Danny Tan wrote:

>I read with great interests, the mountains of violin concerti that has been
>recommended by list members.  What about some famous and "not to be missed"
>piano concerti?

While I am not exactly the King of Piano Concertos (I know 2 people who
have more than I), I do have some opinions (surprise!).

I have been collecting Concertos for about 45 years now, and as of today,
have 419, with 765 different performances.  Every so often I realize that
works I have lived with for years are not really very familiar to everyone
else.  Other Listers will probably respond with many works that are
familiar to a wide audience, so I will list some Concertos that are less
main-stream that I still enjoy after many hearings.

Scharwenka #1 and #4: Both very tuneful, enjoyable and accessible
Moszkowsky: A real virtuosic romp and lots of fun. Not a masterpiece, but
who cares.
Henselt: A real stunner and terribly difficult even though the listener
might not realize it
Hiller: in f# - Ponti has a great recording. The only one I know of - one of
my big favorites. Where's the CD?
Paderewski: Concerto in a and the Polish Fantasy - Listen to Earl Wild.
Sgambati: Very melodic and grand - Is Bolet's version ever gonna CD'ed?
Bortkiewicz: #1 - Somewhat exotic and very accessible.
d'Albert #2: Very Lisztian and enjoyable - More so than the 1st.
Dohnanyi: Variations of a Nursery Tune. The 2 "Concertos" are also quite
good, at least to me.
Harty: My favorite British concerto
Khachaturian: Others might list this one - No one should be without it.
MacDowell #2: An excellent piece by an American (though German-trained)
Martinu #3: Acessible work in a more modern idiom
Raff: OK, but I don't listen to it much. Maybe I need a CD version
Respighi: A rather recent acquisition for me, but still one that I enjoy
Rubinstein #4: (That's Anton, for the uninitiated, and not Artur or Arthur)
An old warhorse that needs to be played more in concert
Saint-Saens: All of them - even the works that aren't called concertos
Scriabin: Needs to be heard more
Shostakovitch #2: One of my all-time favorites
Stenhammar #1: A very substantial and enjoyable work.
Addinsell: Warsaw Concerto: I still love it - So shoot me.

A few concoctions that I also listen to often:

Rachmaninoff: The 2 Two-Piano Suites arranged for Piano and Orchestra
Liszt: The concerted version of the Schubert "Wanderer Fantasy":
Fantastic!  Moussorgsky: Pictures arranged for P & O

Many wonderful concertos are now on Hyperion's Romantic Piano Concerto
series (Thanks Hyperion!!) Others are now available on the 2-CD Vox Boxes.
A super buy at a lower price.  Not in Hyperion's class sonically, but still
a welcome addition to anyone's colection even if they already have the
vinyl versions.

Joel Hill
Tallahassee, FL - USA
ALKAN Web Page: http://www.nettally.com/joelhill/alkan