This is a list of concertos and concertante works for piano left-hand and orchestra.
The best known left-hand concerto is the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D by Maurice Ravel, which was written for Paul Wittgenstein between 1929 and 1930. Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm in World War I, commissioned a number of such works around that time, as did Otakar Hollmann. More recently, Gary Graffman has commissioned a number of left-hand concertos.
| Composer | Work | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Hans Abrahamsen | Left, alone | 2015 |
| Mario Alfagüell | First Concerto for piano left hand and small orchestra, Op. 145 | 2003 |
| Mario Alfagüell | Second Concerto for piano left hand and orchestra, Op. 185 | 2007 |
| Josef Bartovský | Piano Concerto No. 2 for left hand (written for Hollmann) | 1952 |
| Arnold Bax | Concertante for Piano (Left Hand) and Orchestra | 1948 |
| William Bolcom | Gaea for Two Pianos Left Hand and Orchestra (commissioned by Graffman for him to play with Leon Fleisher) | 1996 |
| Sergei Bortkiewicz | Piano Concerto No. 2 for the Left Hand, Op. 28 (commissioned by Wittgenstein) | 1924 |
| Rudolf Braun | Piano Concerto in A minor (written for Wittgenstein) | 1927 |
| Benjamin Britten | Diversions for Piano Left Hand and Orchestra (commissioned by Wittgenstein) | 1940 |
| C. Curtis-Smith | Concerto for piano (left hand) and orchestra (commissioned by Leon Fleisher) | 1991 |
| Richard Danielpour | Piano Concerto No. 3 Zodiac Variations | 2002 |
| Norman Demuth | Piano Concerto for the left hand (commissioned by Wittgenstein) | 1947 |
| Norman Demuth | Legend for piano left hand and orchestra (commissioned by Wittgenstein) | 1949 |
| Lukas Foss | Piano Concerto for the Left Hand | 1993 |
| Alberto Ginastera | Second movement of the Piano concerto no. 2 (Scherzo per la mano sinistra) | 1972 |
| Daron Hagen | Seven Last Words: Concerto for Piano Left Hand and Orchestra (commissioned by Graffman) | 2002 |
| David Haynes | Concerto No. 1 for Left Hand and orchestra | 1999 |
| Paul Hindemith | Klaviermusik mit Orchester , Op. 29 (commissioned by Wittgenstein) | 1923 |
| Shin’ichirō Ikebe | Piano Concerto No. 3 | 2013 |
| Igor Ivanek | INRI, Concerto for piano left hand alone and orchestra [1] | 2006 |
| Leoš Janáček | Capriccio for piano left hand and chamber ensemble (suggested by Otakar Hollmann but not written for him specifically) | 1926 |
| Erich Wolfgang Korngold | Piano Concerto in C-sharp for the left hand, Op. 17 (commissioned by Wittgenstein) | 1923 |
| Josef Labor | Concert piece in the form of variations for piano left-hand and orchestra (composed for Wittgenstein) [2] | 1916 |
| Josef Labor | Concert Piece in F minor (commissioned by Wittgenstein, who premiered it in 1936) [2] | 1917 |
| Josef Labor | Concert Piece in B-flat minor (E flat major?) [2] | 1923 |
| Kurt Leimer | Piano Concerto No. 2 (in one movement) [2] | 1944–48 |
| Ben Lunn | History Needs... concerto for left-hand piano and strings (written for Nicholas McCarthy) | 2023 |
| Bohuslav Martinů | Concertino (later renamed Divertimento) for piano left hand and chamber orchestra, H. 173 (commissioned by Hollmann) | 1926 |
| Pehr Henrik Nordgren | Concerto for piano left hand and chamber orchestra, Op. 129 | 2004 |
| Dieter Nowka | Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, Op. 71 | 1971 |
| Luis Prado | Piano Concerto for the left hand (Concierto de piano para la mano izquierda, written for Gary Graffman, 2001 and premiered by him in 2002) | 2001 |
| Sergei Prokofiev | Piano Concerto No. 4 for the left hand, Op. 53 (commissioned by Wittgenstein but never played by him; premiered in 1956 by Siegfried Rapp) | 1931 |
| Maurice Ravel | Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D (commissioned by Wittgenstein) | 1929–30 |
| Ned Rorem | Piano Concerto No. 4 for the Left Hand (commissioned by Gary Graffman) | 1993 |
| Franz Schmidt | Concertante Variations on a Theme of Beethoven (commissioned by Wittgenstein) | 1923 |
| Franz Schmidt | Piano Concerto No. 2, for the Left Hand (commissioned by Wittgenstein) | 1934 |
| Gunther Schuller | Concerto for 3 Hands (written for Lorin Hollander and Leon Fleisher) [2] | 1990 |
| Eduard Schütt | Paraphrase for piano and orchestra (written for Wittgenstein) | 1929 |
| Lucijan Marija Škerjanc | Concerto for piano left hand and orchestra | 1963 |
| Stanisław Skrowaczewski | Concerto Niccolò for Piano Left Hand and Orchestra | 2003 |
| Raoul Sosa | Concerto for piano left hand with string orchestra | 1989 |
| Richard Strauss | Parergon zur "Sinfonia Domestica" for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 73 (commissioned by Wittgenstein) | 1927 |
| Richard Strauss | Panathenäenzug: Sinfonische Etüden in Form einer Passacaglia for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 74 (commissioned by Wittgenstein) | 1925 |
| Alexandre Tansman | Concert Piece for Piano and Orchestra | 1943 |
| Johannes Paul Thilman | Concertino for piano (left hand) and orchestra, Op. 65 | 1954 |
| Karl Weigl | Concerto for the left hand [2] | 1924 |
| Takashi Yoshimatsu | Concerto for Piano Left Hand and Chamber Orchestra "Cepheus Note", Op. 102 | 2007 |
| Géza Zichy | Piano Concerto in E-flat for the left hand (written for himself to play) | 1895 |
| Ján Zimmer | Piano Concerto No. 5 for the Left Hand, Op. 50 | 1961 |
Works for piano right-hand only also exist, but there are far fewer of them than for left-hand only.
Concertante works involving piano right-hand include:
Paul Wittgenstein was an Austrian-American concert pianist notable for commissioning new piano concerti for the left hand alone, following the amputation of his right arm during the First World War. He devised novel techniques, including pedal and hand-movement combinations, that allowed him to play chords previously regarded as impossible for a five-fingered pianist.
A piano concerto, a type of concerto, is a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for piano accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuosic showpieces which require an advanced level of technique. Piano concertos are typically written out in music notation, including sheet music for the pianist, orchestral parts, and a full score for the conductor.
Sinfonia concertante is an orchestral work, normally in several movements, in which one or more solo instruments contrast with the full orchestra. It emerged as a musical form during the Classical period of Western music from the Baroque concerto grosso. Sinfonia concertante encompasses the symphony and the concerto genres, a concerto in that soloists are on prominent display, and a symphony in that the soloists are nonetheless discernibly a part of the total ensemble and not preeminent. Sinfonia concertante is the ancestor of the double and triple concerti of the Romantic period corresponding approximately to the 19th century.
Gary Graffman is an American classical pianist, teacher and administrator.
Hans Abrahamsen is a Danish composer born in Kongens Lyngby near Copenhagen. His Let me tell you (2013), a song cycle for soprano and orchestra, was ranked by music critics at The Guardian as the finest work of the 21st-century. His opera The Snow Queen was commissioned and premiered by the Royal Danish Theatre in 2019.
The Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D major was composed by Maurice Ravel between 1929 and 1930, concurrently with his Piano Concerto in G major. It was commissioned by the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm during World War I. The Concerto had its premiere on 5 January 1932, with Wittgenstein as soloist performing with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.
Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 4 in B-flat major for the left hand, Op. 53, was commissioned by the one-armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein and completed in 1931.
Cyril James Smith OBE was a virtuoso concert pianist of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, and a piano teacher.
Friedrich Wührer was an Austrian-German pianist and piano pedagogue. He was a close associate and advocate of composer Franz Schmidt, whose music he edited and, in the case of the works for left hand alone, revised for performance with two hands; he was also a champion of the Second Viennese School and other composers of the early 20th century. His recorded legacy, however, centers on German romantic literature, particularly the music of Franz Schubert.
Phyllis Sellick, OBE was a British pianist and teacher, best known for her partnership with her pianist husband Cyril Smith.
This is a list of works associated with the left-handed Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein.
Ernest Walker was an Indian-born English composer and writer on music, as well as a pianist, organist and teacher.
James Francis Brown is an English composer. He studied composition with the Viennese émigré Hans Heimler and then at the Royal Academy of Music, London.
Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in C-sharp major, Op. 17, was written on commission from Paul Wittgenstein in 1923, and published in 1926. It was only the second such concerto ever written, after the Concerto in E-flat by Géza Zichy, published in 1895.
Siegfried Rapp was a German pianist who lost his right arm during World War II and then focused on the left-hand repertoire. He is now mainly remembered for being the first to perform Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 4 for the Left Hand, Op.53.
Rudolf Braun was an Austrian pianist and composer who was born congenitally blind. He was born and died in Vienna.
Left, alone is a piano concerto for the left hand and orchestra by the Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen. The work was commissioned by the Westdeutscher Rundfunk and co-commissioned by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Its world premiere was given by the pianist Alexandre Tharaud and the Westdeutscher Rundfunk Sinfonie-Orchester under the direction of Ilan Volkov on January 29, 2016. The piece is dedicated to Alexandre Tharaud.
Klaviermusik mit Orchester, Op. 29, is a 1923 piano concerto by Paul Hindemith. Subtitled Klavier nur linke Hand, it is a piano concerto for the left hand alone. It was commissioned by the pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm in the World War. He never played the piece, and when he died, his widow refused access to the score. The premiere, after her death, was played in Berlin in 2004, with Leon Fleisher as the soloist and the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Simon Rattle. It was published by Schott.