Cocktail Party Fact: Igor Stravinsky was Serge Diaghilev’s fifth choice to compose the music for this ballet.
Commitment Factor: About 46 minutes.
Vital Statistics: Late Romantic Period.
What to Listen For: In this piece, the first of his three great “Russian period” ballet scores, Stravinsky greatly expanded on the exotic harmonies and orchestration of his teacher, Rimsky-Korsakov. Even [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: Maurice Ravel is said to have been influenced by George Gershwin in this piece. While that might be open to debate, Ravel’s affection for Gershwin’s music was undeniable: when Gershwin approached him for composition lessons, he refused, explaining that he didn’t want to risk turning a first-rate Gershwin into a second-rate Ravel.
Commitment [...]

Commitment Factor: About 30 minutes.
Vital Statistics: Modern Period. One of Prokofiev’s most popular and listenable works.
What to Listen For: The first movement has a sonata-allegro feel to it, but without elaborate thematic development. Listen for the amazing toccata-like piano passage that introduces the recapitulation: it will reappear at the very end of the movement [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: The gorgeous middle movement of this concerto was such a hit with the opening-night audience that Mozart had to repeat it.
Commitment Factor: About 35 minutes.
Vital Statistics: Classical Period.
What to Listen For: The first and last movements are in the sunny key of E flat major, but with many Mozartean digressions. Note especially [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: The soulful middle movement of this piano concerto was heard on the soundtrack of the 1967 movie Elvira Madigan. Record sales went through the roof for a while, and the concerto is still sometimes given the Elvira Madigan subtitle on CD covers. To Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who composed it 182 [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: Incredibly, this splendid composition — the flowering of Mozart’s maturity as a composer of piano concertos, and perhaps the most popular of all his concertos with modern listeners — disappointed the audience at its premiere in 1785. In fact, the legendary financial troubles that afflicted Mozart can be said to have begun [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: The only classical concerto used during the talent competition of the Miss America pageant–in a three-minute arrangement for piano solo. The contestant didn’t win.
Commitment Factor: 25 - 30 minutes
Vital Statistics: Romantic Period (1868). A three-movement concerto in post-classical form (in other words, the soloist dominates throughout, right from the beginning).
What to Listen [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: After completing this piece, Brahms wrote to a friend: “I have just completed a teeny, tiny piano concerto with a teeny, tiny, wisp of a Scherzo.” This is, of course, the longest piano concerto in the entire standard repertoire.
Commitment Factor: About 47 - 50 minutes
Vital Statistics: Romantic Period (1881). Most concertos have [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: Beethoven arranged this work as a piano concerto as well–and not very successfully, either.
Commitment Factor: 40 - 45 minutes
Vital Statistics: Classical Period (1806). A three-movement concerto for violin and orchestra with an unusually spacious first movement.
What to Listen For: This is one of Beethoven’s most serene pieces, especially in the lengthy first [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: No one has a clue where the nickname came from. It certainly wasn’t Beethoven’s idea.
Commitment Factor: About 40 minutes
Vital Statistics: Classical Period (1809). A big, three-movement concerto with a couple of unique features: there is a grand opening in alteration between solo and orchestra, before the usual lengthy orchestral statement of the [...]