Carnegie Hall

The stage door opens, and a pianist makes their way through the orchestra to the keyboard to perform a great concerto. It’s a classic Carnegie Hall moment—it’s when the audience knows something special is about to begin.

Those special moments have been happening since the Hall opened in 1891. There are thousands of piano concertos, but which are performed most frequently at Carnegie Hall? We have the answers, thanks to our team in the Carnegie Hall Rose Archives and Carnegie Hall Data Lab.

Of the five most-often performed piano concertos, four of them were written by virtuoso composer-pianists: Beethoven, Liszt, and R. Schumann. Here are five piano concertos that continue to inspire today’s most talented pianists and audiences.

No. 1: Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor” (215 performances)

In 1809, France was at war with Austria and Napoleon’s army was shelling Vienna while Beethoven was composing his Piano Concerto No. 5. To escape the horrific noise, the hearing-impaired composer took shelter in his brother’s cellar, burying his head beneath cushions to blunt the sound.

Beethoven wrote to his publisher, “Nothing but drums, cannons, human misery of every sort!” Miraculously, he completed his concerto and it premiered in November 1811. Carnegie Hall audiences first heard it in 1891. Ever since, pianists such as Paderewski, Busoni, Schnabel, and in more recent times Daniel Barenboim, Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, and Leif Ove Andsnes  have performed the masterpiece at Carnegie Hall.

Beethoven startles the audience with the opening notes of his concerto—gone is the time-honored orchestral introduction paving the way for the soloist. Instead, loud orchestral chords thunder and the piano leaps in with heroic streams of cascading notes. The second movement is breathlessly beautiful with a hymn-like theme and tender statements from the piano. As the movement whispers into stillness, the piano teases out a new theme that jumps into the rollicking finale, a whirling dance overflowing with exuberance.

No. 2: Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 (192 performances)

The circumstances surrounding the public premiere of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 on December 22, 1808, in Vienna are legendary—apparently the heating system failed in a freezing Theater an der Wein.

It was a colossal concert; the Fifth and Sixth symphonies, and the Choral Fantasy also had their debuts. Movements from the Mass in C Major, the concert aria “Ah! perfido,” and a set of improvisations performed by Beethoven himself filled out the four-and-a-half-hour event. The concerto and improvisations marked the last time Beethoven played the piano in public.

Beethoven again surprises audiences by giving the piano the first theme before the orchestra enters. It’s a gentle opening to a movement that invites the listener into a poetic world. The second movement opens dramatically with orchestral strings setting a serious tone as the piano spins a tender melody in response. Piano and strings engage in dialogue. The strings remain stolid while the piano sings before they eventually find concord. As the second movement melts away, a high-spirited game of tag between orchestra (now with trumpets and drums) and piano unfolds, racing to the work’s jubilant climax. Pianist Franz Rummel and the New York Symphony Orchestra conducted by Walter Damrosch performed its Carnegie Hall premiere in 1892.

No. 3: R. Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor (187 performances)

Like so much of Robert Schumann’s piano music, the Piano Concerto in A Minor is strongly connected to his virtuoso pianist wife, Clara. It began in 1841, when he composed a Concert Fantasy for her. Eventually that piece became the first movement of the Concerto in A Minor, which she premiered in 1846. Paderewski was the pianist when the concerto was performed with the ubiquitous Walter Damrosch and New York Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in 1891. The taxing program also featured Paderewski performing Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto.

Schumann, a formidable music journalist, wrote of the disconnect between piano and orchestra in the concertos of the day, and said, “We must await the genius who will show us in a newer and more brilliant way how orchestra and piano may be combined.” But he apparently got tired of waiting and found that newer way himself. From its opening surging orchestral notes to the piano’s responding chords, there’s an ongoing dialogue between orchestra and piano that eschews over-the-top virtuosity in favor of deeper connections and expressiveness. The piano’s conversations with the orchestral winds are unforgettable.

While the first movement has its share of Schumann’s typical emotional shifts, the second movement offers gentle respite where tenderness and sweet lyricism walk hand in hand. The last movement is buoyant with ample opportunities for the soloist to show off the virtuosity that was hinted at in earlier movements. In just under one-half hour, Schumann’s concerto moves the listener with its sublime melodies and brilliant sense of balance.

No. 4: Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (186 performances)

With the possible exception of the opening notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, the powerful beginning of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1—with its heroic horns and thundering piano octaves—may be the most famous in music. Speaking of famous openings, the concerto was one of the works Tchaikovsky conducted during Carnegie Hall’s Opening Week Music Festival in May 1891.

Tchaikovsky completed his concerto in 1875, and pianist-conductor Hans von Bülow premiered it at Boston’s Music Hall later that year. The concerto has another American connection, too—one that resulted in one of the Cold War’s iconic moments. In 1958, a lanky 24-year-old American pianist named Van Cliburn performed the concerto at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. After his performance, the Soviet audience showered him with flowers and called for him to be declared the competition winner. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gave his okay (it was required) and Cliburn was awarded the grand prize. Cliburn returned home to a New York City ticker-tape parade, and his recording of the work (still available) became the first classical album to go platinum. Hot on the heels of his Moscow victory, he performed the concerto at Carnegie Hall on May 19, 1958.

Tchaikovsky’s concerto is much more than its famous opening measures—which were turned into a pop song called “Tonight We Love” in the 1940s. The first movement is passionate and quotes a bit of a Ukrainian folk tune. While the first movement simmers, the second movement seduces with its melodic sensitivity. The closing movement is high-voltage excitement inspired by another Ukrainian song, with piano and orchestra engaging in sizzling flights of virtuosity, capped by a rapturous theme. One of the more memorable Carnegie Hall performances featured Evgeny Kissin and the New York Philharmonic conducted by Alan Gilbert, launching the Hall’s 125th anniversary season.

No. 5: Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (162 performances)

Liszt worked on his Piano Concerto No. 1 for 20 years before its 1855 premiere. For the fortunate audience who attended that performance at the Ducal Palace in Weimar, it was worth the wait; the soloist was the flashy and flamboyant Liszt himself and the conductor was composer Hector Berlioz.

Its 1892 Carnegie Hall premiere was an unusual event. Conductor Walter Damrosch arranged music to accompany a dramatic reading of Tennyson’s poem “Maud.” The concerto was performed by pianist Courtland Palmer and the New York Symphony Orchestra conducted by Damrosch before the reading. Of course, there have also been more conventional presentations of the concerto at the Hall, featuring piano legends such as Paderewski, Rubinstein, Cziffra, Bolet, Cliburn, Berman, and others.

One theme dominates the concerto, and its melody had the words “none of you understand this, ha-ha!” attached to it by either Liszt or his son-in-law, pianist-conductor Hans von Bülow. But the concerto is no laughing matter. That opening theme sets the stage for the soloist to tackle a series of octaves that expand into a dazzling cadenza (a virtuoso passage for soloist). Throughout the movement, Liszt refers to the theme in ways that take surprising harmonic turns and present challenges for the soloist, who must play tenderly and then fired up. The remaining three movements unfold without interruption, with more hard work for the soloist who spins delicate ornamental filigree, makes athletic runs up and down the keyboard, and smashes out octaves. Keyboard pyrotechnics, colorful orchestration, and unique construction make this one of the great concertos of the Romantic era and a perennial audience favorite.

Photography: Wang by Richard Termine; Paderewski, Cliburn, 1892 program page courtesy of the Carnegie Hall Rose Archives.