# Unknown piano concertos?



## Lord Lance

Some excellent ones like Scharwenka's piano concerti come to mind. Unjustly regretted.

What about you? Heard/know any such which deserve more acknowledgement?

And Prokofiev's or Bartok's/[any other mainstream composers] concertos don't come close, so please don't include them here. They are _really _popular.


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## Guest

So are we talking known or unknown unknowns?


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## Heliogabo

Alkan, concerto for piano solo.
Even was John Ogdon who brought it to light.


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## Lord Lance

gog said:


> So are we talking known or unknown unknowns?


The title specified *unknown.* The expansion made it clear too.


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## PetrB

Ludwig van Beethoven said:


> The title specified *unknown.* The expansion made it clear too.


Think about this for just one sec, Luigi. Unknown means exactly this... _not known._
Not to put words in your mouth, but I'm _dead certain_ what you mean to say is lesser known, obscure, infrequently performed or recorded, etc.

like:
Joseph Fennimore ~ Concerto piccolo for piano and chamber orchestra (1962)





Germaine Taillefaire ~ Piano Concerto No.1









Ottorino Respighi ~ Concerto per pianoforte e orchestra in La minore





So, I think few know of the Fennimore. More, I bet, have heard of Taillefaire and her piano concerto. Though Respighi has a wide repute, I doubt if many knew he had even written a piano concerto.

If it is on youtube, either an uploaded recording or a recorded live performance, 'it is known.'


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## SeptimalTritone




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## Albert7




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## Lord Lance

PetrB said:


> Think about this for just one sec, Luigi. Unknown means exactly this... _not known._
> Not to put words in your mouth, but I'm _dead certain_ what you mean to say is lesser known, obscure, infrequently performed or recorded, etc.
> 
> like:
> Joseph Fennimore ~ Concerto piccolo for piano and chamber orchestra (1962)
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> Germaine Taillefaire ~ Piano Concerto No.1
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> Ottorino Respighi ~ Concerto per pianoforte e orchestra in La minore
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> So, I think few know of the Fennimore. More, I bet, have heard of Taillefaire and her piano concerto. Though Respighi has a wide repute, I doubt if many knew he had even written a piano concerto.
> 
> If it is on youtube, either an uploaded recording or a recorded live performance, 'it is known.'


You're right, _again_. Dangabit!

Accordingly, I correct myself - *What are some lesser known piano concertos?*


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## Bruce

A couple I consider very fine concerti are

Penderecki - Piano Concerto
Clara Schumann - Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 7
Suderberg - Piano Concerto
Lyapunov - Piano Concerto No. 1
Martinu wrote at least 3 piano concerti, all of which I find very good.
Jacques Hétu - Piano Concerto No. 2
Ginastera - Piano Concerti 1 and 2
Lukas Foss - Piano Concerto No. 1
Leon Kirchner - Piano Concerto
Carpenter - Concertino for Piano and Orchestra

To me, all these should be better known than they are.


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## Art Rock

John Ireland's piano concerto is not heard much outside the UK.

Of course, Hyperion has an excellent CD series dedicated to (mostly) less known romantic piano concertos.


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## elgar's ghost

Schulhoff's concerto ('Alla Jazz') from 1923 has been recorded a few times but you hardly hear it mentioned, if at all. By using jazz elements it predates both Gershwin's concerto and Ravel's second and I think it deserves to take its place alongside them.


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## Cosmos

If you like Romantic music, Wilhelm Stenhammar wrote 2 titanic ones




Martinu has been mentioned, he also wrote a Concerto for 2 pianos, which is a lot of fun




Dvorak's piano concerto isn't really popular [IMO, it's decent]
Kilar wrote 2 concertos, the second of which was just recently premiered. They're minimalist, the first is more introverted than the second, which is darker




Schnittke has a small handful of concertante works for piano(s) and orchestra


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## SONNET CLV

This wonderful 1959 Pulitzer Prize winner in the Music category should be much better known:

John La Montaine, Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 9.




I have long treasured my CRI LP disc (CRL189) which features John La Montaine's Piano Concerto performed by Karen Keys, piano, with the Oklahoma City Symphony Orchestra, Guy Frazer Harrison conductor.


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## Lord Lance

Thank you all. These works will keep me busy for a while.


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## Tristan

Hummel's Piano Concerto No. 5 in Ab major, Op. 113





Rubinstein's Piano Concerto No. 3 in G major, Op. 45





I consider these two works to be especially underrated.


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## maestro267

Michael Daugherty's _Deus ex machina_, for piano and orchestra. Great accessible modern work (2007), a "musical response to the world of trains".


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## Vaneyes

If they were unknown, I wouldn't be able to recommend these "less-playeds".

RVW, Rawsthorne 1 & 2, Delius, Lutoslawski, Schnittke 2 & 3.:tiphat:


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## KenOC

Peter Sculthorpe's Piano Concerto.


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## Alydon

Though not completely unknown, I have always been an addict to John Field's piano concertos, all 7 of them. I find the early romantic blend with classicism fascinating and each contain many memorable themes. Another early romantic worth looking into is William Sterndale-Bennett, and again the 5 recorded concertos are full of delightful music.


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## Becca

James MacMillan's Piano Concerto #2 (2003)
The first movement was originally written for a ballet.
The third movement is a fun "Tempo di reel"


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## ptr

Some Swedish ones that are slightly obscure but available in one or other recorded form (or has been)

*Hans Holewa* (1905-1991) [Phono Suecia]
*Gunnar Bucht* (b. 1927) [Phono Suecia]
*Torsten Nilsson* (1920-1999) - No 1 Op 63 [Caprice]
*Laci Boldemann* (1921-1969) Op 13 [Swedish Society]
*Dag Wirén* (1905-1986) Op 26 [Caprice]
*Adolf Wiklund* (1879-1950) No 1 Op 10 / No 2 Op 17 [Caprice]

/ptr


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## Balthazar

Some that I like:

Paderewski's Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 17
Wieniawski's Piano Concerto in G minor, Op. 20
Busoni's Piano Concerto in C, Op. 39
All five of Milhaud's Piano Concertos

And, if we are including multiple keyboards:

Berio's Concerto for Two Pianos
Elliott Carter's Double Concerto for Harpsichord and Piano


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## Blancrocher

Dallapiccola's "Piccolo Concerto per Muriel Couvreux" is a quite pleasant.






This performance, with the composer himself at the piano, is new to me.


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## Nope

Michael Finnisy wrote some piano concertos without orchestras. I find them absolutely crazy


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## Guest

I'd like to reiterate two fantastic recommendations already made by some perspicacious listeners in this thread: Anton Rubinstein's 3rd Piano Concerto and Adolf Wiklund's 1st Piano Concerto. Rubinstein's Piano Concerto in G is a remarkably precocious and virtuosic piece completed when the composer was merely 24-years-old! But the true gem amongst these fine works is Wiklund's 1st Piano Concerto in E Minor -- this is a piece so evocative and profound and inspiring that I could not be more effusive with my praise. I find it absolutely mindboggling that Wiklund's Concerto manages to fly so surreptitiously under the radar - this Concerto is not merely one of the greatest amongst unknown concerti, but rather, I contend that it is possesses every bit as much artistic merit and beauty as any of the traditionally-regarded masterworks which are so frequently performed in the concert hall. I recommend this particular piece emphatically to anyone who considers themselves a fan of the Piano Concerto genre. We've unearthed a real treasure in this piece, and even though every movement is absolutely topnotch, I would like to especially delineate the second movement as particularly deserving of recognition. The second movement gently carries the listener aboard a gondola made from clouds up into a mystical musical microcosm where time and space have no corporeal presence and you can hear through human ears the thoughts and intelligence of a higher order of thinking. That movement has provided one of the most uniquely reflective and otherworldly moments that I've ever experienced listening to Classical Music, and I will forever be indebted to Wiklund for bringing forth such a paradigm into this world.






Additionally, I'd also like to proffer a few recommendations of my own. Each of the following pieces, I feel, is a legitimate masterpiece and that's a term I refuse to throw around lightly. I promise that all of my recommendations have been thoroughly vetted as works of quality and that you will not be disappointed by any of them.


























And while I wouldn't exactly consider this next one a "masterpiece", the younger Mozart definitely composed a piece that would make his dad proud. I'll always wonder if Beethoven was familiar with this one. EDIT: Haha and maybe it's just me but 1:35 to about 1:45 could totally have been written by Brahms.


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## DavidA

He spelt wrote a fiendishly difficult piano concerto with Hamelin recorded for Hyperion.


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## leroy

I would recommend Geirr Tveitt's concerto no 1 op. 5 and concerto no 4 op. 130


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## Cosmos

Maybe this post doesn't belong here, but Britten's Piano Concerto isn't really popular


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## hpowders

Relatively unknown are the Hilding Rosenberg Piano Concertos No's. 1 and 2.

Very fine works!


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## elgar's ghost

Hindemith's concerto for left hand op. 29 (1924). Offered to Wittgenstein who poo-pooed it but still retained the manuscript. I'm unaware of any record of whether or not Hindemith asked for it back but it was considered a lost work for many years. Hence no performances or recordings until the score was unearthed from the Wittgenstein estate after the death of his widow in 2002. I think there has been just one commercial recording of the work up until now.


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## DeepR

I'm currently listening to Moritz Moszkowski's Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 3 (1874):






_"This is the live recording of the world premiere performance at the National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw, on January 9, 2014. The performers are Rzeszow Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Kiradjiev, and the soloist is Ludmil Angelov. The forementioned soloist & conductor worked on the final edition of the manuscript score which was found two years ago by a collector of music scores in Paris. Next year the Concerto will be recorded commercially."_

It's rather long but highly enjoyable!


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## Matsps

I honestly think Alkan's Concerto for Solo Piano is one of the finest works in the entire piano repertoire and even many of my piano playing friends don't even know of it. =/


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## DeepR

I've listened to Moritz Moszkowski's Piano Concerto Op. 3 that I posted above a few times and now I can heartily recommend it! Especially the gorgeous second movement. Pretty amazing that a gem like this was only recently found in some library in Paris. It is overly long perhaps, but definitely worth a few listens for anyone who enjoys romantic piano concertos.


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## iljajj

The Moszkowski No. 1 (I guess we should call the Op. 59 Piano Concerto No. 2 from now on) can sustain its length very well, in my opinion.

I'm glad to see so many fine concertos listed here; and I wholeheartedly agree that the Wiklund is a very special work. But if I might be permitted to quote three concertos that are very close to my heart:

1. Anton Urspruch: Piano Concerto in E flat major, Op. 9 (1881). Urspruch was a pupil of Raff, something very audible in the first movement.






1. Sergey Bortkiewicz, Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 32. I could name either of the Bortkiewicz concertos, really, they're all great.






3. Friedrich Gernsheim: Piano Concerto in C minor, Op. 16 (1868).


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## Lord Lance

DeepR said:


> I'm currently listening to Moritz Moszkowski's Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 3 (1874):
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> _"This is the live recording of the world premiere performance at the National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw, on January 9, 2014. The performers are Rzeszow Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Kiradjiev, and the soloist is Ludmil Angelov. The forementioned soloist & conductor worked on the final edition of the manuscript score which was found two years ago by a collector of music scores in Paris. Next year the Concerto will be recorded commercially."_
> 
> It's rather long but highly enjoyable!


_THIS _I *must* listen to, most certainly oh yes.


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## fjf

There is a very tempting hyperion collection I would like to own: http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/s.asp?s=S_1


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## elgar's ghost

Here are a couple of Les Six/jazz-tinged goodies from the 1920s by George Antheil:


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## Stanislav

Once you happen to adore romantic and melodic ones:

Nigel Hess - Piano Concerto II. The Love 





ohann Nepomuk Hummel: Piano Concerto No. 3 II. Larghetto





Antonio Salieri - Piano Concerto in B flat (1773) 2. Adagio (the one performed by Pietro Spada)

And especially I urge all of you to have a try on all piano concertos of Henri Herz.


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## musicrom

I enjoy Einar Englund's first piano concerto. Engaging and melodic 20th century work.


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## Lord Lance

Stanislav said:


> *Johann Nepomuk Hummel: Piano Concerto No. 3 II. Larghetto
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I most certainly listen to Hummel. I don't think anyone who listens to classical music gets very far without hearing Hummel's fantastic, sublime and mesmerizing piano concerti.


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## KenOC

Lord Lance said:


> I most certainly listen to Hummel. I don't think anyone who listens to classical music gets very far without hearing Hummel's fantastic, sublime and mesmerizing piano concerti.


Or his piano trios, which I have recently discovered.


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