Piano Concerto Super Bowl

As we enter the weekend of Super Bowl Sunday, I thought it would be a great idea to have a Super Bowl of Classical Music. So, today will be a Super Bowl of Piano Concertos, and tomorrow on Super Bowl Sunday we will have a Super Bowl of Symphonies.

The difference between these Super Bowls and the NFL’s Super Bowl, there will not be any loser in this game. All of the teams…errr…classical music I select on each day to be in the Classical Music Super Bowl will be masterpieces of the highest order. I bet you will root for them all.

So, let’s get started. In today’s Super Bowl of piano concertos we will have the underdog, Sergei Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2 vs the favorite, Ludwig Van Beethoven Piano Concerto #5.

Let’s look at the tale of the tape, to see how these two great concertos got here. The Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2 is scored in C minor with three movements: 1. Moderato; 2. Adagio Sostenuto; and 3. Allegro Scherzando. This beautiful, melodic concerto takes about 35 minutes to play.

The slight favorite, Beethoven Piano Concerto #5 is scored in Eb Major with 3 movements: 1. Allegro; 2. Adagio un poco mosso; and 3. Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo. This concerto has a nickname of “Emperor”, but don’t let that influence your voting. 🙂 The Beethoven Emperor takes about 40+ minutes to play.

Beethoven has won the coin toss and elected to play last. Please turn up the volume, play in full screen and enjoy these two magnificent piano concertos in our Super Bowl!

Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto #2 in C Minor:

Ludwig Van Beethoven: Piano Concerto #5, “Emperor”:

The great game is over with the fans of both concertos declared the winner.