Question by Niv T: What do you think is Tchaikovsky’s best Piano playing Composition?
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Answer by Peter
This might be lame, but I’m gonna go with his most famous one, the Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor. I’ve been listening to that piece all of my life and it has never gotten old.
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Nemesis says
From an actual *playing* point of view, without hesitation the Concert Fantasia for Piano & Orchestra op.56, run in a dead-heat with the Third Concerto op.75/79. Both are far better conceived for the instrument's strengths without any of the habitual Tchaikovskian 'awkwardnesses' of the other two concertos, even if the Fantasia does have a ramshackle moment or two, structurally speaking, as a composition. The final coda, however, contains some of the most outrageous good fun for all performers in the concertante repertoire, with the soloist completely at the mercy of the rock steady playing of the band, and don't they just know it… 🙂
(Whenever I've been asked to do op.23, I've invariably tried to wheedle and cajole the organisers into substituting either of these two instead, with increasingly frequent success in latter years compared with a few decades ago… <g>)
Concert Fantasia op.56:
(1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AerLdJ_LJco
(2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qms34tSH5bA
(3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ejs4LJ3upjs
(4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Egts0wkDpM
Concerto III op.75/79
(1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f91mOpCjG4&li…
(2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f91mOpCjG4&li…
(3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f91mOpCjG4&li…
(4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue-DlW2-uE8&fe…
All the best,
4T1LL says
I agree, I love the Piano Concerto No. 1 in Bb minor