Piano concerto
A piano concerto is a concerto in which the solo instrument piano is compared with an orchestra.
Johann Sebastian Bach replaced no later than 1721 in his Fifth Brandenburg Concerto harpsichord from his usual thorough bass roll out and showed him extensive solo passages to. Above all, his Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor is characterized by both its length, on the other hand, by the emergence of a comprehensive solo cadenza at the end of the first movement. In the development of the piano concerto Bach went the way of what has been trained violin concerto. From Bach received 18 concertos for piano and organ are 13 transmissions own or others' violin phrases. This approach had two reasons: First, the harpsichord had, among other things, due to the limited volume of sound was not yet the rank of Universal Instruments and occurred in the context of other instruments on mostly in the acting role of a basso continuo instrument. This had to be broken with traditional habits. Second, it lacked the piano at established concert contemporary virtuoso of piano technique matched formulas, figures and traditions.
Within a few decades (about Bach's sons, George Frideric Handel, Johann Adolph Hasse, the Graun brothers and many others) was the composer of solo use of a keyboard instrument already everyday life - for themselves by releasing towards the end of the 18th century fortepiano were from the beginning concertos written.
From the Baroque to the Modern Piano Concerto is to be found in all eras. It was oriented normally to the musical forms of the respective eras.
In Baroque music the harpsichord concert of the then usual three -part form follows. Today, there are performers who perform baroque concerts on the modern piano.
The piano concert of Viennese classical oriented formal usually on the symphony / sonata form. Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven have written such concerts, which are characterized by an interplay between orchestra and solo instrument in the form of a cooperation - Konzertierens. Often gives the soloists especially towards the end of the first set a cadence the opportunity to show his ability as a pianist unaccompanied. Cadenzas were improvised at the beginning and increasingly set by the composer; in the concert business often cadences famous artists have prevailed.
Piano Concertos of romance often differ from the solid forms of the classical piano concert. Since the 19th century brought forth many virtuoso pianists who wanted a better presentation of their skills, the focus of the interplay between orchestra and soloists in favor of the soloists postponed. The solo part is the orchestra essentially just a back participating accompaniment represents a significant example of this are the piano concertos of Chopin, which could be played completely without orchestra, if the pianist takes over the transcribed into piano version orchestral part. Conversely with Schumann, whose piano concerto in A minor, is a masterpiece of thematic and melodic integration of piano and orchestra waiving mere virtuoso display for the soloist. A highlight of the mesh and flow - through vain the range of topics reached the romance in the 2nd Piano Concerto by Brahms. Even the length of the work and the record layout with 4 sets is new in this profession. Quite unlike in his first piano concerto demonstrated here already the beginning of a new path: Horns present a topic that is not taken up by the piano; Rather, the soloist represents with its own thematic twist and maintains this independence through the whole work. Piano and orchestra in this concert of the mature Brahms equal in the formal and musical demand. The highlight of the virtuoso style reaches the middle romance in often much played Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, but even more so late Romanticism in the piano concertos by Rachmaninov. Meanwhile Concerto No. 2 in C minor, D minor and 3 are among the pianistic highlights, among the most technically difficult works ever and the world's most frequently played pieces of this genre in today's concert world. Not least their success to the outstanding development is explained in piano, which offered a mechanically sound and technically high-quality, innovative foundation for the compositional Klangansprüch at the piano concerto with full orchestra extent since the second half of the 19th century with the construction of special concert grand piano.
From the 20th century concertos by Bartók, Gershwin, Prokofiev and Ravel are played in today's concert practice preferred. The Piano Concerto as a distinct musical form has survived to modern times, but also other forms have emerged that provide equally giving concerts of piano and orchestra, to be without a piano concerts in the true sense. These are exemplified by Franz Liszt's " Wanderer-Fantasie ( by Franz Schubert ) ," César Franck's " Symphonic Variations for Piano and Orchestra " and George Gershwin's " Rhapsody in Blue".