Schumann - Piano Concerto in A minor, Op.54

Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor - the only one he completed - has long been considered a staple of modern piano repertoire. 

In many ways, it serves as a bridge between the forms and styles used by Beethoven and Brahms. Although demanding for the pianist, it is distinct from the "virtuoso concerto" style embraced by Hummel, Chopin, and Liszt (and Paganini, on violin). Instead, it relies on lyricism and mood and treats both the soloist and orchestra as equal partners in bringing the thematic material to life.

Biography

Robert Schumann (June 8, 1810 - July 29, 1856) was a romantic-era composer and one of a tightly-packed generation of talents which included Felix Mendelssohn (born 1809), Frederic Chopin (1810), Franz Liszt (1811), and Hector Berlioz (1803). All of these composers were friends, and often reviewed and played each others' works.

Robert Schumann in 1850, 
four years after the premier 
of his piano concerto

Schumann teenage years were torn between his interest in music and his aspirations to practice law, and in the summer of 1830 he wrote to his mother that "My whole life has been a struggle between poetry and prose, or call it music and law." By Christmas he was back in Leipzig, taking piano lessons from the famous piano teacher, Friedrich Wieck. 

Like his contemporaries Chopin and Liszt, Schumann dreamed of a virtuoso career, playing in concert halls across Europe as Hummel did on piano and Paganini on violin. Wieck encouraged Schumann's dreams, believing that his pupil had the talent to become one of the best pianists in the world.

This dream ended abruptly when Schumann injured his right hand, resulting in near paralysis of his middle finger. While the true cause of injury is hidden to history, the most common explanation is that the injury resulted from over-stimulation (Schumann was said to practice seven hours per day) and use of a “chiroplast”, a mechanism pianists sometimes used to equalize the strength of the fingers.

Chiroplast

After his injury, Schumann redirected his energies into the study of music theory and composition. It was also this time that he began to develop feelings for Clara Wieck (1819-1896), the daughter of his piano teacher who had long harbored a crush on Robert. After a long, litigious courtship (Clara's father was against the match), Robert and Clara married in 1840.

Clara Schumann was an accomplished pianist in her own right who achieved widespread continental fame rivaling and possibly even surpassing her husband.. Due to Robert's condition, Clara would frequently perform his music, and it was her at the piano in Leipzig in 1846 when Schumann's Piano Concerto was first performed, with their good friend (and composer of renown) Felix Mendelssohn conducting.

Composition

Between 1827 and 1839, Schumann made four attempts at writing a piano concerto, but he did not complete any of them. Robert described one of his attempts as “something between a symphony, concerto, and grand sonata."

Schumann lamented about the state of the piano concerto genre in his periodical Neue Zeitschrift in 1839:

“Modern pianistic art wants to challenge the symphony [orchestra], and rule supreme through its own resources; this may account for the recent dearth of piano concertos...surely it would be a loss, should the piano concerto with orchestra become entirely obsolete; but on the other hand, we can hardly contradict the pianists when they say ‘We have no need of any assistance; our instrument can achieve a complete effect entirely by itself.’

"And so we must confidently await the genius who will show us a brilliant new way of combining piano and orchestra, so that the autocrat at the keyboard may reveal the richness of his instrument and of his art, while the orchestra, more than a mere onlooker, with its many expressive capabilities adds to the artistic whole.”

Two years after this statement, Schumann decided to take up his own challenge, writing a Fantasy for piano and orchestra and completing it within three weeks. Clara reported in her diary:

“Carefully studied, it must give the greatest pleasure to those who hear it. The piano is most skillfully interwoven with the orchestra; it is impossible to think of one without the other.” 

After the Fantasy was rejected by six different publishers, a seventh accepted it in late 1844, but requested that two additional movements be written. The Fantasy was soon revised and transformed into the first movement of his concerto.

Recordings

As the Schumann Piano Concerto is widely considered one of the most important piano concertos in history (TalkClassical.com lists it as #5 in their keyboard concertos category, while the ClassicFM.com Hall of Fame lists it as the 11th most popular piano concerto), there are many strong recordings.

While Perahia/Davis (Sony), Arrau/Dohnanyi (Phillips) and Lupu/Previn (Decca) are all good choices, I chose the work of one of my favorite pianists - Krystian Zimerman - in his 1993 recording of both Schumann's and Grieg's piano concertos with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for Deutsche Grammophone.

Instrumentation, form and overview

Solo piano, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings.

Allegro affettuoso

Intermezzo (Andantino grazioso)

Allegro vivace

Interestingly, Schumann actually requested that the second and third movements be listed together as "Andantino and Rondo" as they are connected by a transitional section without any break or pause in the music.

Schumann, like his protege Brahms, wrote his piano concerto in the style of a “symphonic concerto” where the soloist and orchestra are equal partners.  Schumann wrote to his wife:

“I cannot compose a concerto for virtuosos, but must light on something different.”

It is a very different approach than Hummel, Chopin, Liszt and Paganini, in whose concertos the soloist is the primary attraction and the orchestra is relegated to the role of accompaniment. Schumann’s concerto ran across the grain of contemporary style, and Lizst panned the work as “a concerto without piano.” 

Clara, however, became her husband’s greatest advocate, performing the concerto across Europe both during and after Robert’s lifetime. She remarked:

“Before Liszt, people used to play; after Liszt, they pounded or whispered. He has the decline of piano playing on his conscience.”

Schumann’s work is expansive in scale - nearly 550 measures in the first movement and a staggering 871 measures in the third movement - reversing the trend of shorter concertos. Zimerman's performance runs nearly 32 minutes in length.  With this background, let's dive right into the first movement.

Movement 1: Allegro affettuoso

To quote Stephan Lindeman, in his comprehensive Structural Novelty and Tradition in the Early Romantic Piano (and upon whom I leaned heavily in my analysis of the concerto's structure):

“This piece is one of the few works of musical art in which the perception of its structural features (form, working out of thematic material, harmonic progression, etc.) somehow dissolves into the flow of the music - the wash of sound along which the willing listener is rapturously carried.” 

Lindeman is not the only one to make this type of observation. Michael Steinberg, in his collection of program notes The Concerto, notes:

“F.W.M., writing for the Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik, noted that the many interchanges between solo and orchestra made the first movement harder to grasp at first hearing than the other two. One thing that strikes us about the first movement - but perhaps only in a very good performance - is how mercurial it is, how frequent, rapid, and sometimes radical its mood-swings are. Or, to put it another way, how Schumannesque it is.”

Indeed, Schumann's Piano Concerto is very typical of romantic-era works in that it modifies - and sometimes dispenses with completely - the forms and structures upon which classical-era music relied. Like most concertos, movement 1 is written in sonata allegro form, but modified according to the Schumann's needs.

Exposition (0:00 - 4:48)

Schumann’s famous introduction - an orchestra hit, descending chords on piano, followed by another orchestra hit - introduces the solo instrument immediately. This is distinctly different than the traditional sonata form double exposition format, where an orchestral tutti introduces the primary theme before its restatement by the soloist.

In this way, Schumann pays homage to Beethoven's 4th and 5th piano concertos - which both introduce the soloist very early - and continues expanding on the Romantic-era trend also explored by Mendelssohn in his first Piano Concerto.

This rapid-fire introductory sequence - orchestra then piano - was originally composed the other way around. Schumann's Fantasy (written in 1841) begins with the piano and the orchestra enters with a quick punctuation mark between its second and third chords. According to Steinberg:

"It is a wonderful dramatic idea, but as good as impossible to execute unless the conductor gives an empty downbeat before the piano’s first chord, which then spoils the dramatic surprise. I imagine Clara Schumann and Mendelssohn made this unhappy discovery at their reading rehearsal and that is why Schumann changed the opening.”

Following this opening, Schumann introduces his primary theme (0:09), a gentle, melancholic chorale that is first carried by the oboe and then restated by the piano. This theme, even when played by the soloist, has to do with lyricism and mood, not virtuosity. Indeed, Schumann's tempo marking of allegro affetuoso means "fast, but tenderly."

This theme also serves as a subtle reference to Schumann’s wife Clara. Since Germans call the “B” note “H” (“B minor” becomes “H minor”), the first four descending notes of the theme - C, B, A, A - spell out “CHAA” in German. Add two more letters, and we get “CHiArA”.  Chiara is the Italian pronunciation of "Clara".

This is actually the second time Schumann references his wife in this way: the first was as the diminutive “Chiarina”, in his Carnaval. While details like this might not be apparent to most listeners, Clara surely would have understood his intent.

Clara Schumann in 1850

As both the orchestra ("tutti", in musical parlance) and soloist share in introducing the primary theme, Schumann departs from the classical double exposition tradition of Mozart's piano concertos (and, by extension, Hummel and Chopin) where the tutti first introduces the complete theme, and then the soloist restates it. Instead, Schumann continues exploring the blurred, more romantic forms used by Beethoven - especially in his 4th and 5th piano concertos.

Following the soloist's share of introducing the primary theme, both solo and tutti shift gears and introduce a secondary thematic grouping (0:48) characterized by chromatic descending arpeggiated chords on piano. Out of this, one particular phrase is restated with emphasis by the tutti (1:32). This theme functions as a ritornello - a theme which is revisited by the tutti repeatedly after various elements. 

In this concerto, the ritornello is heard at during the exposition (1:32), at the end of the exposition (4:15), during the recapitulation (9:24) and then finally at the end of the recapitulation immediately before the cadenza (11:58). In this way, Schumann uses this theme as a marker that he is about to move on to the next section within sonata form.

Following this first ritornello, Schumann introduces a third thematic group (1:42) which, like the second thematic group, is closely related to the CHiArA theme, but unlike the primary theme and ritornello theme, primarily serves a transitional function.

So far, all three of these thematic groups are very closely related - they are all in the same key of A minor and share certain harmonic components. According to the dictates of classical sonata form, this is now the place for the composer to introduce a secondary theme, distinct and different from the primary theme and played in the V (dominant) of the original key - or, in this case, E major. 

Instead, Schumann rejects sonata form's restrictions and introduces not a second theme, but the first theme - but, this time, with major tonality in the key of C major (2:11). This restatement of the CHiArA theme functions as a de facto second theme, complete with brief spotlights on the clarinet and oboe.

After another ritornello, the exposition section ends and the development section begins, transitioning from the key of C major to C minor and finally A-flat major.

Development (4:48 - 8:00)

The development section includes three episodes. In the first episode (4:48) - the longest of the three - Schumann changes the tempo markings to andante expressivo (moderately slow; expressive) and slowly dissects and re-synthesizes the CHiArA theme.

The shift in mood is so emotionally significant that Viennese critic Eduard Hanslick compared the first movement to a three-movement work by itself, with this andante section in A-flat serving as the slow, middle movement. James Keller, in his program notes for the San Francisco Symphony, notes:

“A particularly magical moment arrives with the beginning of the development section. The exposition has ended with the full orchestra’s blustery fanfares. These die away, at which point surprising harmonic and rhythmic modulations make the principal theme even more dreamy, with solo clarinet responding over a background of hushed strings. The reverie is interrupted rudely with the piano’s flourish.”

This interruption signals the beginning of the second - and shortest - episode (6:16) based on the rapid-fire, gunshot-like chords that began the movement.  During this episode, Schumann transposes from A-flat major to G major.

The third and final episode (6:48) expands upon one of the two primary components of the second thematic group (first heard at 0:48), but unlike in the exposition, this restatement and expansion is not dark and brooding, but lightweight and subtly melancholic, starting in the key of G major before transposing back to the tonic A minor.

Recapitulation (8:00 - 12:16)

Schumann's recapitulation section is the same format as his exposition section: the primary theme (8:00), followed by the second thematic group (8:40) and ritornello (9:23), then into the transitional third thematic group (9:35), restatement of the primary theme in major key with the help of a solo clarinet (9:59), and one final ritornello (11:58) to transition into the cadenza.

Compared to the exposition, however, Schumann's use of keys and tonality is subtly but powerfully different. Whereas the exposition's ritornellos had been in major tonalities (F major and C major, respectively), the first ritornello in the recapitulation is in a minor key (B minor). This shift in tonality is one of my favorite moments in the concerto, as the unexpected minor tonality allows this theme to reach even greater heights than before.

To my ears, this recalls a similar moment in Antonio Vivaldi's famous first movement of his "Spring" concerto. Vivaldi opens the movement with the now instantly recognizable theme which also functions as a ritornello. Two-thirds of the way through the three-minute movement, after the "storm" episode, Vivaldi returns to his ritornello theme, but in C-sharp minor instead of E major. If Vivaldi had simply repeated this theme in a major key, as heard in the rest of the movement, the entire piece would lose some of its expressive momentum.

Back to Schumann. By transitioning from B minor into E major during this minor-keyed ritornello, Schumann also allows the restatement of the primary theme (9:59) to be in A major, instead of C major. As is typical of sonata form, all of the restated themes occur in the dominant key (A); and because the final tonality of the recapitulation is in A major, instead of A minor, Schumann sets up the audience for one final tonal flourish at the beginning of the cadenza.

Cadenza (12:16 - 14:26)

Without any hints, inklings or foreshadowing, the soloist shifts dramatically from A major to F major. An A major scale contains the notes A, B, C-sharp, D, E, F-sharp, and G-sharp; conspicuously absent is the F natural which serves as the foundation for the soloist's arpeggios. This type of chord progression must have sounded very modern to Schumann's contemporaries.

In a question-and-answer session after his March 14 performance with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, pianist Stephen Hough commented on the emotional poignancy of the initial F major arpeggio, and how it reinforced Schumann’s goal of lyricism, not virtuosity, in a section where virtuosity was usually given priority.

Unlike most concertos, the cadenza is not used as a virtuoso showcase, but instead allows the pianist to further explore the movement’s thematic material without accompaniment. Schumann's cadenza incorporates references to both the primary theme and the ritornello theme.

Many contemporary concertos had eschewed the traditional cadenza which was used extensively in classical-era concertos. Schumann’s cadenza, unlike most of Mozart’s, is completely written out instead of improvised or written by individual performers. 

Coda (14:26 - 15:32)

Soloist and tutti come together once again to share in the coda, a minute-long momentum-building whirlwind located back in the tonic key of A minor and loosely based upon the CHiArA theme which opened the movement. Following one final cadence, piano and orchestra together sound the last full A minor chord in the concerto. 

After the richly-colored fantasy and brooding romance of the first movement, it is time for Schumann and his audience to make a permanent shift in tonality towards F major (second movement) and A major (third movement).

Movement 2: Intermezzo (andantino grazioso)

Schumann's middle section, like most classical concertos, is much slower than the two movements which bookend it.  Schumann's tempo marking of andantino grazioso means "walking speed, gracefully".  It is set in the key of F major - a key which is very closely related to the A minor tonality of the first movement.

Compared to the two movements surrounding it, the middle movement is much shorter - just over five minutes in length.  (For comparison, the first movement is three times its length, while the final movement is twice its length.)  This contrast in size follows a trend established by Beethoven, where the middle movement is small in scale and sets up a much bigger finale.

What is an intermezzo?
Schumann used the word intermezzo - a word that was stolen from opera parlance - to describe his middle movement.  In an 18th century opera, the vocal intermezzo was a short piece slotted between acts or scenes to entertain the audience.  

A similar mechanism exists today in musicals, as the accompanying orchestra will continue playing after the curtain drops while the stagehands rearrange set furniture for the new scene.

This modern, instrumental intermezzo can be dated back to Mendelssohn, who wrote several intermezzi for his seminal work A Midsummer Night's Dream.  Set to Shakespeare's play of the same name, Mendelssohn's score transforms the production into a musical, complete with an overture and orchestral accompaniment between scenes and acts.

Schumann - who was undoubtedly familiar with A Midsummer Night's Dream and might have even attended the premiere in 1843 - stole Mendelssohn's terminology for his concerto.  The middle movement thus acts as a transition between the two outer movements, which were both written before the middle movement was started.  To borrow a modern-day analogy, the first and third movements are the first and second halves of a football game; the middle intermezzo is the halftime entertainment.

Ternary structure
Structurally, the intermezzo is written in ternary (ABA) form.  The "A" section is itself split into a mini-ternary form - Theme A1 (0:00), then Theme A2 (0:25), then Theme A1 again (0:47).  While both the soloist and tutti play throughout the movement, Schumann alternates the hierarchy, giving Theme A1 primarily to the soloist, and Theme A2 primarily to the tutti.

Following the A section, Schumann uses the resonant cello section to carry the melody in the B section (1:20).  Set in C major (the A section, remember, started in F major; C major is the dominant of F major) Keller describes this B section as a "balletic pas de deux, but with the piano and cellos instead of dancers."  After almost a minute of the sweeping cellos, the full orchestra reenters (2:10) and develops the theme through the keys of G minor, A minor, and finally back to C major.

Schumann then returns to the A section (3:27) using the same format as before (A1 → A2 → A1), set in the original key of F major.  Following this repeat, Schumann begins to transition away from the middle section themes (4:26) and towards the harmonic content which will dominate the third movement.  

Moving from C major to B-flat major, and finally E major, the composer paves the way for a return to A major. At the very end of the second movement (5:03), Schumann quotes the CHiArA theme from the first movement on woodwinds - first in A major, then A minor, and finally D major before progressing immediately into the third movement without any pause or break.

Movement 3: Allegro vivace

Like the first movement, Schumann's third movement is also written in a modified sonata allegro form.  Unlike the first movement, the third movement is set in A major, not A minor.  This difference in tonality gives the third movement a more joyful, upbeat character.

This difference in character is also seen in the relative tempi that Schumann chose.  While the first movement is allegro affetuoso - "fast, but tenderly" - this third movement is allegro vivace - "fast and lively."  Weighing in a 871 measures - 330 more than the first movement - Schumann's final movement transpires much more quickly - just under 11 minutes in the Zimerman/Karajan performance, as opposed to the nearly 16 minute first movement.

Exposition (0:00 - 3:12)
The exposition section begins with a joint solo/tutti statement of the primary theme, which we will call Theme 1.  As in the first movement, Schumann enlists one of his major themes to serve as a ritornello.  In the first movement, however, Schumann uses a secondary theme for the ritornello, keeping the CHiArA theme as the primary subject exposited, developed, and recapitulated.  In this final movement, Schumann not only combines these two roles into one, but also follows traditional sonata form practices by introducing a distinct secondary theme - what we will call Theme 2 - in the traditional dominant key (E major vs. A major).

Confused?  Don't worry.  Let's walk through it, bit by bit.

The final movement opens with a statement of Theme 1 on piano, accompanied by the tutti (0:00) in the tonic key of A major.  Following a transitional passage of alternately descending and ascending scales (0:31), the tutti transposes to E major for the introduction of Theme 2 (0:59).  Compared to Theme 1, Theme 2 is lighter and more delicate, using staccato strings and a quiet solo part in contrast to Theme 1's bold solo part and sweeping strings.

After the piano joins with the strings to introduce Theme 2, the full orchestra comes in with a fragment of Theme 2 - let's call it Theme 2b - in the relative minor of E major: C-sharp minor. This progression - Theme 2 (tutti) → Theme 2 (solo) → Theme 2b (tutti, minor key) is repeated again in the recapitulation.

After Theme 2 follows a minute of transitional themes on the piano (1:41), including another one of my favorite moments in the concerto: two cyclic digressions (2:12) carried primarily by the solo piano.  Here are the chord changes in these digressions:

• C major → G major → D minor → A minor → F major (including two cadences) → F minor (which sets the pianist up for...)
• D-flat major → A-flat major → E-flat minor → B-flat minor →  F-sharp major → B major → E major 7th

I love how Schumann starts in C major - a key that is very different than the tonic A major - and then, by cycling through the circle of fifths and adding some other harmonic progressions, completes his journey on the dominant 7th chord right in time for the tension to resolve back to the tonic A major.

After these cycles, the tutti bookends some solo passage work with two broad Theme 1 ritornelli (2:41), and with that, the exposition section comes to a close.

Memories of a distant theme

Before moving on to the development section, I want to draw your attention to one minor detail.  When you listened to Theme 1 of the third movement, did it sound familiar to you?  It not, that's quite alright.  But if you did have a sneaking suspicion that you've heard this theme before, then you're correct.

Remember the CHiArA theme?  It starts with four descending notes - C, B, A, A - and then a series of four quick ascending notes - A, B, C, E - and then four more descending notes - D, C, C, B. 

Up to this point I have only talked about the hidden reference to Clara Schumann in the C, B, A, A part.  Robert Schumann, however, also decided to steal the second phrase of the CHiArA theme - A, B, C, E - and use it as the hook for his third movement Theme 1 - only this time, in A major (A, B, C#, E), not a minor.

It's Schumann's use of subtle details like this which help to tie the entire concerto together when we listen to it.  Even if our brains do not consciously realize there is a connection, there remains a subconscious familiarity that serves to make the concerto internally consistent, and therefore even more musically pleasing.

Development (3:12 - 4:45)

Schumann begins his development section with a short fugatto - a "mini-fugue".  A fugue (from the Latin fuga "to flee") is a piece with several distinct, but codependent lines built on a single subject which is imitated and developed as it works through the various parts.  Johann Sebastian Bach was famous for his fugues.  Perhaps most famous of all is his Toccata and Fugue in D minor, written for the massive pipe organ. The fugue starts at 2:41.

Mozart and Beethoven were both strongly influenced by Bach.  One good example of Mozart's fugal writing is in the 4th movement from his Symphony No. 41 ("Jupiter").  Throughout the 4th movement, Mozart introduces five distinct themes; then, at the conclusion of the movement, he takes all five themes and weaves them in and out of each other in one magnificent five-part fugue.  This fugue section begins at 9:59 in the video.

Even with this brief fugatto, the development section of Schumann's third movement is smaller and less classically correct than its first movement counterpart.  Unusually for a development section, an entirely new theme (or, perhaps more accurately, theme fragment) is introduced (3:28), stated first by the oboe, then by the piano, then by the oboe and piano a second time each, and finally by the orchestral tutti.

However, instead of continuing in that vein, Schumann enters into a rapid ABABAB form section, where this new development theme (A) is alternated with a theme reminiscent of the first movement (B).  Throughout this section, Schumann modulates keys, starting in C major and ending up only one half-step higher, in C-sharp major.  Although the starting and ending keys are chromatic relative to each other, at no time does Schumann's writing sound anything but pleasant and natural.

Closing out the development section is a short variation on Theme 1 played by the tutti (4:37) in the tonic A major.

Recapitulation (4:45 - 8:05)

Classical form dictates that, during the recapitulation, both Theme 1 and Theme 2 are to be restated, and both of them must be in the tonic key (A major).  As he was prone to do, Schumann decided that these rules did not suit him; instead, he begins the recapitulation in the subdominant - D major.

Although the recapitulation starts in D major, by the time Theme 2 is restated, Schumann has transposed back to A major.  Various episodes following this take the piece away from A major, but all of these diversions are brief and the key of A major remains the baseline for the rest of the movement.

The format of the recapitulation closely mimics the format of the exposition.  Theme 1 ritornello (4:45; tutti, then solo) → Theme 2 (5:37; tutti, then solo, then tutti) → Transition (6:19; solo) → Cyclic digressions (6:49; solo with tutti) → Theme 1 ritornello (7:18; two tutti sections sandwiching a solo passage).

Coda (8:05 - 10:39)

Schumann's coda wraps up the Piano Concerto with brilliant piano playing interwoven with fragments of Theme 1 and two cyclic digressions that are very similar to those heard in the exposition section, only longer and more drawn-out.

Although the entire third movement was written in triple meter (3/4), the rhythmic character shifts during the coda as the soloist introduces a waltz-like feel, complete with the trademarked "down-up-up" movement in the pianist's left-hand part.

The Piano Concerto finishes with a series of emphatic A major chords in the tutti strung-together with piano arpeggios.  

Coda: Historical Impact

Virtually all popular compositions create multiple ripples downstream into the future, and in this regard Schumann's is no different. Almost every pianist following Schumann - including Brahms, Grieg, Saint-Saens, Rachmaninoff, and others - built upon the themes and developments that Schumann introduced. But, for the purposes of brevity, I will limit my discussion to two.

First, Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) was profoundly influenced by his first hearing of Schumann's Piano Concerto and was so inspired that he promptly wrote his own in 1868.  As an homage to Schumann, he also set his Concerto in A minor and borrowed several harmonic and structural elements to create his own piece.  
Grieg's Piano Concerto is also considered one of the most important Piano Concertos in history - perhaps even more celebrated than Schumann's - and many recordings, including the Zimerman/Karajan recording analyzed here, also include Grieg's Concerto.

Second, Schumann's good friend and protege Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was instrumental in continuing the lineage of "symphonic concerto" founded by Beethoven and endorsed by Schumann. Brahms wrote two massive Piano Concertos (published in 1859 and 1881, respectively), both of which approach an hour in runtime, which build even further on the idea that the piano and orchestra are fully equal partners throughout all the thematic material.

If the listener has enjoyed Schumann's Piano Concerto, I would happily suggest he also investigate these three Piano Concertos that I've mentioned.

Sources

• Keller, James. Program notes for the San Francisco Symphony
• Steinberg, Michael. The Concerto. Oxford Press, 1998.
• Lindeman, Stephan. Structural Novelty and Tradition in the Early Romantic Piano Concerto. Pendragon Press, 1999.
• Thursday Classical Music OPUS 5: Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor
• Schwarz, Gerard. Musically Speaking: Schumann