Piano Concertos for the left hand

[giles.enders]

I have just tried to do a blog about piano concertos for the left hand but the connection was very slow and when I tried the spell check the whole thing dissapeared.  I haven't time to continue now .  Will start again tomorrow.

Giles Enders

[jimmattt]

A couple not related to Wittgenstein: Leonora Mila Concerto for Piano Left Hand and Strings,  and Dieter Nowka, Concerto for Piano Left Hand. Also Curtis Curtis-Smith wrote one for Gary Graffman, I think.

[eschiss1]

JB Foerster's and Janacek's left-hand works are also 20th-century works not related to Wittgenstein (though related, I think, to each other.)

[albion]

According to wikipedia, the following are all left-hand only:

Géza Zichy - Piano Concerto in E flat for the left hand, 1895 (written for himself to play)
Josef Labor - Concertpiece in the form of variations for piano left-hand and orchestra, 1916 (composed for Paul Wittgenstein)
Josef Labor - Concert Piece in F minor, 1917 (commissioned by Wittgenstein, who premiered it in 1936)
Erich Wolfgang Korngold - Piano Concerto in C-sharp for the left hand, Op. 17, 1923 (commissioned by Wittgenstein)
Paul Hindemith - Klaviermusik mit Orchester, Op. 29, 1923 (commissioned by Wittgenstein, but never played by him; score discovered in his widow's papers after her death in 2002, and premiered by Leon Fleisher in 2004)
Josef Labor - Concert Piece in B flat minor (E flat major?), 1923
Franz Schmidt - Concertante Variations on a Theme of Beethoven, 1923 (commissioned by Wittgenstein)
Sergei Bortkiewicz - Piano Concerto No. 2 for the Left Hand, Op. 28, 1924 (commissioned by Wittgenstein)
Karl Weigl - Concerto for the left hand, 1924
Richard Strauss - Panathenäenzug: Sinfonische Etüden in Form einer Passacaglia for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 74, 1925 (commissioned by Wittgenstein)
Leoš Janáček - Capriccio for piano left hand and chamber ensemble, 1926 (suggested by Otakar Hollmann but not written for him specifically)
Bohuslav Martinů - Concertino (later renamed Divertimento) for piano left hand and chamber orchestra, Op. 173, 1926 (commissioned by Hollmann)
Rudolf Braun - Piano Concerto in A minor, 1927 (written for Wittgenstein)
Richard Strauss - Parergon zur "Sinfonia Domestica" for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 73, 1927 (commissioned by Wittgenstein)
Eduard Schütt - Paraphrase for piano and orchestra, 1929 (written for Wittgenstein)
Maurice Ravel - Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D, 1929-30 (commissioned by Wittgenstein)
Sergei Prokofiev - Piano Concerto No. 4 for the left hand, Op. 53, 1931 (commissioned by Wittgenstein but never played by him; premiered in 1956 by Siegfried Rapp)
Franz Schmidt - Piano Concerto No. 2, for the Left Hand, 1934 (commissioned by Wittgenstein)
Benjamin Britten - Diversions for Piano (left hand) and Orchestra, 1940 (commissioned by Wittgenstein)
Alexandre Tansman - Concert Piece for Piano and Orchestra, 1943
Norman Demuth - Piano Concerto for the left hand, 1947 (commissioned by Wittgenstein)
Kurt Leimer - Piano Concerto No. 2 (in one movement), 1944-48
Arnold Bax - Concertante for Piano (Left Hand) and Orchestra, 1948
Norman Demuth - Legend for piano left hand and orchestra, 1949 (commissioned by Wittgenstein)
Josef Bartovský - Piano Concerto No. 2 for left hand, 1952 (written for Hollmann)
Johannes Paul Thilman - Concertino for piano (left hand) and orchestra, Op.65, 1954
Jan Zimmer - Piano Concerto No. 5 for the Left Hand, Op. 50, 1961
Lucijan Marija Škerjanc - Concerto for piano left hand and orchestra, 1963
Dieter Nowka - Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, Op. 71, 1971
Raoul Sosa - Concerto for piano left hand with string orchestra, 1989
Gunther Schuller - Concerto for 3 Hands, 1990 (written for Lorin Hollander and Leon Fleisher)[1]
Curtis Curtis-Smith - Concerto for piano (left hand) and orchestra, 1991 (commissioned by Leon Fleisher)
Lukas Foss - Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, 1993
Ned Rorem - Piano Concerto No. 4 for the Left Hand, 1993 (commissioned by Gary Graffman)
William Bolcom - Gaea for Two Pianos Left Hand, and Orchestra, 1996 (commissioned by Graffman for him to play with Leon Fleisher)
David Haynes - Concerto No. 1 for Left Hand and orchestra, 1999
Richard Danielpour - Piano Concerto No. 3 "Zodiac Variations", 2002
Daron Hagen - Seven Last Words: Concerto for Piano Left Hand and Orchestra, 2002 (commissioned by Graffman)
Mario Alfagüell - First Concerto for piano left hand and small orchestra, Op. 145, 2003
Stanisław Skrowaczewski - Concerto Niccolò for Piano Left Hand and Orchestra, 2003
Pehr Henrik Nordgren - Concerto for piano left hand and chamber orchestra, Op. 129, 2004
Mario Alfagüell - Second Concerto for piano left hand and orchestra, Op. 185, 2007
Takashi Yoshimatsu - Concerto for Piano Left Hand and Chamber Orchestra "Cepheus Note", Op. 102, 2007
Igor Ivanek - Concerto for piano left hand alone and orchestra: Igni Natura Renovatur Integra (All of Nature is Restored by Fire)
Louis Prado - Piano Concerto for Left Hand

and the following include a right-hand only part:

Henri Cliquet-Pleyel (1894-1963) - Concerto for Piano Right Hand and Orchestra
Arthur Bliss - Concerto for Two Pianos (3 Hands) and Orchestra, Op. 17 (1968; originally for tenor, piano, strings and percussion; then arranged for 2 pianos and orchestra for Phyllis Sellick and Cyril Smith; then arranged by Bliss and Clifford Phillips for 2 pianos 3 hands and orchestra)
Malcolm Arnold - Concerto for Two Pianos Three Hands and Orchestra (also known as Concerto for Phyllis and Cyril), 1969. One pianist plays with both hands, the other with the right hand only
Gordon Jacob - Concerto for Three Hands on One Piano, 1969 (written for Sellick and Smith)


There is a pretty exhaustive site here - http://www.left-hand-brofeldt.dk/index.htm

[thalbergmad]

I would love to hear the Zichy played. Whoever does it is going to have to have one hell of a left hand.

I gave up on the blasted thing using both.

Thal

[Gareth Vaughan]

I have a feeling the orchestral material for the Zichy is missing. Does anyone know of the existence of a full score and parts? I would love to be proved wrong.

[giles.enders]

I see Albion has typed an even more extensive list, let us hope someone out there plays and records some of them.  The interesting thing about Zichy is that I believe he wrote a piano concerto  for both hands, though where the MS or parts are I wouldn't know. A candidate for recording???

[alberto]

About reply 2, the Janacek (Capriccio) and the Foerster (Notturno and fantastico) are both related to the left hand pianist Otakar Hollman , who premiered the Janacek and commissioned  the Foerster.

[thalbergmad]

I have a feeling the orchestral material for the Zichy is missing. Does anyone know of the existence of a full score and parts? I would love to be proved wrong.

Would be a shame if it is missing, but a least a good batch of the solo works were published. Most are of considerable difficulty and some look impossible. I have given up on all that I tried as I cannot risk damaging my darts and beer drinking mechanism.

Thal

[eschiss1]

the Zimmer concerto, by the way, is quite good. Haven't heard a lot of the less known others... (the Prokofiev, two of the beautiful Schmidt works including that I say sublime A major quintet, a few others, yes )

[Gerhard Griesel]

According to Wikipedia, Josef Labor's Concertpiece for piano left-hand and orchestra, 1916, was the first composed for Paul Wittgenstein. Does anybody know whether a recording exists? I can't find anything.

[markniew]

Also Concert Piece for Piano and Orchestra, 1943 by Alexandre Tansman  was composed for Wittgenstein.
Such info is given in the book on Tansman by Janusz Cegiełła - published here in Poland in 80s (vol. 1) and 90s (vol. 2)

[Rob H]

I've been hoping that Hyperion would get around to the 2 Schutt Concertos - now I find there's a Left hand paraphrase so even more to hope for.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Mike Spring wants very much to record the Schutt PCs, but had hoped (still hopes) to add the Left Hand "Paraphrase" to the disk. Both concertos for two hands are relatively short so the three works would fit nicely on one CD. The left hand work was never published; it remained part of the Wittgenstein family collection and could not be accessed. The MS was auctioned some years ago and is now in private hands. Rumour has it that those private hands belong to Klaus Heymann of Naxos/Marco Polo fame - but I can neither verify nor deny this rumour. I simply don't know. Anyway, until it surfaces again we can't expect to hear it. I suspect Mike thinks it may be obtainable at some future date, which would explain why the Schutt PCs have been put on the back burner for the moment.

[Christopher]

Is this Eduard Schutt (1856-1933) the Russian composer? (Russian wikipedia calls him an "Austrian composer of Russian descent", German wikipedia says he was also known under the pseudonyms Arnolde Clairlie and Henri Marling...)