Piano Concertos 𝄞

To watch the most popular piano concerto of the composer, just click on the image. The rest of the piano concertos are beneath. Feel free to check it out.

Keep in mind, that this is just a selection of composers. There are probably many more, but I've made a selection of composers, I think are worth mentioning.

The history of the piano concerto begins with Bach's Fifth Brandenburg Concerto (actually harpsichord concerts) and they were written in baroque music: J.S. Bach is considered the 'inventor' here. Here we hear how the harpsichord stands out from the rest, with a spectacular solo as a result. In classical times, composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and contemporaries developed the concert as a genre. The form became larger, the solo role became more important and often even more virtuoso, and the soloist was often also a conductor during a performance. There were also places where the soloist could improvise in a cadence. Many concerts therefore do not yet have completely composed cadences, but merely an indication of a place where the soloist could 'go his own way'. In the Viennese classics (Mozart, Beethoven), the Piano Concerto was the most important genre alongside the symphony.

The orchestras became larger, the length of the works increased, parts became more and more intertwined, the larger and louder sounding pianos chased the old harpsichords and hammer keyboard, and the soloist increasingly became the 'keyboard lion' in the spotlight, which more and more acrobatic and virtuoso role. This also made it increasingly necessary to work with a separate conductor to 'keep the performance together'. More and more composers started writing their own cadences in detail, and with the relocation of the castle hall to the concert hall the dynamic range of the concerts also increased. The concerts also gradually acquired a concertant listening character instead of a modest background music. Although the first concerts almost had a modest chamber music character, the late romantic piano concerts could only be performed in large halls.

Mozart's genius concerts are characterized by childish innocence, sometimes breaking through the despair of Don Giovanni and the Requiem. The five Beethoven concerts are milestones in classical music. Everyone should know the introverted Fourth and the glorious Fifth Concert. Romantic canon includes the piano concerts of Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Brahms and Tchaikovsky. The 20th century is also well represented, thanks to Rachmaninov, Bartók and Prokofiev.

Piano Concertos 𝄞

To watch the most popular piano concerto of the composer, just click on the image. The rest of the piano concertos are beneath. Feel free to check it out.

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Ludwig van Beethoven

Franz Liszt

Pjotr Iljitsj Tchaikovsky

Frédéric Chopin

Edvard Grieg

Wolfang Amadeus Mozart

Johannes Brahms

Maurice Ravel

Joseph Haydn

Camille Saint-Saëns

Sergej Prokofiev

Antonín Dvořák

Johann Sebastian Bach

Dmitri Shostakovich

Robert Schumann

Aram Chatsjatoerjan

Béla Bartók