favourite Concertos

[vaneramos]

It's a good thing I didn't post my list of favourite concertos right away, because I hadn't given it as much careful thought and several would have been omitted. I had to increase the list size to 15. Here my taste is much more varied, ranging from Classicism to Contemporary Minimalism. We're starting from the top again:

1. Dvorak: Cello Concerto in B Minor
   No contest here. The cello is perhaps my favourite instrument. Dvorak is one of my favourite composers, and this sweet, lyrical concerto is one of his masterpieces, in fact an outstanding masterpiece of the 19th Century. My recording: Julian Lloyd Webber, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Vaclav Neumann.


2. Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor
   Of course the piano is my instrument, and Rachmaninoff my preferred piano composer. No. 3 is my favourite for the peculiar opening theme and the careening finale. Guilty pleasure. My recording: Lazar Berman, London Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado.
   
3. Saint-Saens: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor
   Hard choice between this and No. 5, both deliciously exotic. But the mysterious introduction is one of my favourite piano movements. The rest is plain fun. My recording: Pascal Rogé, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Charles Dutoit.


4. Poulenc: Concerto in D Minor for Two Pianos
   More delight: French naughtiness with exotic gamelan music. The second movement starts off sounding like a Mozart andante and gradually falls into depravity. My recording: James Anagnoson & Leslie Kinton, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Raffi Armenian.


5. Rodrigo: Concierto Andaluz
   More appealing to me than the other two more famous guitar concertos. The Spanish rhythms are irresistible. My recording: Los Romeros, San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, Victor Alessandro.


6. Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B Major
   Symphonic in scale. Even if the whole thing weren't a masterpiece, I would have to include this for the cello solo in the slow movement, one of my favourite melodies. My recording: Gaza Anda, Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan


7. Barber: Violin Concerto
   Bittersweet as late afternoon sunshine on leaves in September. My recording: Gil Shaham, London Symphony Orchestra, André Previn


8. Beethoven: Violin Concerto
   A sentimental favourite since I heard it performed years ago by Isaac Stern with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. I don't own a recording.


9. Schumann: Piano Concerto in A Minor
   Schumann didn't let virtuosity obscure poetic lyricism. My recording: Martha Argerich, National Symphony Orchestra, Mstislav Rostropovich


10. Greig: Piano Concerto in A Minor.
    A few concertos were overplayed at home when I was growing up: Rachmaninoff's 2nd, Tchaikovsky's 2nd and the Greig, but it transcends familiarity. I have always loved it. My recording: Bella Davidovich, Seattle Symphony, Gerard Schwarz.


11. Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D Minor
    The only concerto by my favourite composer, this is classic Sibelius, highly distinctive: shadowy and austere as a Northern landscape. My recording: Nigel Kennedy, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Simon Rattle


12. Glass: Violin Concerto
    Exciting minimalist piece. Thanks to draco_kc for introducing me to this. My recording: Adele Anthony, Ulster Orchestra, Takuo Yuasa.


13. Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major
    I judge the Mozart concertos by their slow movements. Bookended between two bright outer movements is this melancholy adagio, my favourite. I don't own a recording.
    
14. Ravel: Piano Concerto in G Major
    Compare this to Poulenc's Concerto For Two Pianos. They both premiered in 1932 and share a sense of Parisian coquettishness. However this piece is more serious and was clearly influenced by George Gershwin. The dreamy slow movement is unforgettable; its simplicity belies the fact that Ravel deliberated over every note. This concerto is relatively new to me. It will undoubtedly move higher in my list. My recording: Pascal Rogé, Orchestra symphonique du Montréal, Charles Dutoit.
    
15. Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat Major
    I had a hard choice here among 3, 4 and 5. At another time, in another mood, I would choose differently. My recording: Wilhelm Kempff, Berlin Philharmonic, Ferdinand Leitner.

Comments

[f8n-begorra.livejournal.com]

Again, a marvellous list. I was not aware that Kennedy recorded the Sibelius (next stop: Amazon). A couple of years ago he performed the Brahms violin concerto in San Francsico; probably the best live performance I have ever witnessed. During the second movement I thought I would levitate! That would have to make my list. Also Bruch's G minor (#1) with Yehudi Menhuin would be on mine. The Mozart No 23 is such a good choice. I heard a radio program with Robert Levine analyzing it phrase by phrase many years ago and it gave me an entirely different petspective on the piece. My recording is by Uchida.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

It's amazing how good commentary can bring a piece of music to life. I heard an excellent breakdown of the Ravel concerto several years ago, and can still remember part of the story about how it was written.

That Nigel Kennedy recording is on EMI, 1988. I wanted to include the Brahms Violin Concerto here. The finale is one of my favourite violin movements. These were harder to choose than the symphonies.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

I'm with you more here than on the symphony list, I think. Although of course I would have more Mozart (I could probably have a top 10 list of all Mozart concertos, especially as I would include the Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola).

I had a hard choice here among [Beethoven] 3, 4 and 5.

That is a tough one, isn't it? But I think I'd have to go with the 4th, one of the most original pieces of any era.

Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B Major

Just a nit: You've probably been deceived by a German recording: it's in B flat.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

This morning the slow movement of Beethoven's 4th is haunting me: "Why didn't you choose me?"

[rsc.livejournal.com]

It's a haunting movement, no doubt about it. In a sense it has haunted me since my childhood.

My father acquired a reel-to-reel tape recorder when I was about 10, and he used to play around with it recording from disks (or occasionally the radio). I'm not sure what he was doing that one day, but it resulted in the passage in that movement where the piano suddenly goes wild being played repeatedly. I didn't know what piece it was at the time, but it certainly made an impression.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I have some stories about memories tied to specific pieces of music, too. Maybe I'll write about them sometime.

[urso.livejournal.com]

I'm a big Glass fan.

I didn't realize how much, though, until I ripped all of my Philip Glass CD's to my Mac and had over 48 hours of just Philip Glass music.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

That's amazing. I don't know his music very well, but I've liked everything I've heard. The only other recording I own is "The Civil Wars."

[stephe.livejournal.com]

Another great list. I prefer Ravel's Paino Concert for the Left Hand to the G Major, but it's a close call. Do you have any opinions on the Shostakovich Cello Concertos? I know some people who love them (like me) and some who really despise them.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately I don't know them. Generally I like Shostakovich's music, but I've never become familiar with it.