# Which Is Your Favorite Beethoven Piano Concerto?



## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

The first two by Louis are Mozartian whereas the latter three are Beethoven at his most inspired and influencing later Romantic composers. This is evidently how the best works create a lasting impression.

Which one(s) are your favorites? Which one(s) do you think is of most merit? Surely owing to the enormous development between nos. 1 and 2 and nos.3 to 5, they can't all be equally good.

*No.5*





*No.4*





*No.3*





*No.2*





*No.1*
See next post.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

.... continued
*No.1*


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

I thoroughly enjoy all five piano concertos. The genre is one of my favorite in all classical music, I have voted nos.3 to 5 as my favorites. These have a special Beethoven stamp on them. No.4 and 5 have already leaped into Romanticism. It's a fascinating journey seeing these progress so creatively.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Spinning the Artockometer*:

6/6: none
5/6: PC3
4/6: PC4/5
3/6: PC1
2/6: PC2

* a quantification of my personal taste:
6/6 "hors concours", one of about 100 most favourite compositions.
5/6 "essential", a must-have for my CD collection.
4/6 "important", I really like to have it in my CD collection.
3/6 "good to have", OK for my CD collection, no big deal if not.
2/6 "not required", I don't need this.
1/6 "no thanks", I really prefer not to hear this.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

I voted 3 and 5 , the countless times I spin them is countless.
4-2-1 in that order


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Art Rock said:


> Spinning the Artockometer*:
> 
> 6/6: none
> 5/6: PC3
> ...


Thanks but sorry I don't understand your post at all.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

ArtMusic said:


> Thanks but sorry I don't understand your post at all.


he says that they suck and none of the concerts is among his 100 favorites


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Jacck said:


> he says that they suck and none of the concerts is among his 100 favorites


Oh I see, thank you.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Don't pay attention to Jacck, who is half right and half wrong.
What is so difficult to understand in my post? I use a tiers rating system, as explained in the post itself.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

There seems to be a lot of musicians preferring the 1st, but it's my least favourite, besides the Choral Fantasia and the Youth and D-Major concertos etc. There's a certain bombastic simplicity and minimalism in it, IMO. I can't really choose between 3, 4 and 5; 2 can be charming when played sufficiently capricciously, say by Gould, Serkin/mono, or Argerich live, but it's not quite in that heavy league either.


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

4, 1, 5, 3, 2... something like that.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Art Rock said:


> Don't pay attention to Jacck, who is half right and half wrong.
> What is so difficult to understand in my post? I use a tiers rating system, as explained in the post itself.


I get it now. "PC" stands for Piano Concerto.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

ArtMusic said:


> "PC" stands for Piano Concerto.



..............................


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

I voted #1 because of the enormous affection I have for the final movement.


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

So did I, though in my case it's the 1st movt.which I find irresistibly fresh and engaging. Beethoven was my favourite composer growing up (I saw the light in my late teens and became a total Mozart nut) at which stage I spent probably too long listening to nos.5 and 3 in that order of preference - I still like them but no.4 and esp.no.1 are my preferred listening now.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Nereffid said:


> I voted #1 because of the enormous affection I have for the final movement.


Yes, it is most charming. It is a great movement for the young Beethoven to write, a sign of gifted talent.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

For certain values of young... he was 25 when he wrote the first version, 30 when he revised it into what we now hear.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I love early Beethoven but it can't (and shouldn't) compete with the more mature works. So I chose 5. A few years ago it might have been 3 or 4.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Enthusiast said:


> I love early Beethoven but it can't (and shouldn't) compete with the more mature works. So I chose 5. A few years ago it might have been 3 or 4.


Beethoven's first piano concerto was "no.2" written in 1787 when he was 17 years old, although he revised it several years later. His second piano concerto was "no.1" written in 1795 when he was 25 years old and then revised later. The young genius had already clearly mastered the genre and experimenting with the fortepiano instruments of the day, which was evolving fast. By the time no.5 was written, he was about 40 years old. Clearly he had leaped light years into Romanticism from Classical. It really is fascinating and admirable to study the works, demonstrably showing his greatness and creativity.


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

The 4th. It has such depth. But they're all fine concerti in their different ways, each capable of springing surprises in a new performance.


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

The concerto no. 5.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

4th or 5th. Could never decide which. The last movement of the 4th I like much better than in the 5th. Used to like #3 a lot, but I got overfamiliar with all the gestures. I don't feel it's got the depth of the last 2.


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

Concerto No.5



..............


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## Littlephrase (Nov 28, 2018)

I am just waiting for someone to vote “it is revolting music”. 

#4 is my pick.


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## Axter (Jan 15, 2020)

Oh man, thats the toughest poll for me. I love them all. For the sake of the polls I voted 3rd and 4th, I have special memories associate with them when I just started my first job in London, I would listen to the 4th and 3rd on most weekends. Now when I listen to them my memories go back to London at that time.

By the way for what its worth my fav, cycles of Beethoven Piano Concertos are VPO/Askhenazy/Mehta and CSO/Ashkenazy/Solti.
The latter I find brilliant.


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

1) No. 4 Keep
2) No. 1 Keep
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3) No. 3 So-So
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Don't care for Nos. 2 and 5


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

3, 4, and 5 are all excellent works, but I think #1 is my actual favorite...


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

I'm working on walkthrough videos for all five PCs but so far I've only done one for PC2 if anyone is interested.

http://somethingclassical.blogspot.com/p/quote-of-the.html


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

ArtMusic said:


> The first two by Louis are Mozartian whereas the latter three are Beethoven at his most inspired and influencing later Romantic composers.


No.3 also seems to allude to Mozart

6:02


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## Bruckner Anton (Mar 10, 2016)

#4 and #5 are equally great. Perhaps #5 is more popular, but #4 is pioneering.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Bruckner Anton said:


> #4 and #5 are equally great. Perhaps #5 is more popular, but #4 is pioneering.


That's a good post. I agree #4 is pioneering upon which #5 came along.


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## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

I like them all, but voted for #3 for nostalgic reasons. It was on the first "classical" record I ever bought, and I played it over and over again. The pianist was Ludwig Hoffmann, with Miltiades Caridis conducting the Philharmonia Hungarica... or "Hungaria" as mis-spelt on the cover and the LP label 

I no longer have the record, and as far as I know it was never released on CD; which is a shame, as I wouldn't mind hearing it again.


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## Wilhelm Theophilus (Aug 8, 2020)

I like them all. 

I love none.


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## allaroundmusicenthusiast (Jun 3, 2020)

No. 4 all the way, #5 is a bit overrated, but still amazing.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

The first concerto I loved was No. 1, and I still do love it. Next, my favorite was No. 5. For awhile now, I would say my ranking by enjoyment is:

4
5
3
1
2


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## Wilhelm Theophilus (Aug 8, 2020)

hammeredklavier said:


> No.3 also seems to allude to Mozart
> 
> 6:02


25.06






and 14.50






or is it just me ???


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## mparta (Sep 29, 2020)

I was so overwhelmed by Ivan Moravec's 4th years ago, and I've never really gotten over it, his first go with I think Turovsky or somesuch. It has a general approach that I now realize is pretty idiosyncratic.
I think this is the piece that generated controversy with George Szell and they never performed together again.

Some of Moravec's playing (as usual with this pianist) is over the top beautiful, and that often happens because of his attention to small details and exquisite pianism in general. There's a left hand scale in the first few pages that normally would be -- a left hand scale. With Moravec it's a thing I hear as some of the finest playing I know.

But i do realize that his approach is unusual. I don't know if it's romantic, but it's certainly miles from the dull boy approach of an Alfred Brendel.

The fourth to me is out of the running, there is no competition. For the others, I can't really find much affection for the 3rd anymore, and the 5th is too much of an event and I find the material a little over the top. The first is otherwise my favorite, it just skitters and sings, to watch Martha Argerich play it is to watch something very special. 
I love Pletnev's set. This is a technique built for this music. And even spoiled by the Moravec 4th, I love Pletnev in it.


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

allaroundmusicenthusiast said:


> No. 4 all the way, #5 is a bit overrated, but still amazing.


Maybe not "overrated" but, like most of Beethoven's symphonies, overplayed.


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## allaroundmusicenthusiast (Jun 3, 2020)

consuono said:


> Maybe not "overrated" but, like most of Beethoven's symphonies, overplayed.


Ludwig is perhaps my favourite composer (or he's up there somewhere among my favourites), so I don't believe there's such a thing as playing too much Beethoven :devil:


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

allaroundmusicenthusiast said:


> Ludwig is perhaps my favourite composer (or he's up there somewhere among my favourites), so I don't believe there's such a thing as playing too much Beethoven :devil:


Well, I dunno...after hearing the fifth symphony maybe 17,421 times I could do without another listen for a while.


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## allaroundmusicenthusiast (Jun 3, 2020)

For me, it still grabs me every time, even if it's a recording I know well (although when performed poorly it's awful). The one I find has the most diminishing returns is #7 because of that 2nd movement, but then again, when that happens I'm opened to the brilliance of the rest of the symphony


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

With all due respect to other choices, it's interesting to see the 4th emerging as a favourite. It was the last of LvB's piano Concerti that I got to know, and it has really got under my skin. There are many fine performances on record, but I return to Gilels. His gentle, careful playing of the opening bars is exemplary.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Pat Fairlea said:


> With all due respect to other choices, it's interesting to see the 4th emerging as a favourite. It was the last of LvB's piano Concerti that I got to know, and it has really got under my skin. There are many fine performances on record, but I return to Gilels. His gentle, careful playing of the opening bars is exemplary.


We're in luck. Someone uploaded it all a year ago if anyone is interested:


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