Now look what you lot have done.

I was happy listening to my rock albums, very happy.

Then someone on here said they loved piano concertos.

When buying some vinyl I picked up Mozart No 17 & 21 as well as Rachmaninoff No 2, they were bargains I had no choice.

Now I can't stop listening to them and want to run out and buy more.

I just hope you're all happy now.

Will this madness ever end?

P.S. Can anyone suggest some good piano concertos, not for myself, but for a friend.......

Hey, you've just upgraded your experiance in what it is to be a human being - art.

Beethoven Piano Concertos No.2 and No.4

While not concertos, J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations are great piano pieces.

Well, are you listening to great performances?

They could be even more addicting!

I would definitely get a good set of the five Beethoven concertos. There are some great ones that are dirt cheap.

There are any number out there by Beethoven (as has been suggested) Rachmaninoff, Grieg, Schumann, Liszt, Tchiakovsky, etc. and no, the feeling never goes away and you are hooked for life - Elvira Madigan struck again.

Beethoven´s 3, 4 and 5
Chopin´s 1 and 2
Tchaikovsky 1
Brahms 1 and 2 ( somewhat heavier )
Mendelsohn 1 and 2
Mozart- Any from 15 to 27
Liszt 1 and 2

This is just for starters. When you get really hooked there are thousands out there to discover.

Jorge

Please add Rachmaninoff # 3 and the Paganini Variations (for piano and orchestra) to your list. Perhaps also the Variations symphoniques by Cesar Franck.

I feel happy for you!

All the best

If you ever see an LP of Schubert's Piano Trios, definitely grab that. And +1 on Tchaikovsky No. 1, I've picked up two different recordings of that on DG.

In addition to the great suggestions already offered, allow me to toss out:
Anything by Alberto Ginastera and Gyorgy Ligeti.

"...not for myself, but for a friend", my a$$!:D

Some more cornerstones of the Piano Cto literature I'm really partial to
are those by Bartok and Prokofiev.

I'll mention one a bit more obscure: the A minor Piano Concerto, Op. 85, by Johann Nepomuk Hummel. A contemporary of Beethoven. He kind of bridges the gap between Mozart and Beethoven, but this work is a gem. The performance by Stephen Hough is great, but others are available.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51FPD3QVZTL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

Plenty of great suggestions made already. Get out there to the record stores and thrift shops, and you'll find a tremendous wealth of piano music was recorded over the years. There is even a lot of piano stuff on LaserDiscs!

I'll add one non-concerto piano disc you SHOULD get: Sandhan's "Times of Celebration". Fantastically beautiful and relaxing all-piano compilation. :thmbsp:

Then just wait until you upgrade your speakers to NS-1000Ms. Piano on those sounds so friggin' realistic that with your eyes closed, you'll swear there is actually a piano in front of you. Best piano simulation I've ever heard! :music:

I think some of the posters have gone overboard.

Hummel? Ginastera? Sandhan?

I would stick to the basics with great performances of well-known works, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, Mozart, Schumann, Tchaikovsky. These works are famous for a reason.

As I mentioned, it is important to focus on performance quality. There are bad and boring performances, especially on some of the budget labels.

You can go ahead and pick up anything you find that says "Vladimir Horowitz" on it. :yes: :music:

You can go ahead and pick up anything you find that says "Vladimir Horowitz" on it. :yes: :music:

Or Evgeny Kissin and Murray Perahia :yes:

P.S. Can anyone suggest some good piano concertos, not for myself, but for a friend.......

hehe.

I've been discovering more classical piano lately. Not just concertos but other forms.

Awhile back I discovered Leif Ove Andsnes on Chopin Piano Sonatas 1 & 2 -- really enjoy his style of playing. I did a bad thing and downloaded the music (bad me, bad!) - want this on CD sometime. You might see what else he has out there. I believe he's done some Grieg (fellow countryman).

Ran across some Horowitz. An LP "Horowitz in Concert - Recorded from his 1966 Carnegie Hall Recitals" -- I did some digging and equated the material to that found on Sony Classical S3K 53461 Horowitz: The Historic Return: Carnegie Hall 1965 - The 1966 Concerts (which my wife bought me for xmas :D) I know you're asking about music, but a lot of it is the musician too. I didn't know if I could tell one from another but... was also listening to Horowitz in Moscow on DG (LP) - him playing in his 80s. There's so much nuance and mastery in his technique... just mind blowing. The Horowitz material on both of these is extremely varied so this is a good way to sample several types and eras of piano music.

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto 2 in c minor + 6 preludes on LP (DG 138076) I vaguely recall as being good. Svjatoslav Richter is the pianist.

Along that line is Preludes (complete) on Naxos 8.570327 which is (I think) a good recording and really fantastic music that keeps drawing me back.

In the same way I hugely dig Mendelssohn: Rarities - 4 sonatas, 3 studies, 2 fugues with Roberto Prosseda playing. I play this very often. Naxos 476 5277. I also enjoy Piano Trios No 1 and 2 (in this case also on Naxos 8.555063 ; Gould Piano Trio)

I have some Brahms piano concertos but ... haven't gotten into those just yet.

The LP is a bit trashed but I still enjoy Beethoven Piano Concerto No 4 in G Major Op 58 on London CS6856 with Ashkenazy playing and Sir Georg Solti conducting. I just heard Concertos No 1 and 3 on a 4-track -- I was into it at first take... will take a number of additional listenings to really appreciate I am sure. These were RCA Red Seal with Artur Rubinstein at the keys and Boston Symphony Orch / Leinsdorf.

This is more about ... German singing... but also the piano work is great. So you may or may not might not like it but I've gotten many hours of enjoyment out of "An Die Musik" - Favorite Schubert Songs [aka Lieder] - in particular, DG 445 294-2 CD.

Something considerably more modern is Michael Nyman's "The Piano Concerto" on Argo 443 382-2

Hope this is helpful in your quest for great piano music :)

I must admit, I don't care much for Horowitz' playing, nor for Ashkenazy either.

I look for: Wilhelm Backhaus, Sviatoslav Richter, and Wilhelm Kempff. Or if you'll settle for mono from the 30s, then Artur Schnabel.

IMHO, the German players who received the bulk of their musical education before WWI played this music the way it is supposed to be played.....and Richter was a fantastic genius, a player that comes along once in a century.

hehe.

Awhile back I discovered Leif Ove Andsnes on Chopin Piano Sonatas 1 & 2 -- really enjoy his style of playing. I did a bad thing and downloaded the music (bad me, bad!) - want this on CD sometime. You might see what else he has out there. I believe he's done some Grieg (fellow countryman).



He has not only played Grieg but on Grieg's own piano. I have a couple of his CDs on the way. What I like about his playing is there are no grace notes tossed in here and there, if it is not in the composer's original version he does not add. I remember when WGMS here had a contest for musician of the year or some such thing, Andsnes lost out to Joshua Bell and that really annoyed me because Bell throws in enough grace notes to make a composition of his own.

I must admit, I don't care much for Horowitz' playing, nor for Ashkenazy either.

I look for: Wilhelm Backhaus, Sviatoslav Richter, and Wilhelm Kempff. Or if you'll settle for mono from the 30s, then Artur Schnabel.

IMHO, the German players who received the bulk of their musical education before WWI played this music the way it is supposed to be played.....and Richter was a fantastic genius, a player that comes along once in a century.

Maybe this hijacks the thread... if not... what about their playing do you prefer? And what about others do you not? How does pre/post WWI come into play?

Michael

Aaron Copland - Piano Concerto
Gian Carlo Menotti - Piano Concerto

http://store.acousticsounds.com/browse_detail.cfm?Title_ID=16118
This LP was mastered using tube type equipment and sounds wonderful!

It was Mozart's Piano Concerto No.22 that was largely responsible for finally hooking me into classical just a couple years ago.
Since then, I've come to really dig No.s 21 and 12 especially.

This is an excellent set of Mozart concertos. Played by Alfred Brendel. Its 2 discs and the price is unbelievably low for whats contained. (It's vol 2 of 2)
http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Great-Piano-Concertos-Vol/dp/B0000041AB/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1231857140&sr=8-3

I second the advice to keep your focus narrowed to one or two composers once you find one that really resonates for you. That way, you'll build a better foundation of context for exploration.

Personally, I really dig Mozart Piano Concertos, but am not drawn to his symphonies. Similarly, I love Mendelssohn's Piano Trios (http://www.amazon.com/Mendelssohn-Piano-Trios-Op-49/dp/B000002A8S/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1231857711&sr=1-8), but don't care for his quartets. Beethoven and Schubert can do no wrong by me. ...What's my point here...I guess to say that once I found Mozart Piano Concertos, I used the love of them as kind of a home base to go out and explore other classical offerings.

Add to others' suggestions:

Schumann: Piano Concerto in A Minor, opus 54

Alkan's "Les Quatre Ages" is definitely worth looking into as well. Hamelin performs it well, although I'm not sure if its on vinyl.

not piano concertos, but keep an eye out for shostakovich symphonies 5 and 7

Sometime get hold of Schubert's Impromtues, great listening.