Photo by Ari Korkala
Noting the lack of imagination among Van Cliburn contestants in their selection of concertos to be performed with orchestra, Jeff Dunn lists eight pieces that were picked by the 29 competitors, eight pianists who are all going for the Rachmaninov 3, and five (!) for the Tchaikovsky No. 1 (good grief!).
The others are Rachmaninov's Second, Prokofiev's Third, Brahms' First, Chopin's First, and the Rachmaninov Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Jeff is right: no imagination, no daring, no going outside the box.
But then, at the other side of the coin, Jeff's own suggested list is highly unlikely to be approximated at any competition in the known universe.
He starts, reasonably enough, with Ravel, Bartòk, and Gershwin (interesting!), then:
Szymanowski's Fourth Symphony (a concerto, really, "Symphonie Concertante")
Stenhammar's No. 2
Malcolm Williamson's No. 2
Svoboda's No. 2
Einojuhani Rautavaara's No. 1
Shostakovich's No. 1 (I'll drink to that!)
Gershwin's in F
Corigliano's
Hoiby's No. 2
Hindemith's for the left hand