# Most important/best and favorite Mozart Piano Concertos



## Bevo

We can all say Mozart's development of the Piano Concerto genre played a very significant role in the history of music. So just curious, which concertos would you include in a list of his most important/best concertos, and then which would say are your personal favorites? It's ok to have some on both lists, just specify which list is which. If you want to state a particular movement or why you feel this way then go ahead.


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## KenOC

To many to count, this time of night!


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## Animal the Drummer

Most important: no.9 and then no.20 onwards (with the exception of 26, which IMHO has the polish but not the depth of its nearest neighbours).

Personal favourites: 13, 16, 17 and then 20 onwards, excepting 26 as before.


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## Pugg

I agree with no.9 then no. 17 and onwards, my personal favourite : 17 .


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## StlukesguildOhio

Recently, I've been listening to the box set of Christian Zacharias playing the concertos.










This set includes nos. 5,6,8,9,& 11-27 plus the concertos for two pianos. I can't say that there was a single concerto that I didn't find marvelous. Mozart's concertos are one of those bodies of work (like Bach's cantatas or the WTC, among others) that I return to again and again. Having heard dozens of different performers and orchestras play these concertos I find that no. 20 remains my personal favorite... but I listen with great pleasure... again and again... to nos. 9, 14 and 17 onward.


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## Art Rock

"Most important", "best", "personal favorite" - if you want a fruitful discussion you might want to define the difference between these terms. I know what a personal favorite means (and I would probably go for 20 or 21, possibly 23), but the rest I have no clue.


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## hpowders

Piano and other concertos:


Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola in E Flat Major.

Clarinet Concerto in A Major.

Violin Concertos 3 in G Major and 4 in D Major.

Horn Concertos 3 and 4, both in E Flat Major.

Oboe Concerto in C Major.

Piano Concertos 12 in A Major, 15 in B Flat Major, 20 in D minor, 21 in C Major, 23 in A Major, 24 in C minor, 25 in C Major, 27 in B Flat Major.


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## Janspe

I'm going to limit myself to five concertos:

E-flat major, K.271
D minor, K.466
E-flat major, K.482
A major, K.488
C minor, K.491

I'm also quite fond of the very first concerto (D major, K.175) and the C major, K.415 and the G major, K.453. I do enjoy listening to all of them, to be honest...


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## lluissineu

I'll just say my favourite one Is n. 20. Why? Don't know... It simply Is.


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## Bettina

lluissineu said:


> I'll just say my favourite one Is n. 20. Why? Don't know... It simply Is.


Mine too. I love it because of its dark, dramatic character. You and I are in good company...it was one of Beethoven's favorite concertos (in fact, he loved it so much that he wrote cadenzas for it).

Do you have a favorite recording of No. 20? My favorite is Argerich/Abbado.


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## Animal the Drummer

If I may answer that, Brendel as always is excellent in no.20 but my personal favourite of all is Richard Goode conducting the Orpheus Chamber Orch.from the piano. I prefer his cadenza for the finale to Beethoven's!


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## Aurelian

The slow movement of #17 is exceptional. I also like #20-24. I find #25 relatively weak.


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## DaveM

Interesting how often the #20 is mentioned. It is my personal favorite. IMO, it is different from any other Mozart concerto in that it anticipated early romanticism and/or mid-late Beethoven. It is like no other piano concerto of the period. I've never heard a good explanation why it is so different from his own concertos written before and after the #20.


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## Chronochromie

DaveM said:


> Interesting how often the #20 is mentioned. It is my personal favorite. IMO, it is different from any other Mozart concerto in that it anticipated early romanticism and/or mid-late Beethoven. It is like no other piano concerto of the period. I've never heard a good explanation why it is so different from his own concertos written before and after the #20.


Sturm und Drang, etc.


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## Olias

Personal favorites would be 17, 20, 21, and 24


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

Seems like a lot of us have the same favorites. The two that stand out for me are 20 and 24. Incidentally, 24 was admired by a couple of giants too.

After hearing the work in a rehearsal, Beethoven reportedly remarked to a colleague that they shall never be able to do anything like that. Brahms also admired the concerto, encouraging Clara Schumann to play it, and wrote his own cadenza for the first movement. Brahms referred to the work as a "masterpiece of art and full of inspired ideas.


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## Bruckner Anton

Most of his original piano concertos are essential to the genre, so it is hard to make my decision. If I am extremely picky, I would pick the two black pearls #20 and #24 for sure, plus #9, #22 and #27. Although #21, #23 and #25 are even more popular, I personally would not choose them (supposing I am super picky). Don't be serious...


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## itarbrt

9+27+17+20 with any cademza .


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## Skilmarilion

No. 18 is the one.


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## manyene

K 466, 488, 491 in that order.


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## lluissineu

Bettina said:


> Mine too. I love it because of its dark, dramatic character. You and I are in good company...it was one of Beethoven's favorite concertos (in fact, he loved it so much that he wrote cadenzas for it).
> 
> Do you have a favorite recording of No. 20? My favorite is Argerich/Abbado.


i like many recordings, but I must admit that there are two conductors I consider masters in Mozart. Böhm? Is good, Harnoncourt?, not bad, C Davis? I like his recordings, but my masters are Josef Krips and Sándor Végh..

That's why I tend to choose A Schiff/S Végh recording.

I found The first movement in you tube:


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## Mohayeji

Personal favorite: Vladimir Ashkenazy's recording of PC No. 27 (K. 595). A clear proof of Mozart's and Ashkenazy's genius at the same time (specially the second movement).


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## AfterHours

The best ones, in ranked order (according to me at least)

1. Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major 
2. Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor
3. Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor
4. Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major
5. Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-flat Major
6. Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major
7. Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat major
8. Piano Concerto No. 26 in D major "Coronation"
9. Piano Concerto No. 19 in F major
10. Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major
11. Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat Major "Jeunehomme"
12. Piano Concerto No. 15 in B flat major
13. Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat major


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## Tchaikov6

My favorites: 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25. If I had to rank them-

1. 20
2. 21
3. 24
4. 23
5. 22
6. 25


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## hpowders

My favorites are 6, 12, 15,19, 20, 21, 23, 25 and 27, in ascending order, not in order of fondness.

However, I do love all those that I listed.


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## Chronochromie

AfterHours said:


> The best ones, in ranked order (according to me at least)
> 
> 1. Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major
> 2. Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor
> 3. Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor
> 4. Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major
> 5. Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-flat Major
> 6. Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major
> 7. Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat major
> 8. Piano Concerto No. 26 in D major "Coronation"
> 9. Piano Concerto No. 19 in F major
> 10. Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major
> 11. Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat Major "Jeunehomme"
> 12. Piano Concerto No. 15 in B flat major
> 13. Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat major


16 is unsurprisingly nowhere to be seen. I haven't seen too many people mention it, but it's one of my favorites. (along with 24, 27, 23, 20, 21 and 25)


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## poconoron

My 10 favorites in _approximate_ order are:

20
17
24
25
22
27
23
21
12
10


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## Strange Magic

I am most partial to 16, 20, 22, 24, 26, but it's difficult to not like Mozart piano concertos.


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## Mohayeji

hpowders said:


> My favorites are 6, 12, 15,19, 20, 21, 23, 25 and 27, in ascending order, not in order of fondness.
> 
> However, I do love all those that I listed.


Which recordings of No. 27 have you heard?


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## Guest

I like No. 5. His first original Piano Concerto set the course for his ground breaking concertos to come. 

No. 10 for two pianos is amazing and delightful.

Of course these are all very important:
9, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27


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## Brahmsian Colors

Favorites, but not ranking order:

Piano Concerto 15, K450
Piano Concerto 16, K451
Piano Concerto 17, K453
Piano Concerto 19, K459
Piano Concerto 21, K467
Piano Concerto 23, K488
Piano Concerto 24, K491
Piano Concerto 27, K595


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## Chronochromie

Glad to see more love for No. 16!


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## Phil loves classical

In descending order of preference: 27, 22, 23, 24, 21, 20, 17, 15. #26 is very nice but I think there is a mistake Mozart made in the piano part in 2 spots, which doesn't sound consistent with the other parts. Check out right before the 6:00 mark in this video, occurs in a repeat again later. Other versions have the same, but some are more elegantly covered up than others. Sounds the 2 notes (one grace) should be higher in pitch.


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## Pugg

Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, K. 453 (Murray Perahia) 
The beginning alone makes my day.


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## Animal the Drummer

Phil loves classical said:


> In descending order of preference: 27, 22, 23, 24, 21, 20, 17, 15. #26 is very nice but I think there is a mistake Mozart made in the piano part in 2 spots, which doesn't sound consistent with the other parts. Check out right before the 6:00 mark in this video, occurs in a repeat again later. Other versions have the same, but some are more elegantly covered up than others. Sounds the 2 notes (one grace) should be higher in pitch.


That's no mistake, my friend. Mozart may have made the occasional one when he was playing the piano but you can bet he knew exactly what he was doing when he composed for it.


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## Judith

21st piano concerto is my favourite, especially 2nd movement. Such a soothing piece!


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## Tallisman

The 21st is one of the shining moments in all Western music and the 20th closely follows. I really enjoy the 23rd but it's not as distinguishably unique as the other two.

I still need to check out some of the others. I'm starting to like the 9th.


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## Animal the Drummer

Judith said:


> 21st piano concerto is my favourite, especially 2nd movement. Such a soothing piece!


No.21 is my favourite too (though I love most of them from 16 onwards, and I like all the rest), but it's the sheer _joie de vivre_ of the first movement that floats my boat the most.


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## Mal

Bevo said:


> ... which concertos would you include in a list of his most important/best concertos, and then which would say are your personal favorites?


As art is subjective, for me, these lists are the same. Currently, all of them are on my "love it, Amazon five star" list, if you compile the list from the complete sets by Anda And Perahia. Personal favourites:

Desert island choice: 9 by Perahia.

Other personal favourites, Perahia: 4, 5, 17, 21, 24 (especially second movement)
Anda: 15 (final movement), 21 (second movement... yeah that one...)

As subjectivity is always in flux these lists may change somewhat.


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## Mal

StlukesguildOhio said:


> Recently, I've been listening to the box set of Christian Zacharias playing the concertos.
> 
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> 
> This set includes nos. 5,6,8,9,& 11-27 plus the concertos for two pianos. I can't say that there was a single concerto that I didn't find marvelous...


That's a good hit rate! Have you listened to Perahia and Anda's sets? Between them, I think they achieve "marvellous" status for *all* the concertos, *except one* (correcting myself from my last post...) Anda, I feel, does a very good job in 1-4 (Perahia maybe better in 1 and 4, but less than marvellous in 2 and 3...) Anda doesn't do 7 and 10, Perahia I feel does a marvellous job in 10, so that leaves 7 as the only one on my "less than marvellous" list. Can anyone recommend a marvellous 7?


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## Phil loves classical

Animal the Drummer said:


> That's no mistake, my friend. Mozart may have made the occasional one when he was playing the piano but you can bet he knew exactly what he was doing when he composed for it.


In this version it sounds nicely dressed up, but I heard a version by Pommier where he brought out the dissonance a lot more clearly and abrasively, and it just sounded like a big departure in mood. Is that the fault of the interpreter or Mozart? I would think the music in that era should be more performance-proof.


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## Animal the Drummer

You see, I don't think it's a "fault" in the first place, not the composer's anyway. If the composer wants to shake the atmosphere of his music up at any given point, that's fine with me. If there's fault involved at all, perhaps it should be laid at the door of us listeners for having too many prior expectations of the music instead of letting a matchless genius like Mozart do his own thing.


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## Chronochromie

Animal the Drummer said:


> That's no mistake, my friend. Mozart may have made the occasional one when he was playing the piano but you can bet he knew exactly what he was doing when he composed for it.


I thought he made a copying mistake in the 2nd movement of No. 24?


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## hpowders

The best for me is 23. The most important, 24.


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## Skilmarilion

Bevo said:


> [...] which would say are your personal favorites?


9, 17, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27.


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## trts

Favorites in order:

1. No. 24 (K.491) - All three movements are great, but the 3rd is the best, perhaps the best of all his concerto movements. The inspired variations, the change of meter right at the end, the lyricism. It''s awesome. This piece requires the biggest orchestra of all of his concertos. The first movement, particularly, is symphonic in character. It's perfection. I don't think I go two weeks without listening to the whole thing. And I have to listen to the whole thing every time.

2. No. 25 (K.503) - Most people don't put this one near the top, but I love it, especially the first movement. Love that militaristic character of the first movement and the balance between playful and serious in the third. 

3. No. 20 (K.466) - If Beethoven likes it, it must be good. It's one of those pieces by Mozart that doesn't sound like Mozart. 

4. No. 22 (K.482) - This is another late concerto that's underrated. Very dark second movement in c minor. And then he writes perhaps the happiest piece of music in the next movement. 

5. No. 9 (K.271) - Some, like Brendel, consider this one his best. I think it ranks below the latter concertos, but it's still a great piece. He wrote out all the cadenzas, all three movements are substantial in size and scope. Considering how young he was, this was a great achievement. 

6. No. 23 (K. 482) - Perfect second movement, great finale, somewhat weak first movement, IMO. I like it when the second movement is played as slow as possible, which is unlike what Horowitz did, who essentially played it andante. 

7. No. 17 (K. 453) - I love the first two movements. The first one is very lyrical, the second one very dark. The last one with the variations is weak, IMO. 

8. No. 21 (K.467) - Same as 17, the first movement is fantastic and contains a variety of lyrical melodies and a lively piano part. Everyone knows the second movement. No other movement he ever wrote sounds like it and I can't really accurately describe how it makes me feel. One moment I feel happy, but then I feel sad, and then I feel neither happy or sad. And then the third movement appears and it seems like Mozart went through the motions. It's not particularly inspired, the piano plays a minimal role. It kinda sounds like something he would write in his sleep. Which, to me, hurts the overall quality of this concerto.

9. No. 27 (K.595) - The second movement is the highlight to me. 

10. No. 15 (K.450) - Love that development section of the first movement, for some reason. Lyrical concerto throughout. 



It's too bad that No. 26 just stands out as weak among his mature concertos. I think it was the musicologist Alfred Einstein who said that this concerto sounds like Mozart was imitating himself. It could have been great as the melodic material has potential, but the execution was inadequate. It has some great "moments," but way too many passages that don't sound inspired.


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## bharbeke

Excellent first post, trts, and welcome to Talk Classical!


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## Roger Knox

Listened to all the Mozart concertos -- _ Mozart 225_ collection, Levin or Bilson on fortepiano. Especially notable is the three-piano concerto, where the combined instruments' unique silvery sound is entrancing. As for the others, my ten favorites are:

1. Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor
2. Piano Concerto No. 27 in Bb Major
3. Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major
4. Piano Concerto No. 15 in Bb Major
5. Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major
6. Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major
7. Piano Concerto No. 9 in Eb Major
8. Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major
9. Piano Concerto No. 25 in C Major
10. Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor

A couple of observations: (1) in my youth we were taught to play Mozart in a "stormier manner" (e.g. Serkin), replacing the delicate rococo style (e.g. Gieseking) -- with the fortepiano and historically informed performance all that has changed again; (2) on the fortepiano the earliest Mozart piano concertos that I didn't know are better than anticipated -- short and sweet.


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