Annnd we're back with Part II. The five pieces listed here show a pretty amazing spectrum of what's possible in the piano concerto genre, and they're full of incredible moments. Savor these pieces. Think about them. At the end of the list I've got a few Honorable Mentions. Witold Lutoslawski – Piano Concerto (1987) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXQ1fgmUIPY... Continue Reading →
As I was scrounging around for a new big blog topic, I thought, “Why not rank piano concertos?” I had already done sonatas, it seemed obvious, and there are some really great pieces out there. I especially wanted an excuse to discover new modern work. But even just trying to get a reasonable sampling from... Continue Reading →
About this time last year I was finishing up a multi-week exploration of the greatest piano sonatas from each period from Classical to contemporary. This topic may not be as cosmically significant as the Spider Nebula (pictured above), but I think it's worth discussing in the piano community. I always meant to create a landing... Continue Reading →
Nikolai Kapustin (b. 1937) occupies a unique space in contemporary piano music. If you view his list of works on his Wikipedia page, you’ll see no less than 161 opuses, with a pretty consistent rate of production, particularly since 1999. If you browse YouTube, you’ll see dozens of videos of both professionals and amateurs playing... Continue Reading →
#1: Ives - Sonata No. 2 “Concord, Mass., 1840-60” (1915) Well, here we are at the end of the “Top 5” sonata-ranking journey. And though this is the fifteenth sonata I’m writing about, I think I’ve saved the best for last. I’ve already written extensively about the Concord Sonata: in program notes for my junior... Continue Reading →
#2: Prokofiev - Sonata No. 6 in A Major, Op. 82 (1940) This is the first of Prokofiev’s “War Sonata” trilogy, and boy is it a harrowing journey through wartime emotions. For a while I thought No. 7 would be the one to represent Prokofiev in the ranking, but No. 6 just kept grabbing me.... Continue Reading →
#3: Barber – Sonata in E-flat minor, Op. 26 (1949) It’s telling that when I was thinking about my initial ranking of contemporary sonatas, before I had scouted out more obscure pieces, my first thought was “OK, so where is Barber going to end up?” It’s popular, and justly so. But is it a masterpiece?... Continue Reading →
#4: Dutilleux - Piano Sonata (1948) Henri Dutilleux (1916-2013) deserves more recognition. He was a consummate craftsman, and, in the tradition of Brahms or Dukas, he wrote a lot more than he published, serving as his own tough critic. But the modest output available to us is full of extremely high-quality music. His orchestral works... Continue Reading →
There was no right way to title this category, and I think that’s a testament to how wonderfully complicated and diverse concert music has become in the last hundred years or so. I could have called the category “20th Century and Beyond,” but there was some downright Romantic music composed in the twentieth century, and... Continue Reading →
