If You Had To Be Stuck On An Island W/One Piano Concerto...

[J Joe Townley]

which would it be?

This assumes an unknown concerto. Mine would be the Saint-Saens Piano Concerto No 1.

[JimL]

A good choice J. Joe.  I'd plump for his 3rd.

[eschiss1]

Leaving well-known or pre-/post-Romantic concertos out of the question (otherwise I'd have to try to decide which one of Mozart's last 11 or so concertos I could not do without - would probably come down to 14, 16, 17 or 24) - I think I might (still with difficulty) decide to go for the Italian Giuseppe Martucci's piano concerto no.2 in B-flat minor (1884-5) even though I've yet to hear it in live concert. The finale has a certain abandon about it rhythmically and sometimes feels forward-thinking harmonically, the first movement (e.g.) has a secure-feeling but not hackneyed form (with e.g. what seems an opening slightly inspired by Schumann's concerto maybe, possibly, (but following a brief orchestral announcement with a piano-solo passage (brief written-out cadenza of sorts?) rather than the other way around.)) (And I, at least, find the concluding pages of both outer movements very satisfying...)

[Mark Thomas]

Rubinstein's Fifth, without a doubt. It's not the greatest Piano Concerto in the world by any means, but there is a craggy grandeur to it which I find irresistible.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Scharwenka's 1st PC. Wonderfully invigorating & melodic.

[FBerwald]

Scharwenka 4th Piano Concerto without a doubt.

[alberto]

I like all the works already listed.
Choosing a new name, I would opt for the tuneful and well crafted Castillon Piano Concerto.

[Martin Eastick]

Although a most difficult final choice, I would settle for Scharwenka No2 - although Moszkowski No2 & Henselt come a close joint second!

[FBerwald]

@alberto. Amazing choice. How could I have forgotten the Castillon concerto.

[thalbergmad]

I would prefer just to take my banjo, but if it had to be a PC, it would have to be the Rozycki 1st.

I simply cannot survive without it.

Thal

[mbhaub]

I'm taking the concerto by conductor Evgeny Svetlanov. It might not have been written in the correct UC time period, but it sure sounds like it was.

[Peter1953]

My choice would be the Piano Concerto in F minor, op. 6 by Karel Kovařovic.

[Alan Howe]

Probably Draeseke's - an ambitious attempt to combine the flamboyant pianism of Liszt with the symphonic strength of Beethoven. Wonderfully over the top, it nevertheless has a slow movement of real beauty and profundity.

[J Joe Townley]

Very good choices, gentlemen. I got some good recommendations I didn't even know about (not surprising since there are 100,000 "unsung" piano concertos out there) Scharwenka seems to be the most popular composer and I didn't even know Moszkowski wrote a 2nd one. I know his E Major and played it in my "performing days" as a teen piano student.

I stumbled onto this remarkable concerto and would like to share it. One well-known pianist describes it as "apocalyptic" and i think you'll see why if you listen to about 5 minutes of it. It has the score and has been beautifully rendered. The problem is I think it's unplayable. But judge for yourselves:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LZPBMT6XnI

[FBerwald]

The Moszkowski E Major is the 2nd Piano Concerto as it turns out. The 1st in B minor? was just recently discovered and discussed in different post.... I wonder what became of it? Wasn't it supposed to be premiered last year?