Type of concerto of consisting of a solo piano composition accompanied by an orchestra
A piano concerto, a type of concerto, is a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for piano accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuosic showpieces which require an advanced level of technique. Piano concertos are typically written out in music notation, including sheet music for the pianist (which is typically memorized for a more virtuosic performance), orchestral parts, and a full score for the conductor.
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The standard practice in the Baroque and Classical eras (together spanning from circa 1600 to circa 1800), was for the orchestra to provide subordinate accompaniment over which the piano plays solo parts. However, at the end of the classical era, the orchestra had an equal role to the pianist and frequently had “dialogue” or “conversation” between the two. When music students and music competition auditionees play piano concertos, the orchestra part may be performed in an orchestral reduction, a conversion of the orchestra parts into a part for an accompanist playing piano or pipe organ, as it is very expensive to hire a full orchestra. Keyboard concerti were common in the time of Johann Sebastian Bach in the Baroque music era, during the Classical period and during the Romantic music era (1800–1910). Keyboard concertos are also written by contemporary classical music composers. Twentieth- and 21st-century piano concertos may include experimental or unusual performance techniques. In the 20th and 21st centuries, J. S. Bach's harpsichord concertos are sometimes played on piano. There are variant types of piano concertos, including double piano concertos, for two solo pianists and orchestra, and double or triple (or larger solo groups) concertos in which the piano soloist is joined by a violinist, cellist, or another instrumentalist.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's mature piano concertos are considered by connoisseurs to be not only among the greatest of all piano concertos, but even to represent a pinnacle of western classical music as a whole. Their formal perfection is matched by a consistent melodic beauty and inventiveness, and they remain staples of the classical music repertoire of all major orchestras in the 21st-century. Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467 has always been immensely popular, while Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, was in the performance repertoires of both Beethoven and Liszt. Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat major, K. 271, written when Mozart was 21 years old was his first unequivocal masterpiece of the form (according to Charles Rosen) and is still often recorded and performed in concert.
The "Emperor" piano concerto by Ludwig van Beethoven was composed in 1809 and was the last of Beethoven's five piano concertos. By 1809, Beethoven was quite deaf, and could no longer perform his own piano concertos in public. The work had to wait until 1812 for its premiere performance, most likely due to the Napoleonic wars, which affected the situation in Vienna. With this concerto, Beethoven did away with the tradition of the performer improvising his own cadenza at the end of the first movement, in favor of a cadenza composed by the composer himself, and in this sense Beethoven's 5th piano concerto was groundbreaking.[2]
Classical and Romantic Piano Concertos, an extensive list of Classical and Romantic piano concertos, and other music for piano and orchestra from the same period.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Piano_Concerto, and is written by contributors.
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