She began to write a demanding and groundbreaking piano concerto when she was just 13 – the slow movement, featuring a solo cello, may later have influenced her friend Brahms, who used one in his Piano Concerto No. She had been an internationally lauded virtuoso pianist since her early teens, a prodigy whose competitor in chief was Franz Liszt himself. Its three movements are a gentle allegro, a peaceful and tender slow movement and an irresistibly delightful finale.Far from being mere sidekick to her famous husband Robert, Clara, one of the best female composers, was more celebrated than he was when they married. ![]() As K622, it was one of Mozart’s last works and was published posthumously. Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, one of the greatest concertos, was nevertheless conceived originally for basset horn – that extra-dark sound that features prominently in his Requiem – and was intended for Anton Stadler, a virtuoso on that instrument, who gave the premiere (though on clarinet) in Prague in October 1791. He brings out the best of its qualities at every turn, accentuating its ability to bubble, blend and speak almost like an operatic voice – perhaps a mezzo-soprano. In his hands the instrument pours out its tone like hot chocolate. 2: Mozart Clarinet ConcertoĪrguably, no composer ever wrote for clarinet quite as gloriously as Mozart did (pace Brahms and Poulenc). The concerto was written for Brahms’s close friend Joseph Joachim, the greatest violinist of his day, who gave its world premiere in Leipzig in 1879 the high-stepping Hungarian-style dance of the finale is a typically Brahmsian tribute to his colleague’s origins. Epic in scale and emotional range, it exploits not only the violin’s capacity for virtuosity but – perhaps above all – its sheer beauty of tone: listen out for the deep, rich double-stopping at the start of the first movement’s development section, or the concentrated rapture of its duet with the oboe in the sublime slow movement. Reaching the “war horse” era of romantic concertos, the Brahms Violin Concerto is essentially unbeatable. It has remained one of Bartók’s most popular works ever since.Ĭlick to load video 3: Brahms Violin Concerto That orchestra and conductor gave the Concerto For Orchestra’s premiere in December 1944. Having fled war-torn Europe for the US in 1940, he and his family were struggling to make ends meet a commission from the conductor Serge Koussevitzky for the Boston Symphony Orchestra was a more than welcome arrival. It was a work of much practical significance for him. Bartók related that he chose the title because of the soloistic way he had treated each of the orchestra’s sections. Every instrument of the orchestra is treated as a virtuoso in its own right, while the capability of the entire organism is highlighted in five movements of magnificent, atmospheric and often startling invention. The date of composition is not certain: Bach wrote out the concertos in order to present the manuscript to the Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt in 1721 (hence the name), but they may well have been written a good few years earlier, when he was working in Weimar. 5, the featured instruments are violin, flute and harpsichord, the latter breaking into a dizzying cadenza that seems to have been a prototype for every cadenza that followed in the decades, indeed centuries, ahead. ![]() Each is for a different group of solo (or ‘concertante’) instruments placed alongside the orchestral tutti in No. Rightfully, any or every one of Bach’s six Brandenburg Concertos would deserve this slot in our list of the best concertos, if not a higher place. ![]() The last movement was once described (by Donald Tovey) as “a polonaise for polar bears,” and the whole piece seems to glisten with the ice of Sibelius’s native Finland, but the concerto’s overwhelming personality, its unique soundworld, and its all-out challenges for the soloist make it one of the finest of the lot.Ĭlick to load video 5: Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. Some say, perhaps a bit meanly, that this hair-raising work – his one and only concerto, written in 1904-5 – was his revenge. The composer had longed to be a virtuoso violinist himself, but never quite made it. The violin is getting more than its fair share in this selection, but I don’t think any list of the best concertos could be complete without Sibelius. Scroll down to explore our selection of the top 10 best concertos from Bach to Bartók – and not necessarily in that order … 10: Sibelius Violin Concerto Concertos come in all shapes and sizes, for all instruments great and small, but which are the very best? We’ve discussed and debated and compiled our list of the greatest concertos.
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