# Your favorite piano concerto? Your favorite artist playing it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 5, 2018, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-piano-concerto-your-favorite-artist-playing-it/817316 "2018-07-05T07:14:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2018, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-piano-concerto-your-favorite-artist-playing-it/817316/1 "2018-07-05T07:14:25Z")
I haven’t listened to classical music that much in the past 40 years, but I am getting back into it. I unexpectedly started to binge on youtube (I know, the sound is marginal, but I really like seeing the performers play, and it’s a lot cheaper and more convenient than live concerts). When I was a young person, my favorite was Rachmaninoff’s 3rd, it could move me and propel me and lift me up. I still like it, but these days it seems to lack emotional depth and breadth - it’s too much the same sort of intensity, and all that intensity tends to put me off now. These days, I’m very much liking Schumann’s A minor. Very romantic, lots of yearning and lovely things in it, and it’s a lot more than just a virtuoso piece. And I have a new favorite pianist, I have just discovered (although she is older than I am) Martha Argerich, still playing, better than ever apparently, in her 70s. Also a pianist who is remarkably free of affectation at the keyboard. I don’t know where I’ve been all her career, but thank heavens for youtube for this discovery. So, please share what you would like the rest of us to discover. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2018, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-piano-concerto-your-favorite-artist-playing-it/817316/2 "2018-07-05T08:22:14Z")
[This thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=812930) may be of interest 😉 . At the time, I voted for : **[ul] [li]Beethoven 4 (Kempff - Leitner - Berlin)[/li][li]Brahms 1 (Pollini - Abbado - Berlin)[/li][li]Brahms 2 (Freire - Chailly - Leipzig)[/li][li]Grieg (Anda - Karajan - Berlin)[/li][li]Tchaïkovsky 1 (Pogorelich - Abbado - London)[/li][/ul]** To which I’ll add : **[ul] [li]Prokofiev 2 (Ashkenazy - Previn - London)[/li][li]Ravel (Argerich - Abbbado - Berlin)[/li][/ul]** And if Contemporary Classical doesn’t put you off, do yourself a favour and try : **[ul] [li][Ligeti](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNewteLXpDY) (Aimard - De Leeuw - ASKO/Schoenberg Ensemble)[/li][/ul]** Once you get past the initial surprise, it’s actually a fun piece with wacky off beats and shifting accents, while the rarefied second movement, _Lento e deserto_, is beautiful in an uneasy, dream-like way. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-piano-concerto-your-favorite-artist-playing-it/817316/3 "2018-07-06T05:10:32Z")
This is a recently restored recording that is a favorite of mine: Rachmaninoff piano concerto no. 2, Rachmaninoff playing, fully restored from the 1929 release. I agree with the first commenter: “This is frighteningly clear for a recording made in 1929 of the legend himself!” [- YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG3DvGZ1qiQ) I’m a little unclear about the process, but I think this new restoration is from the master itself, not any pressings, plus much computer processing. More explanation is at this earlier attempt (click on “show more” in the description): [- YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddTVZy-ZwVI) ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-piano-concerto-your-favorite-artist-playing-it/817316/4 "2018-07-06T05:26:33Z")
I don’t have artists off the top of my head (please suggest) But these are magnificent pieces of music: Beethoven #4 Beethoven #5 Mozart #9 Mozart #17 Mozart #20 Mozart #23 Chopin #1 Tchaikovsky #1 St. Saens #2 ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-piano-concerto-your-favorite-artist-playing-it/817316/5 "2018-07-07T17:25:05Z")
[Rachmaninoff 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnAQIRqvVYQ&t=1s) by Yuja Wang (excellent with [sonatas](https://youtu.be/iQ5qJrtxWzs?t=1), too) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-piano-concerto-your-favorite-artist-playing-it/817316/6 "2018-07-08T19:28:42Z")
Beethoven #1, mostly because of the “fingerbusting” final Presto. Ludwig has been winning all the piano duels in heaven with this one. Marthe Argerich, please. Prokofiev #3, because of the spectral second movement. Ferrucio Busoni’s sole Piano Concerto, c. 1910,which is filled with mystical visions and cosmic vibrations. This one is a five movement monster, so I’d take any piano player capable of keeping up. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-piano-concerto-your-favorite-artist-playing-it/817316/7 "2018-07-08T19:45:38Z")
Tchaikosky’s No. 1; I’m a simple person that way. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-piano-concerto-your-favorite-artist-playing-it/817316/8 "2018-07-09T06:19:15Z")
Rachmaninoff No. 2 is amazingly popular, and with good reason. My favorite version features the supreme pianist Arthur Rubenstein. God _damn_ what a combo–Rubenstein and Rachmaninoff, one of the most lyrical, chimeric pianists coupled with perhaps the most romantic, melodic composer. What’s not to love? Current favorite recording: [With Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra](https://youtu.be/u9QLiefnoDE). The run-up from [5:45ish](https://youtu.be/u9QLiefnoDE?t=5m43s), especially at 6:00 forward, to the ultimate [apex at 6:25, where the piano just goes apeshit wild with triumphant syncopation…](https://youtu.be/u9QLiefnoDE?t=6m23s) God, every time I get to that section, I blast the volume so it surrounds me, so I can revel and weep at how exquisitely passion exists when expressed in music. And no matter how often I listen: goosebumps. How many popular songs came out of this concerto? Parts of it are in “All By Myself,” there’s of course “Full Moon and Empty Arms,” and… rats, I know I’m leaving one out… Anyway. My fave. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-piano-concerto-your-favorite-artist-playing-it/817316/9 "2018-07-09T09:00:10Z")
> [@choie](#): > > …God, every time I get to that section, I blast the volume so it surrounds me, so I can revel and weep at how exquisitely passion exists when expressed in music. And no matter how often I listen: goosebumps… Talking about white-hot intensity, I’ve always been blown away by the passage between 7:58 and 8:30 in this [recording of Rachmaninov 3 (Argerich - Chailly - RSO Berlin)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgMUgmri1JM). It starts at “very intense”, goes immediately through the roof and… well, just builds from there.