{"id":3341,"date":"2011-09-06T15:13:05","date_gmt":"2011-09-06T14:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/?p=3341"},"modified":"2016-07-12T17:26:09","modified_gmt":"2016-07-12T16:26:09","slug":"the-20-greawp_posts-piano-concerti-of-the-20th-c-part-i-nos-20-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2011\/09\/06\/the-20-greawp_posts-piano-concerti-of-the-20th-c-part-i-nos-20-11\/","title":{"rendered":"The Real 20 Greatest Piano Concerti of the 20th C., part I, no’s 20-11"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a list I\u2019ve been thinking about ever since I first conducted the Prokofiev 2nd<\/sup> Piano Concerto with Daniel de Borah about five years ago. I was amused at the thought of just how far down the list of the greatest piano concerti of the 20th<\/sup> c. I would go before I got to a piece not by Prokofiev. In the same way, if one looked to do a similar list of greatest piano concerti of all time<\/em><\/strong>, one might be well down the list before encountering a concerto not by Mozart.<\/p>\n

Here were the rules- I decided to include for consideration all substantial concertante works for piano and orchestra written in the 20th<\/sup> c., so works without \u201cConcerto\u201d in the title were in the running.<\/p>\n

Beyond that, the works were evaluated purely on the basis of how much I dig them. Historical importance was not considered, nor was stylistic relevance: i.e. how 20th<\/sup> c the aesthetic of the music is. In other words, someone like Rachmaninoff was not penalized for his stylistic links to the 19th<\/sup> c., anymore than any modernist composer was given bonus points for shunning such links.<\/p>\n

As always, I reserve the right to be arbitrary, unscientific and provocative. I hope you will feel inspired to offer your own correctives<\/p>\n

One work in particular gave me trouble- Messiaen\u2019s Turangalila, which he described as a concerto and a symphony and a love poem. If it is a piano concerto, then it\u2019s in my top 3 for the century. For now, I\u2019ve omitted it from this list and will put it in it\u2019s own category. Messiaen\u2019s Oisauex Exotiques could also qualify for top 10 status if we call it a concerto. Again, since almost all of his orchestral music has moments that sound like a piano concerto, I\u2019ve left it off this list, but you should listen to it.<\/p>\n

The upshot of this making this list is both inspiring and depressing. It’s incredible to think of all this magnificent music out there, but deeply discouraging that most of it remains unprogramable in most settings. Will I ever get to conduct all 20 works on this list? I hope so, but it won’t be easy to find the chances. Mores the pity for listeners and players alike.<\/p>\n

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20. Schoenberg Piano Concerto<\/strong><\/p>\n

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It is a piece perhaps more feared than loved, but it is far more colorful, lyrical \u00a0and expressive than you think it is. Check it out.<\/p>\n