The ingredients are simple—an orchestra and a piano soloist. But, as they say, the devil is in the details.

Because, when writing a piano concerto, a composer must first define the relationship between soloist and orchestra. Does the orchestra accompany the piano, or are they equals? Who starts things off—and how will they do it?

There is no right or wrong answer, of course. It’s all up to the composer, and in this hour, we’ll explore the choices made in concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Grieg, Ravel and more.

FEATURED RECORDINGS

Title	Group/Artist	Catalog #	UPC
Tchaikovsky Concerto No. 1 & Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 2 [for Tchaikovsky]	Van Cliburn, RCA Symphony, Kiril Kondrashin	RCA Red Seal 07863-55912-2	078635591224
Mozart: Piano Concertos 20 & 21	Jean Efflam Bavouzet, Manchester Camerata, Gabor Takacs-Nagy	Chandos CHAN 20083	095115208328
Beethoven: Five Piano Concertos	Murray Perahia, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink	Sony Classical 88697102902	88697102902
Brahms: Piano Concertos	Stephen Hough, Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg, Mark Wigglesworth	Hyperion CDA67961	034571179612
Grieg & Schumann Concertos [for Grieg]	Leif Ove Andsnes, Berlin Philharmonic, Mariss Jansons,	EMI Classics 7243 5 57562 2 0	724355756220
Rachmaninoff: The Piano Concertos [for No. 2]	Stephen Hough, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Litton	Hyperion CDA67501/2	034571175010
Ravel: Works for Piano and Orchestra [for the Concerto for the Left Hand]	Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, BBC Symphony,Yan Pascal Tortelier	Chandos 5084	095115508428
Montero: Piano Concertos [for Piano Concerto No. 1, “The Latin Concerto”]	Gabriela Montero, Orchestra of the Americas, Carlos Miguel Prieto	Orchid Classic ORC100104	5060189561049