# If you like Brahms what is your favourite concerto by him?



## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

For me it is the 2nd Piano Concerto. Then the violin concerto, the 1st piano concerto, and lastly the double concerto. I love all of them really but what wins it for me with regards to the 2nd PC is the slow movement. It is so utterly beautiful.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

I like all the concertos, but the violin concerto is my favorite string concerto and clearly my favorite of Brahms.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Violin concerto for me. After Mendelssohn the most beautiful vc for me.

Both piano concertos are also essential, with a slight preference for 2.
The double concerto is good to have, but I like it not as much as the others.

The clarinet concerto is the one I miss most. It would have been awesome if he had composed one in his last years.


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

I also would have to go for the second piano concerto, though I rate all of his concertos highly


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

The violin concerto is my favorite, but I also have always had a very strong preference for the 1st piano concerto over the 2nd. The first movement of the 1st just has such a depth of feeling, beauty and expression. The whole piece just moves me more than the 2nd, though certainly the 3rd movement adagio with the cello solo is very beautiful.


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## bharbeke (Mar 4, 2013)

Piano concerto no. 2


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Love 'em all, but PC #2 tops.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Brahmsianhorn said:


> The violin concerto is my favorite, but I also have always had a very strong preference for the 1st piano concerto over the 2nd. The first movement of the 1st just has such a depth of feeling, beauty and expression. The whole piece just moves me more than the 2nd, though certainly the 3rd movement adagio with the cello solo is very beautiful.


Interesting, because those are my thoughts exactly including the PC#2 not moving me as much as #1 except for the PC#2 3rd movement. The 1st Concerto is (for me) far more profound than the #2 (though that 3rd movement almost gets there). I've never been sure why that came about. Brahms certainly had a long time to think about the #2.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

My favorite Brahms concerto is the Violin Concerto. The next stop is all the chamber music and the apocalyptic Fourth Symphony; no Brahms Concertos interest me after the Violin Concerto.


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## Lenny (Jul 19, 2016)

Hard to choose from VC and PC1. The double concerto is also very good. Oh, and lets not forget 2nd PC.


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

Brahms' Violin Concerto.

To me, it is probably not just the best violin concerto in all of Classical music, but the greatest _concerto_ ever written, any type.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Piano Concerto #1. Dark, turbulent, ruminative, deeply serious. Its grand, intense and weighty ideas were originally planned for a symphony. Quite unlike any piano concerto written before, it shows the young Brahms at his Romantic best.


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## Heliogabo (Dec 29, 2014)

Yes Brahms' violin concerto is the greatest concerto ever written to my taste.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Piano concerto no 2. ( Ashkenazy/ Haitink/ V.P )


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## distantprommer (Sep 26, 2011)

Without doubt, Piano Concerto No 1. Then the VC.


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## David Phillips (Jun 26, 2017)

The Double Concerto for me for the interest and quality of its themes. I don't mind the others: the lovely slow movement of PC No.1 which I first heard as the soundtrack of 'The L-shaped Room' and the PC No.2 is nice especially in the Serkin Columbia mono version, but I wish Brahms had stuck to the traditional number of movements. And I'm not that keen on the gypsy finale of the Violin Concerto. Symphonies and chamber music were his forte.


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## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

The Double Concerto. Love it!


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Like many others have said, the violin concerto. Another nod for the Double Concerto too.


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## arnerich (Aug 19, 2016)

I save my highest praise for the 2nd piano concerto. The work of a true master.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

David Phillips said:


> The Double Concerto for me for the interest and quality of its themes. I don't mind the others: the lovely slow movement of PC No.1 which I first heard as the soundtrack of 'The L-shaped Room' and the PC No.2 is nice especially in the Serkin Columbia mono version, but I wish Brahms had stuck to the traditional number of movements. And I'm not that keen on the gypsy finale of the Violin Concerto. Symphonies and chamber music were his forte.


Interesting notion. I find it difficult to identify a more successful composer of concertos than Brahms. And that gypsy finale of the Violin Concerto sold me on both the concerto and on Brahms back when I was first encountering Johannes' music.


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

I've loved the Violin Concerto longer than practically any other piece in the whole of the classical repertoire, so that wins for me. Both the piano concertos are also high on my list but have swapped places, in that I used to prefer the 1st but would now rank the 2nd higher for its greater variety of mood. The Double Concerto is OK but has never floated my boat as much as its companions do.


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## Heliogabo (Dec 29, 2014)

Two piano concertos, violin and double concertos, all of them has be mentioned yet: a proof that is just a matter of taste and above all Brahms composed truly marvelous concertos.


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## bharbeke (Mar 4, 2013)

Indeed, Heliogabo. I am thankful that they are all of high enough quality that each can be considered the best by someone according to their tastes and metrics.


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

I like them all, but the rich, autumnal, noble sounding Double Concerto gives me the greatest satisfaction.


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## classfolkphile (Jun 25, 2017)

The Double Concerto, followed by the Violin Concerto. I have to listen to more recordings of the Piano Concertos: I haven't been knocked out by the few I've heard so far.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

No question all the Grahms concertos are interesting - far more imo than the symphonies. One thing that can kill a Hrahms concerto is to take it too slowly out of a sort of reverence. Brahms' concertos are fiery pieces and need movement. One reason I prefer Gilels performance of piano concerto 2 in its earlier version with Reiner - if had far more forward movement than the one with Jochum. 
Very hard to pick a favourite but if absolutely pushed it might be Violin concerto with Heifetz / Reiner


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

2nd Piano Concerto for me, followed closely by Violin Concerto, followed closely by Double Concerto, followed closely by 1rst Piano Concerto.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Pugg said:


> Piano concerto no 2. ( Ashkenazy/ Haitink/ V.P )


I am adding the double concerto also.


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

I can't think of a better concerto for any instrument than Brahms VC. A rare, perfect golden mean.


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## Omicron9 (Oct 13, 2016)

The Richter recording of PC 2.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

The VC is my favourite with PC1 and 2 close behind and the double Concerto in fourth


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## Grotrian (May 5, 2016)

The Second Piano Concerto, if I must choose. The astounding range, from the mighty first movement to the sheer Mozartean elegance of the finale, is unsurpassed in his output, I think. I first heard the Gilels/Reiner when I was a kid and still prefer its swiftness and drive to more ponderous approaches. Pianists in general used to play this concerto a little faster.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Grotrian said:


> The Second Piano Concerto, if I must choose. The astounding range, from the mighty first movement to the sheer Mozartean elegance of the finale, is unsurpassed in his output, I think. I first heard the Gilels/Reiner when I was a kid and still prefer its swiftness and drive to more ponderous approaches. Pianists in general used to play this concerto a little faster.


Right on about the Gilels/Reiner pairing. "Swiftness and drive" were what that Dynamic Duo offered in their excellent interpretation of the Tchaikovsky concerto, which also can suffer at the hands of more sluggish executors.


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