Piano concerto - Definition and Overview

A piano concerto is a concerto for solo piano and orchestra.

Concertos for the harpsichord were written throughout the Baroque era, notably by Johann Sebastian Bach (see list of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach for a list). These are often today performed with a piano as the solo instrument. Concertos specifically written for the piano were first composed in the Classical music era. The most important composer in the development of the form was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who, like many later composers, played the solo part of his works in many concerts.

Many later composers have worked in the form, including Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann, Edvard Grieg, Johannes Brahms and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The form surivived into the twentieth century, with examples being written by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Prokofiev, Béla Bartók and others, and piano concertos are still written today.

Amongst the piano concerto repetoire include a few for only the left hand of the pianist. Composers of piano concertos for the left hand include Maurice Ravel (perhaps the most famous), Sergei Prokofiev, Bohuslav Martinů, Dieter Nowka, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Ned Rorem and Paul Hindemith. Paul Wittgenstein was a famous left-handed pianist who commissioned many of these works.

List of piano concertos

• Béla Bartók
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 (1929)
  • Piano Concerto No. 2 (1931)
  • Piano Concerto No. 3 (1945)
• Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 (1798)
  • Piano Concerto No. 2 (1798)
  • Piano Concerto No. 3 (1803)
  • Piano Concerto No. 4 (1806)
  • Piano Concerto No. 5 (1809), the Emperor
• Johannes Brahms
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 (1859)
  • Piano Concerto No. 2 (1881)
• Frederic Chopin
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 (1830)
  • Piano Concerto No. 2 (1830)
• Ernö Dohnányi
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 5 (1897-8)
  • Piano Concerto No. 2 in B minor, Op. 42 (1946-7)
• Antonín Dvorák
  • Piano Concerto in G minor, Op. 33 (1876)
• John Field
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat (1799)
  • Piano Concerto No. 2 in A flat (1811)
  • Piano Concerto No. 3 in E flat (1811)
  • Piano Concerto No. 4 in E flat (1814, revised 1819)
  • Piano Concerto No. 5 in C (1817), l'Incedie par l'Orage
  • Piano Concerto No. 6 in C (1819, revised 1820)
  • Piano Concerto No. 7 in C minor (1822, revised 1822-32)
• George Gershwin
  • Piano Concerto in F (1925)
• Edvard Grieg
  • Piano Concerto (1868)
• Paul Hindemith
  • Klaviermusik mit Orchester, Op. 29, (1923, for left hand only)
• Johann Nepomuk Hummel
  • Piano Concerto in A, s4 / WoO. 24 (1790s)
  • Piano Concerto in A, s5 / WoO. 24a (1790s)
  • Piano Concerto in C, Op. 34a (1811)
  • Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 85 (1821)
  • Piano Concerto in B minor, Op. 89 (1821)
  • Piano Concerto in E, Op. 110 (1826)
  • Piano Concerto in A flat, Op. 113 (1830)
  • Piano Concerto in F, Op. posth. 1 (1839)
• Erich Wolfgang Korngold
  • Piano Concerto for the left hand, Op. 17, (1923, commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein)
• György Ligeti
  • Piano Concerto (1988)
• Franz Liszt
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 (1835)
  • Piano Concerto No. 2 (1839)
• Bohuslav Martinů
  • Concertino for piano left hand and chamber orchestra, Op. 173, (1926)
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 (1925)
  • Piano Concerto No. 2 (1934)
  • Piano Concerto No. 3 (1948)
  • Piano Concerto No. 4 (1956, Incantations)
  • Piano Concerto No. 5 (1957, Fantasia concertante) (see [1] (http://www.chez.com/craton/musique/martinu/martinu.htm))
• Nikolai Karlovich Medtner
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, Op. 33 (1914-18)
  • Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 50 (1920-27)
  • Piano Concerto No. 3 in E minor, Op. 60 (1940-43)
• Felix Mendelssohn
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 (1831)
  • Piano Concerto No. 2 (1837)
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - wrote twenty seven concertos in all, among them:
  • Piano Concerto No. 9 (1777), the Jeunehomme
  • Piano Concerto No. 11 (1783)
  • Piano Concerto No. 12 (1782)
  • Piano Concerto No. 13 (1783)
  • Piano Concerto No. 14 (1784)
  • Piano Concerto No. 15 (1784)
  • Piano Concerto No. 16 (1784)
  • Piano Concerto No. 17 (1784)
  • Piano Concerto No. 18 (1784)
  • Piano Concerto No. 19 (1784)
  • Piano Concerto No. 20 (1785)
  • Piano Concerto No. 21 (1785)
  • Piano Concerto No. 22 (1785)
  • Piano Concerto No. 23 (1786)
  • Piano Concerto No. 24 (1786)
  • Piano Concerto No. 25 (1786)
  • Piano Concerto No. 26 (1788), the Coronation
  • Piano Concerto No. 27 (1791)
• Dieter Nowka
  • Piano Concerto for the left hand (1971)
• Francis Poulenc
  • Piano Concerto (1949)
• Sergei Prokofiev
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 (1912)
  • Piano Concerto No. 2 (1913, rewritten 1923)
  • Piano Concerto No. 3 (1921), his best known
  • Piano Concerto No. 4 (1931), for the left hand (written for Paul Wittgenstein)
  • Piano Concerto No. 5 (1932)
• Sergei Rachmaninoff
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 (1891)
  • Piano Concerto No. 2 (1901)
  • Piano Concerto No. 3 (1909)
  • Piano Concerto No. 4 (1926)
• Maurice Ravel
  • Piano Concerto (1931)
  • Piano Concerto for the Left Hand (1931, written for Paul Wittgenstein)
• Ned Rorem
  • Piano Concerto No.4 for the left hand (1993)
• Camille Saint-Saëns
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 (1858)
  • Piano Concerto No. 2 (1868)
  • Piano Concerto No. 3 (1869)
  • Piano Concerto No. 4 (1875)
  • Piano Concerto No. 5 (1896), the Egyptian
• Arnold Schoenberg
  • Piano Concerto (1942)
• Robert Schumann
  • Piano Concerto (1845)
• Alexander Scriabin
  • Piano Concerto opus 20 in f# (1897)
• Dmitri Shostakovich
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 (1933), also includes a part for solo trumpet
  • Piano Concerto No. 2 (1957)
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 (1874)
  • Piano Concerto No. 2 (1880)
  • Piano Concerto No. 3 (1893)