When the 77 pieces of the top 10 composers were ranked by style, approximately one-
third were classical, one half were romantic, and the remainder favoured the modern over
the baroque.
Particular composers and pieces were passed over by the voters that in my opinion might
have had a claim to be included.
Most of the 100 pieces contained memorable melodic lines and there tended to be an
absence of percussive piano writing.
B: Top piano concertos - 2007 survey
Ranking of top 37 piano concertos
In 2007 the ABC ran The Classic 100 Concerto Countdown which included concertos for
piano, violin, cello and other instruments. Australia’s music lovers voted and a list was
produced for the top 100 which resulted in the top 37 piano concertos. To assist the
reader I have included nicknames, both authorised and unauthorised, and to avoid
cluttering the text I have omitted inverted commas. The number represents the popularity
rating (1 most popular).
1 Beethoven no. 5 opus 73 Emperor E flat major
2 Rachmaninoff no. 2 opus 18 C minor
3 Tchaikovsky no. 1 opus 23 B flat minor
4 Rachmaninoff no. 3 opus 30 D minor
5 Grieg opus 16 A minor
6 Mozart no. 21 K467 Elvira Madigan C major
7 Beethoven no. 4 opus 58 G major
8 Brahms no. 2 opus 83 B flat major
9 Chopin no. 1 opus 11 E minor
10 Brahms no. 1 opus 15 D minor
11 Mozart no. 23 K488 A major
12 Ravel G major
13 Mozart no. 20 K 466 D minor
14 Schumann opus 54 A minor
15 Chopin no. 2 opus 21 F minor
16 Beethoven no. 3 opus 37 C minor
17 Mozart no. 24 K491 C minor
18 Shostakovitch no. 2 opus 102 F major
19 Addinsell Warsaw Concerto
20 Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue
21 Mozart no. 27 K595 B flat major
22 Davies no. 1 Mennonite
23 Gershwin F major
24 Litolff Concerto Symphonique no. 4 opus 102 D minor