Musical Mementos: Piano Concertos
I’m going to be moving again very soon, and I’ve reached the point in my life where the less I have to pack and move, the better it is. So in the age where almost all classical music can be found on websites such as imslp.org, there is really no practical need to bring my sheet music.
…Except owning sheet music is something quite personal to me. It’s always somewhat unsettling to read music off of loose leaf paper that you just printed versus having an actual bound copy to flip through. And while I’m looking through my current collection to figure out what exactly I want to bring, I’ve come to the conclusion that out of all the pieces that have meant a lot to me, I’m going to restrict myself to the piano concertos.
After all, playing a piano concerto is one of the hallmarks you want to achieve as a pianist. From a numbers perspective, most amateur pianists just don’t play piano concertos. Contrast that to a violinist, where by Suzuki Book 4, you’ve already gotten through that annoying Vivaldi in A minor concerto. But as a pianist, you have so much repertoire you have to get through before playing that first monumental piano concerto. Of course, mileage may vary, but you first have to develop some baseline of technique, working your way up through the silly Sonatinas to the Bach Inventions, through the hoops of some Mozart and Beethoven Sonatas, develop your emotions through Chopin Nocturnes, Scherzo’s, and Etudes (Oops, have yet to learn any of the Etudes…yeah that’s definitely on the to-do list), and then finally, you get to scratch the surface in the world of piano concertos.
So each piano concerto I’ve worked on definitely means a lot to me, and I’m going to be taking these following pieces with me as I continue on my journey with life and music
First the honorable mentions (that I’m still taking with me, but don’t really fit the criteria):
George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue: Not your traditional concerto, and even though it is a piece most commonly played as piano solo with orchestra, the sheet music I have is only in solo piano. Nonetheless, this was one of my favorite American classical pieces growing up, and I get a lot of nostalgia whenever I read through the music (I’ve actually never learned it, I got the sheet music back when I was in middle school, and gave up after I couldn’t sight-read American harmonies fast enough to retain interest in working on the piece).
Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G: I remember the first time I heard this piece: it was right after I just auditioned in the state solo and ensemble semi-finalist round. The girl right after me walked up and played the most fascinating sounding concerto. It was exciting, exhilarating, and cool and I was instantly hooked. And of course with that performance she got into the finalist round and I didn’t, but I wasn’t salty at all, because that piece was straight up captivating. Since then, I’ve worked on all 3 movements, and while it’s not as difficult to play as it sounds, it is still a LOT of fun to play. On the honorable mention list because I actually don’t have bound sheet music for this (future birthday gift, anyone? :D)
Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1: To some, this may be a shock as to why it’s on the honorable mention list, seeing that this was the concerto that I performed with my high school orchestra (and the only one I’ve played with a live orchestra). Well for one, I again don’t have bound sheet music (feel free to gift me this too!), and for two, I never really had a good mastery of this piece. Sure I played my heart out on it, but my left hand just never came through (Yes you can hear my left hand drop out in the performance recording in a few sections of this piece….). Nonetheless, this concerto has some of the most moving melodies and passages I have heard, and it will for sure be a piece that I will continue to work on.
Now on to the main course:
Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1: The very first concerto I worked on (Okay I’m actually not too sure if it’s the first one, it could be my second, right after I worked on the Mozart, but I’ll just say it’s the first). It holds a special place because whatever that first concerto my piano teacher handed me (let’s just say it’s this one), I remember feeling a sense of approval. It felt like my teacher told me: “Now, you are ready to take the next step”. While I never really learned even the first movement to any sort of competency, the wonder of your first concerto stays with you forever. And plus, it’s a pretty cute concerto too :).
Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21: My first BIG concerto. And boy, was it a journey. I remember toiling away at the left hand 16th note octaves and jumps. It was probably the first concerto where I have mastered (well, at least the first movement). I remember entering this in the Ypsilanti concerto competition (trying to follow in the footsteps of Daniel Lee with his beautiful Mendelssohn’s violin concerto) and while I didn’t win, I felt excited to perform in front of the judges. (I really should look up my recordings, I’d love to hear my young innocent self play). And I remember being enthralled (in fact, I still am) at the very simple 4 bar melody of the same 5-3-2-1 motif, but first in I, then ii, then V7 and then back to I. I still relish playing through this piece again (and remarking at how much technique I have lost)
Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 (Emperor): I really love this piece. I remember finding the piano sheet music in Shar’s clearance racks, and I’m so glad I picked it up. While I’ve never really got the piece under my fingers, just learning the melodies is really the most majestic thing. Definitely a piece that I will continue to chip at throughout my life.
And now, the last, yet most important piece:
Mendelssohn’s Capriccio Brillant: Yes, not even titled as a concerto, but it is a work for piano and orchestra. In a sense, you could call this my 0th concerto. My teacher handed me the sheet music back in middle school and was like “hey take a look at this for fun”. And take a look I did. I was immediately turned off by all the chords in the beginning and how hard it was to read them (oh silly me). And thus, I put off this piece for a few years, and then I looked at it again. This time around though, I worked through most of it, but I still couldn’t really grasp it. But by then, I was already hooked. Yes, Mendelssohn punishes you really hard for not practicing your scales and arpeggios, but I was so fascinated by everything the piece had to offer. It wasn’t until junior year of high school when I gave this piece my earnest effort, when I couldn’t hide under the guise that my hands were too small to play octaves. It became my piece. I played this at solo and ensemble, I played this piece at all the local concerto competitions (and didn’t win), and I even wanted to play this for the high school concerto competition but they decided to bar junior auditions starting that year. By the end of junior year I was decidedly sick of it, and put it away for good. By then, the cover had almost fallen off. I took it with me to MIT (because it was still important to me) and hadn’t really looked at it…until the last week on campus. I read through all the music I had before shipping it all back, and I realized again why I love this piece so much. For one, I can’t deny that because it’s not the most well known, I feel slightly exclusive to have played it. For another, the piece has a lot of melodies, motifs, technique, and ideas that catch my fancy. But most importantly, this piece just has so much history with me, from the first time I received it, to all the countless hours I’ve put into it. It’s definitely a piece I want to play with a live orchestra at some point in my life time (a super extravagant birthday gift? :D take notes friends hahahaha).
And that’s it! Yes, I really haven’t worked on that much in the piano concerto repertoire, but it’s a start, and it’s a journey I plan on continuing.
P.S.! One last concerto I want to talk about, but that I’ve never played, and that I don’t even have the music for:
Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 26 (Coronation): A somewhat of a primer to the concerto world. My piano teacher wanted me to accompany one of her older students (that I unfortunately idolized) who was playing the solo part. So I learned the orchestra reduction part. And I just really like the concerto itself. Not one of Mozart’s best works, seeing that he left many of the left hand notes in the score blank (presumably because he knew what it was gonna be anyway so he didn’t bother writing it down), so later editions filled in simple alberti bass. But I’m just really partial to one of its melodies, and the whole concerto is a delight to listen to. :)
My mom said the same thing about piano repertoire- you go through all the Bach, the Chopin, all the sonatas in the world and then you finally get to the piano concertos. I wish the violin curriculum focused more on the sonatas though (how can you play with an orchestra if you don’t know how to play with one other musician?). But then again, what ends up happening is that you learn a violin concerto and you play it with a piano accompanist...you ultimately end up doing the same thing lmao
Best of luck on your musical and occupational endeavors!!!!!!!! (and I’ll practice violin every once in a while too hahaha)
