What is your favorite Beethoven Piano Concerto?

In anticipation of Garrick Ohlsson's Livestream on Beethoven's Piano Concerti THIS Thursday at 5:30pm PT, I thought I would ask which one is your favorite! 

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  • My favorite is #4!

    The opening is one of the most sublime chord progressions and I absolutely love how the entire piece is both bubbling with excitement and drama!

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    • Dominic Cheli Me too, if I had to choose, but then they are breath-takingly beautiful so why be exclusive? 

      We heard Mitsuko Uchida play the 4th a few weeks ago.  We had a terrific view of the keyboard and her feet!  Her use of the left pedal was amazing to watch - so much of it, even from the piano's first entry!  Also, the rotation in the double trills - so much!

      Going off-topic, as often I do, I did not join the scales intensive two weeks because my scales aren't good enough to justify your spending time on them.  Please be assured that this is a reasonable assessment of my current technical ability on scales - and the piano generally!   

      I have developed an 'understanding' of all of the major scales and arpeggios on the piano since joining TB - thank you so much!  This meant that I practised all of the majors and harmonic minors over several months to get them all under my belt and then continued to practise the ones that I found more difficult on a daily basis.

      I have inverted your 25%, which was my deduction from the timescales you gave.  I am retrieving so much in this area so I am spending 75% of my practice on scales, arpeggios and dominant 7ths.  

       This has come from your intial talk on scales three to four weeks's ago, which has led to my extending my 'understanding' to include contrary motion and thirds, and dominant 7ths.  Huge inspiration!  Thank you so much! 

      I set myself a personal challenge, which is to add in the extras you had said should be standard practice.  My plan is to do three majors and three harmonic minors every three weeks -so this is a personal three months' intensive.  I am in the second set of three weeks and loving it! 

      My rationale for writing this post is that I don't think that the surveys we have been asked to complete provide TB with sufficient information.  The questions need to be 'open' questions rather than 'closed'?

      I am not nervous about playing to others, just not happy to do so until I can at least get around the basic choreography of the piano, that other TB students have done for years. 

      Some are playing and teaching for a living and its great to hear all of their lovely performances in the challenges.  We learn so much from the teachers' observations and teaching of those terrific students.

      The second string to my personal plan is to work through all of the TB on-line resources to implement the technique that I am developing.

      You must know from our comments that everyone thinks you are so amazing, which you are!  Thank you again and to Tonebase!

       

      Roy J-P   

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    • Susan
    • Susan.6
    • 1 yr ago
    • Reported - view

    That鈥檚 a hard one:). I guess I would say it鈥檚 a tie between Beethoven鈥檚 3rd Piano Concerto and his Fourth.  I have studied and played the Third, but have loved the Fourth!

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  • My favorite is piano concerto #5.  Not coming from a musical background, as a young man I mistakenly purchased the album with Rudolph Serkin, Leonard Bernstein and the NY Philharmonic.   I thought I was purchasing the 5th Symphony!!  馃榾  Well I still hit the jackpot!  The 2nd movement in my opinion is one of the most beautiful piano melodies ever written.  I listen to it often.

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    • victor manuel koldek
    • pianist, musical director, vocal coach... 馃槈
    • victor_manuel_koldek
    • 1 yr ago
    • Reported - view

    3rd and 4th 馃挅

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  • No 1 and 5 

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    • Roy
    • Royhj
    • 1 yr ago
    • Reported - view

    I have to go with the 5th. The experience i had when hearing the transition between the 1st and 2nd movements for the first time is something I will never forget (on an old vynil record).

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  • The 4th concerto. The opening chords, and then the orchestra modulates straight away (!!), and takes us threw the themes for the movement! Then the darker second movement that reflects Beethovens struggle with loosing his hearing, but fortunately it uplifts in the third movement in a sort of "let's just accept things as they are and appreciate life and music". 
    The 3rd concerto is also pretty cool.   

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  • Beethoven 3rd piano concerto is my favorite. I love the 1st mvmt cadenza

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    • Pauline
    • Pauline
    • 1 yr ago
    • Reported - view

    No. 5 馃檪

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  • Beethoven's 2nd second piano concerto is my favorite. I love his others, but the 2nd has a sentimental value to me since it's the first one I heard when I was a child.

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  • #4!!!!

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  • 4th and 5th 

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  • 4th is my favorite piano concerto of all the repertoire primarily because of the thematic balance between the piano and orchestra. It is a very moving piece and  never descends into piano virtuosity gymnastics. It is very balanced beginning to end and speaks to the listener throughout. I've seen it live a few times and it never disappoints!

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