I am wondering what the easiest piano concertos are, because I'm at a point now where I may be ready for an easier one. Would that be one of Mozart's, or not? (I prefer one from the 1600's or 1700's).

Mozart? Definately not. Mozart is one of the hardest! Though you don't imagine that looking to the score. I am working on the C-major concert no, 21 ("Elvira Madigan") right now. Mozart is sooooo hard to articulate and every little mistake hurts you and your audience.

What is an easy concert? Hard to decide. I would propose maybe Johann Christian Bach, some Haydn so called Divertimenti for piano and (string)orchestra. maybe some others will come to my mind later....

Mozart would be also good to start in that point that you would have it in ear and that helps much during practising. And you might love the concerts more...You musn't play it perfect or in a concert, so dare to choose some Mozart.

Will your teacher accompeigne you on a second piano with the piano reduction?

I would play along with MIDI.

I do no recommend that. It will hurt your interpretation.

Yes! I agree. Have u heard of the saying that 'it's easier for a child to play Mozart rather than an adult'?
With Mozart, things must be crystal clear, transparent, yet crisp and light at the same time. It's really difficult to do all that , unless yr born with the 'Mozartian' touch. U can practice like hell, and still not get the correct sound. I always avoid playing Mozart for concerts. Yr audience can tell whether yr a Mozart player with just 1 touch of the keys. And Mozart's linear feel is difficulty to sustain...u see how the phrases are short, yet linked to one another in a big continuous flow...This's what's called Musical Continuity. It's awfully hard to do, without having 1 phrase or note suddenly isolated from the others. For Mozart, the music has to speak in a most natural and effortless way, and it's quite impossible for 90% of the pianist population...caz as adults, we tend to make everything too deliberate and elaborative.
If yr exceptionally good at Mozart, congrats! It's an inborn trait.

That was a beautiful description of Mozart :-)
I dont have a lot of experience playing concertos, but my first was by Haydn, in D Major (i think, I'm too lazy to get up and check ). I don't remember it being difficult, and it has some nice moments. I remember liking the slow movement.

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*LiSa*

"Music is not illusion, but revalation"
~Tchaikovsky

I know, I'm a dork.

try Kabalevsky's Piano Concerto No. 3

it's meant to be played by students and it's still impressive.

You could take a look at Bach's F minor Concerto.

Do you think that mozart's concertos are harder to play in terms of technique or the interpreting part?
Is Mozart concerto harder than Chopin?

Why don't you ask your teacher?

Can I draw your attention to this piece. The poster says it's the worst piano concerto ever written. Well that, of course is a matter of personal opinion.
But to my ears it's simple but attractive. Maybe it was a piece written specially for a student musician, who knows?...



http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1ed0Y12hAik

Both concertos by Shostakovich is quite light-fingered.They are still brilliant.

Mozart's concertos are difficult to play, it needs very swift and delicate touch

For me, my first concerto is Bach's Italian Concerto. It looks horrifying at first, but truly it's not that difficult.

Nobody has mentioned the Schumann A minor. The last mvt needs lots of attention but the first is very playable. You could sight-read the second mvt. This is one of my all-time favorites and works on it subtleties rather than impressive playing. I love it.

Last Thursday I performed the Mozart K.488. In the orchestra I must add! The pianist was Marisa Gupta and she was amazing. The concerto sounded simple enough, but to pull it off with refinement and measured brilliance takes a genius to do well. Even though Gupta's playing did the work justice, there was still some sly rubato in the first mvt, naughty naughty!

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"Too many notes!"

Beethoven's First and Grieg's Concertos are first that student can allow himself to play, in my opinion.

Rubato is not allowed in Mozart's music? I thought, even in classical music (classical period) rubato is present.