Popularity of Concertos?

[monafam]

Just a brief glance through the forum topics reveals that concertos are very popular.  While I am starting to gain a better appreciation (I've become very interested in Cello Concertos), I used to avoid pretty much anything that didn't have "Symphony" somewhere in the title.

I thought I'd open this up to the group to express your interest in concertos.  What makes that type of piece so appealing to you? 

Thanks!

[Alan Howe]

My ideal is the symphonic-scale concerto; I'm not really interested myself in the display concerto with the orchestra acting as little more than an accompaniment. Inevitably, my interest is in the works which start to be written in the final quarter of the nineteenth century.

[TerraEpon]

I don't even look at it that way...well maybe I give more wight to tone poems and certain dance forms, but beyond that I tend to simply care if I like it. I think what concertos have going for them is the shifting between soloist and orchestra allows the music to breath, as it were.

[thalbergmad]

I tend to think of concertos as a marriage between piano & orchestra.

Sometimes they can be peaceful, but there is nothing like a good bust up.

Thal