# Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 as piano concerto



## MeJoho (Feb 14, 2012)

I would just LOVE to hear that concerto as a piano concerto.
So Hilary Hahn sit together with the audience while Kissin, Volodos, Pogorelich or Argerich etc.
plays the piano together with the orchestra.

I'm mostly into Piano Concertos, but there's just a particular moment in this violin concerto that I love just so much, and I'm kind of sure you can tell which part. It's my ringtone, ha.

Anyway, what do you guys think of this and have you stumbled upon anything like this, in this caliber.
Even more interesting, have you ever heard this particular concerto as I just wrote it? 

I'm just not sure if it would sound good with piano, but it wouldn't sound bad I'm sure.

I have heard some videos where piano and violin plays, so you get an idea of how it would sound since the piano also plays the melody once so often. But I never heard it with orchestra.


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

I have searched all over the internet for a full piano transcription but have never found one


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

I don't like his Piano Concerti, either. :lol:


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## MeJoho (Feb 14, 2012)

We should ask a conductor/composer to arrange and play this


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## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

There is a recording of the concerto transcribed for Flute!


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## MeJoho (Feb 14, 2012)

@Alfacharger Oh you are right! Really cool, though the violin is still the best.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

This whole thread is blasphemy.


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## musicrom (Dec 29, 2013)

Not quite what you were looking for, but here's an arrangement for two pianos:


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

It's not without precedent. Beethoven's violin concerto is very nearly my favorite piano concerto. Mendelssohn should have followed his lead.


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## MeJoho (Feb 14, 2012)

musicrom said:


> Not quite what you were looking for, but here's an arrangement for two pianos:


I like that very much!
EDIT: Some parts could just have been better if it had been human who played it.


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## musicrom (Dec 29, 2013)

MeJoho said:


> I like that very much!
> EDIT: Some parts could just have been better if it had been human who played it.


I thought humans were playing it? 
... it says "Performed by SHIRIN & THOMAS" in the video description.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I played the music in my head and it doesn't work as a piano concerto, in my opinion.

You pianists have enough repertoire written for the piano to last you 16 lifetimes.

If this was such a good idea, wouldn't it already have been done?


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

musicrom said:


> I thought humans were playing it?
> ... it says "Performed by SHIRIN & THOMAS" in the video description.


It sounds exactly like a midi piano. Either they're lying about the performers and hoping no one notices or they are the most mechanical piano players in the world.


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## musicrom (Dec 29, 2013)

violadude said:


> It sounds exactly like a midi piano. Either they're lying about the performers and hoping no one notices or they are the most mechanical piano players in the world.


Looking back at it, you're probably right. It sounded weird to me from the beginning, but I guess it was realistic enough for me not to question what they wrote in the video description. There was just something missing in the "performance" and I think you're right that it was because it was not played by people.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

musicrom said:


> Looking back at it, you're probably right. It sounded weird to me from the beginning, but I guess it was realistic enough for me not to question what they wrote in the video description. There was just something missing in the "performance" and I think you're right that it was because it was not played by people.


The passage starting around 4:37 is a dead giveaway that this is a MIDI realization of the arrangement. That machine gun like sound on the repeated notes is not quite the sound you would get if a human were playing it on a real piano.

But maybe I was a bit harsh calling them liars. Maybe by "performers" they meant the people who programed the piece into whatever program they are having play the piece.


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## MeJoho (Feb 14, 2012)

hpowders said:


> If this was such a good idea, wouldn't it already have been done?


idk, it requires an audience to make that kind of arrangement. So maybe it's a question about money?

Anywho, listening to the video musicrom posted makes me think that it _could_ sound very nice as a piano concerto, even though the video is some kind of midi file.


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

violadude said:


> This whole thread is blasphemy.


Undoubtedly.


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## Xenol (Sep 17, 2014)

I would love it if someone did this.


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## Xenol (Sep 17, 2014)

This would be lovely if someone did this.


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## Valjuan (Dec 9, 2016)

I've been working on a transcription of this for a long time. I think a reason why I've never finished is it's just not effective...


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## MeJoho (Feb 14, 2012)

Skilmarilion said:


> Undoubtedly.


I know you guys a saying that with a smile. But Franz Liszt didn't care about such statements, and made very cool transcriptions that today are mostly related to him and not the original composer.



Valjuan said:


> I've been working on a transcription of this for a long time. I think a reason why I've never finished is it's just not effective...


I really appreciate that you have been working on this. But hey, if you don't think it's effective then maybe someone else will. Or will _make_ it effective. Eventually.

Maybe it will take 50 years, but eventually I'm sure someone will do it.
Rachmaninoff could have made it beautiful.


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## pcnog11 (Nov 14, 2016)

Not all classical pieces or material is suitable for transcriptions. Mendelsshon Violin Concerto may not be the right material, especially the 2nd movement. Some of the more lyrical passages only can be expressed by the violin. Phrasing is another dimension one needs to consider. Piano could be a bit harsh and lack of the smoothness of articulation.


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## Retrograde Inversion (Nov 27, 2016)

While we're at it, why not a version of the Grieg Piano Concerto for harpsichord, the Dvořák Cello Concerto for trombone and the Beethoven Triple Concerto for two Jew's harps and a gazoo?


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

pcnog11 said:


> Not all classical pieces or material is suitable for transcriptions. Mendelsshon Violin Concerto may not be the right material, especially the 2nd movement. Some of the more lyrical passages only can be expressed by the violin. Phrasing is another dimension one needs to consider. Piano could be a bit harsh and lack of the smoothness of articulation.


That's a good point about how some violin concertos might not work well in transcription. I think most listeners would agree that Beethoven's violin concerto is not nearly as effective in the piano version that he himself arranged. Mendelssohn's concerto might be in that same category of works that don't "translate" well because they are so perfectly suited to the original instrument.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Beethoven made several very good arrangements of his own works and was quite proud of his prowess.* However he seems to have put very little effort into transcribing his violin concerto as a piano concerto, other than writing the cadenza. I'm not sure that the violin concerto resists successful transcription; maybe its failure to impress in its new form is more Beethoven's fault.

*For instance, he transcribed his Symphony No. 2 as a piano trio, available in most complete sets of his trios. He couldn't capture everything in the symphony, but even contemporary reviewers were amazed at the success of his effort.


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

KenOC said:


> Beethoven made several very good arrangements of his own works and was quite proud of his prowess. However he seems to have put very little effort into transcribing his violin concerto as a piano concerto, other than writing the cadenza. I'm not sure that the violin concerto resists successful transcription, but maybe its failure to impress in its new form is more Beethoven's fault.


Yes, it's true that Beethoven's transcription is a pretty sloppy effort! He basically just gave the violin part to the right hand, added a few clunky chords into the left hand part, and called it a piano concerto.

Perhaps, as you suggest, his violin concerto would indeed fare better in the hands of someone who actually put an effort into it! Hmm...maybe that's another project that Valjuan should take on!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Who could possibly want to listen to the wonderful opening violin melody of the Mendelssohn violin concerto with throbbing vibrato and have it played on piano? That would sound like "white noise" to me.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

pcnog11 said:


> Not all classical pieces or material is suitable for transcriptions. Mendelsshon Violin Concerto may not be the right material, especially the 2nd movement. Some of the more lyrical passages only can be expressed by the violin. Phrasing is another dimension one needs to consider. Piano could be a bit harsh and lack of the smoothness of articulation.


I'm inclined to agree; I don't think the piano will capture the singing effect as effectively. The concerto does lend itself quite well to flute transcription, as do some other violin concertos. But not all: one cannot imagine the Brahms concerto in a flute version, for example.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

brianvds said:


> I'm inclined to agree; I don't think the piano will capture the singing effect as effectively. The concerto does lend itself quite well to flute transcription, as do some other violin concertos. But not all: one cannot imagine the Brahms concerto in a flute version, for example.


Unless someone with a very wild imagination.


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