Stunning piano concerto openings

[Peter1953]

Steven, we have the same favourites! I like to add Rubinstein’s 2, 3 and 5 and Scharwenka 4. I have thought to add my favourite Hummel's op. 85&89 as well, but I think Hummel is one of the few former unsung composers who became more or less sung over the past 30 years, although we never hear Hummel performed in concert halls, but not unfrequently on the radio.

That could be an interesting topic: which former unsungs became sung and what are the criteria?

O yes, Paderewski is briljant too. I have it coupled with Moszkowski. But we were talking about openings. And then comes Moscheles 3. But… not only the opening. The whole atmosphere of the PC is catchy, I feel it even as rather melancholic. But full of beautiful themes, one after another.

Not belonging to my favourite composers, but still very pleasant to listen to is piano music by a name which no member has mentioned so far. William Sterndale Bennett. I have his 5 PC’s (1, 2, 3 and 5 on Lyrita). I find the openings of both his 4 and 5 quite majestic.
Raffians, what is your opinion of this British romantic composer?

[John H White]

I would say that, in my opinion, Sterndale Bennett's 4th piano concerto is amongst the finest written in the first half of the 19th Century: well up to the standard of his friend and mentor, Mendelssohn. However, I wouldn't class him amongst the great symphonists of that period.
   I'd love to hear some of his teacher, Cipriani Potter's, piano concertos: I gather that the Royal of Music in London, where both Potter and Bennett were principals in turn, has  the scores of his 3 surviving concertos in it's archive. Maybe Gareth could confirm this.

[JimL]

Okay, getting to stunning PC beginnings by Moscheles, does anything else in his oeuvre beat the opening of the 4th?  I also find the start of the 7th pretty effective, although it's rather more spooky than pathetique.

[Steven Eldredge]

I forgot the Scharwenka #4! I love the finale which is a sort of mad cross between a tarantella and Ben-Hur. I love Hough's recording.

Speaking of Hough, and of Hummel Op 85, I was lucky enough to hear him perform that concerto live at Mostly Mozart some summers back. He poured the virtuosity on in the last pages and had the audience in a frenzy. Proof that if the artists, and what is more important, the orchestra programmers, include such music the public enjoys it immensely.

When I first discovered Hummel, back in my high school days, c.1969-1971, one could only find a few of his pieces on LP, now there is a lot of it available. Same with Alkan. I never thought I would see the day of multiple recordings of the Alkan Concerto!

[TerraEpon]

Heh, if Alkan's so-called solo piano concerto counts...THAT one certainly fits this thread.

[Steven Eldredge]

Another stunning piano concerto opening I had forgotten to mention is the Medtner #2. I love that concerto. I have tried to get into his other two concertos, but only #2 has endeared itself to me.

And how about the opening of the orginal version of Liszt Totentanz? The one with the church bell chiming and the trombones intoning the Dies irae before the piano erupts like a flight of bats out of hell. Could not be more dramatic or picturesque.

[Peter1953]

Interesting piano concertos are passed in review, some of which I have never heard off (e.g. a few on Ilja’s list). Although the topic concerns the opening, I suggest we expand the thread to cover stirring con fuoco finales as well.

Which post classical and romantic neglected piano concerto has a "fast and furious" finale?

For me the standard of the sung PC’s is Saint-Saëns 2.

Unsung examples are in my opinion – here we go again – Henselt, Moscheles 3 and Scharwenka 4. However, none of these three examples beat the Saint-Saëns, I think. Which "fast & furious" finales do you have in mind?

[Steve B]

Yes, Steven and Peter 1953, all the following are stunning overall: openings, slow movements and finales:

Paderewski(plus an exciting finale, with moving chorale and a particuarly helterskelter final krakowiak{I think!} for coda)
Rubinstein 1,3 and 4(the finale of 1 has to be heard to be believed, particuarly the final peroration; the whole movement is as camp, ie over the top, as ... anything you find camp and over the top; but is exhilerating)
Raff
Hiller in F sharp
Moszkowski
Napravnik
Scharwenka 3(cyclic, lovely melodies)
von Bronsart(tarentelle as finale, which is very ingeniously interwoven, at one point, with a mid-Wagnerian- very memorable- theme: and which JUST works, but is immensly silly and again, joyous. I use "silly" advisedly in its Middle English meaning of "sely", ie innocent, guileless
Reinecke no.2. (Well, Peter 1953, how "con fuoco" can a finale be? )Listen to Ponti's whirlwind adventure!)

[Ilja]

Hi, I'm taking the liberty of opening another thread for the 'fast and furious piano concertos codas', if Mark and Alan don't mind.

[FBerwald]

Most members seem to have liking for the Brahms Piano concerto no. 1 but i prefer the Beethoven No. 4. I know ths not stunning but I love a memorable entree! Glazunov's second concerto is also beautiful.
French composers seem to have a knack for writing quicksiver and catchy openings -
Stanislao Silesu - Piano concerto in E flat
Admiral Jean Cras - Piano concerto
Massenet - Piano concerto.
Saint-Saens - Concerto No. 5

Other stunning PC openings' fav.
Medtner - Concerto no. 2!!!!!
Reynaldo Hahn - concerto
Stanford - Piano concerto No. 2
Bowen - Piano concerto No. 3
Lyapunov No. 2
Ernst Mielck - Concert Piece For Piano & Orchestra
Raff -  'Ode au Printemps'
Manuel Ponce - Piano Concerto.
Berwald - Piano concerto (A peculiar concerto I enjoy listening to!)
......
I MUST mention one composer whose concertos I cant stand. Max Reger. Both his violin and piano concerti are too long and frankly, to me, boring! I doze off a couple of minutes into either concerti!

[Alan Howe]

...which just shows how different people's tastes can be. For me the Reger VC is one of the greats - but it is an immensely serious work on a grand scale. The PC I like rather less, but I would count its slow movement as one of the most profound in the whole repertoire. Chacun à son goût!

[Peter1953]

Raffians, what is your opinion of the 7 John Field PC’s? I think they are most charming. These PC’s could have been composed by Hummel (except for the outstanding op. 85&89 because these are far above the level of Field’s PC’s). Not the virtuoso piano writing which is characteristic for Hummel, but more the similarity of the elegant melodies. I’m especially fond of the sparkling #2 and #7, with the “Hummelian” opening.
Nice is the famous anecdote from 1822. Field heard Hummel perform a brilliant improvisation, and unaware of his identity, is said to have cried out “Either you are the Devil or you are Hummel” (see Eve Barsham’s booklet notes belonging to the CD “Hummel: Piano Works”, by Howard Shelley on Chandos).
By the way, if you like these late Classical PC’s, all Field’s PC’s and a few other pieces are available in a recent 4 CD set compilation on the Chandos label for less than £15. That’s value for money!

[FBerwald]

John Field PC no. 2 is by far his best. I still haven't heard the no. 7 so don't know about it. I feel its a much-subdued "chopinesque" rather than a "Hummel"

[Steve B]

Peter 1953, re Field(deserves own thread!). No. 2 and 3 are both great. Liszt referred to Field's "divine passagework", ie even the linking bits have a beautiful flow, even quite spiritual, I think. Then there are those massive build ups to the returns of the orchestral tuttis; where the piano goes madder and madder, changes direction.... and THEN gets to the tutti... no it doesn't... yet... THEN the tutti.

FBerwald, the Piano Concerto by your namesake is indeed strange; again, lots of mellifluous mad passagework, and crazy melodies, which twist and turn in all odd, unpredictable directions; joy flows through it. Ponti is the best: it bowls along with elan, and though there are mistakes and the orchestra is not brilliant, the sheer joy is compelling(compare Greta Erikkson's dull rendition). Nothing else by Berwald has really affected me. Anything else that is this zany, FB?

Steve

[FBerwald]

Well... the violin concerto in C#minor by Berwald is NOT Brilliant but is more or less similarly unpredictable. Hyperion had released a CD Peacock Pie - Martin Roscoe, Guildhall Strings. Its a collection of concertinos by the likes of Milford, Gibbs, Rootham, etc. It will really appeal to your zany side! The only zany piano works I can think about now are the Late pieces by Rossini - A collection called "sins of my old age"; I heard a few - simple and quirky and MOST lots of fun!!! There is one more - A waltz for piano by Percy Granger called English waltz. .. starts of simple then goes real Crazzyyyy !