What is a Concerto?

↓ ↓ LINKS TO INDIVIDUAL SECTIONS ↓ ↓
1 - The Early Days: 0:23
2 - The Mid-Baroque: 6:21
2.5 - Terminology: 10:55
3 - Vivaldi and Ritornello Form: 11:19
4 - The Classical Ideal: 16:46
5 - Beethoven Blows it Up: 35:44
6 - The Heroic Soloist: 37:18
7 - What Happened?: 49:04
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Classical Nerd is a weekly video series covering music history, theoretical concepts, and techniques, hosted by composer, pianist, and music history aficionado Thomas Little.
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Music:
- Thomas Little: Snowfall [original upload: QTuMYQH0pWo]
- Giovanni Gabrieli: In Ecclesiis, performed by the Arp Schnitger Ensemble, Oltremontano, and the Gesualdo Consort [original upload: u3U47JuKxnw]
- Heinrich Schütz: Saul, Saul, Was Verfolgst du Mich, SWV 415, performed by the Bach-Kantorei Appenzeller Mittelland conducted by Wilfried Schnetzler [original upload: lZvrVPVhG9w]
- Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto for 2 Flutes in C major, RV 533, performed by Paula Robison and the Gardner Chamber Orchestra and available on IMSLP: tinyurl.com/yxwpexj7
- Arcangelo Corelli: Concerto No.8 in G minor, “Fatto per la notte di Natale,” performed by Archi di Roma and available on IMSLP: tinyurl.com/yy7ytzpg
- Johann Sebastian Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048, performed by A Far Cry and available on IMSLP: tinyurl.com/yykz5yum
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major, K.453, performed by Chiara Bergoglio and the Italian Philharmonic Orchestra and available in IMSLP: tinyurl.com/y3nz989r
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4, Mvt. 1 “Allegro non troppo,” performed by Debbie Hu and the University of Washington Symphony and available on IMSLP: tinyurl.com/yyl9mwcx
- Franz Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1, Mvt. 1 “Allegro maestoso,” performed by Debbie Hu and the University of Washington Symphony and available on IMSLP: tinyurl.com/y6gxtjxr
- John Cage: Concerto for Prepared Piano and Chamber Orchestra, performed by John Tilbury and the BBC Scottish Orchestra [original upload: wGsGPF1QPP8]
Footage:
- Ferruccio Busoni: Piano Concerto in C Major, performed by Marc-André Hamelin and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mark Elder [original upload: ohPzurDZzZ4]
- Francis Schwartz: Concerto for Solo Conductor, performed by Vicky Shin [original upload: LtgbrLfN1Qc]
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Contact Information:
Questions and comments can be directed to:
nerdofclassical [at] gmail.com
Tumblr:
classical-nerd.tumblr.com
Facebook:
/ classicalnerd
Instagram:
/ the_classical_nerd
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All images and audio in this video are for educational purposes only and are not intended as copyright infringement. If you have a copyright concern, please contact me using the above information.

[@ClassicalNerd]

Despite this being one of the longest videos to date, trying to cover the entire history of the concerto without cutting a few interesting corners/side notes was bound to happen. As with any huge topic, my goal was to deliver the appropriate context, so that any concerto that a viewer may listen to in the future has some manner of historical/formal contextualization. Also, *I have no control over the placement of advertisements in this video* because the first movement of the Liszt concerto was falsely tagged as being under copyright, despite the recording I featured being in the public domain. I've disputed the claim.

[@zackebrorsson9374]

can you make an video about anton reicha?

[@MrFirefox411]

@Classical Nerd I second that. Can you also do Franz Danzi

[@adrianwright8685]

Can't resist repeating Stravinsky's supposed quote: "Vivaldi, the guy that composed the same concerto 500 times"

[@danielb028]

Just discovered this channel and i found it fantastic!

[@mysas5983]

Whaaat? A channel called "Classical Nerd" with one hour videos? So exited to bingewatch all of it. This is exactly my kind of "Blockbuster"

[@chessematics]

Exactly

[@pjbailey2313]

As a flutist, I am very fond of Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp. Often though my favorite piece is the one I am currently listening to!

[@Fiik-guitarist]

Im about to finish my jazz conservatory exams at Prague I saw literally all your videos about composers like 5 times each. No doubt you're channel is absolutely best on KZbin for preparation to history of music test

[@andrewlord5615]

Favourite Concerto - Webern Concerto for 9 Instruments. That last movement dances!

[@maksimliakh3907]

Moritz Moszkowskis E Major concerto is a genius piece of art! A lot of people who get to know it, start loving it!

[@Rhythmmical]

Ironically, someone at my school recently won the concerto competition with the Scriabin F# minor one.

[@daviddichmann4905]

this channel is a goldmine and extremely binge-worthy (I’ve literally watched these videos for 4 straight hours just today) !! keep up the good work.

[@willyevans]

You have a wonderful channel here. Thank you for taking the time to do these videos.

[@kanelbullenochkakan3118]

This is an absolute wonder of a video I love this channel

[@brendaboykin3281]

Thanx, Maestro 🌹🌹🌹

[@LusineYsoprano]

So much of information in one video! Thank you so much! I finally understood the changes over time.

[@srothbardt]

Once again, thank you very much for this! Excellent.

[@shayanmardanbeigi2697]

My favorite concerto of all time would probably be between Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto and Beethoven’s 5th Piano Concerto, very hard to pick personally, I also adore Chopin Piano Concerto No 1, Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No 2, Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, and basically Mozart’s 20-27th Piano Concerti

[@samuelmincarelli5051]

Thank you, I found this video quite helpful. My favorite concerto varies from time to time. I enjoy Sibelius’s violin concerto, as well as Khacaturian’s violin and piano concerto. I am also partial to Bartok’s second violin concerto and concerto for orchestra. Recently , I have accumulated a fondness for Shostakovich’s first violin concerto, and both Khrennikov violin concerto. I do enjoy Berg’s violin concerto as you mentioned.

[@TheHive616]

Very glad to have found your channel! I really enjoy quite a few types of music, but common practice (or classical) is my real passion, and there's always so much more that can be explored, absorbed and learned. Unfortunately, it's also the music that I have no friends to discuss with. I have progressive rock friends, black metal friends, jazz friends... But no classical friends. It is a broad spectrum that requires attentive listening and a desire to analyze and understand the composition and performance, and it's hard to find people that genuinely enjoy the intellectual pursuit of music for knowledge's sake. So channels like yours can go a long way towards filling that gap, giving me some new insights and different perspectives to consider. Thank you for all the work you do, helping people everywhere get a deeper understanding of this fascinating, timeless lexicon.

[@okb0ss336]

Gotta say i really love Bach's fifth brandenburg.. great video!!

[@jeremyjones6945]

Great video (as always) - love the idea of a history of a form A few personal favourites should anyone who not know them want to check them out (although they're all pretty popular I think!): Poulenc's Piano Concerto, Saint-Saens' Piano Concerto 4, Sibelius Violin, Elgar Cello, Rautavaara Piano 3 & Cello 2, Grieg Piano, Glazunov Violin, Barber Violin.

[@TheMatrixxandRhodesShow]

This is a great video Classical Nerd. I find that Mozart's Piano Concerto No 22 in E Flat Major and the D Minor Concerto to be my favorite. Both are Sonato Allegro Form. I fine myself now loving to compose in a formless nature and I'm starting to enjoy minimalism. I was always a fan of John Adam's and I love his violin concerto.

[@wyattwahlgren8883]

I haven't listened to many concertos, but you said I should comment my favorite concerto. I've got to say that Dvorak's cello concerto is phenomenal. Anyone who reads this should listen to it now.

[@jcrouse7461]

Oml I totally agree with you on Saint-Saens 5th! It's fantastic!

[@colefortier]

This was an awesome video! I would have to say my favorite concerto is hands down Ravels Piano Concerto in G.

[@allesvergaengliche]

I definitely agree that Berg’s VC is the greatest ever written

[@k98killer]

It is hard to have a single favorite concerto, but Mendelssohn violin concerto is pretty good.

[@TheHive616]

The only thing I regret you leaving out was mention of Bach's Italian Concerto for harpsichord... In a way it was a precursor to the idea behind the Concerto for Solo Piano, the idea of a solo instrument representing the interplay between soloist and orchestra. It's one of my favorite Bach pieces.

[@NN-df7hl]

Any chance you might add timings (links to individual sections) to the Mozart concerto to show the divides between exposition and development and recap as well as to the 1st and 2nd themes? That would be super-helpful! :) Thank you for your videos! Hope you do a follow-up with LvB's 4th or 5th concerto. Cheers.

[@sgbjohnson]

Previously my favorite concerto had been Brahms Piano Concerto No 1, but after watching this very informative video, my new favorite has to be Schwartz's Concerto for Solo Conductor. 🤣

[@littlecadenza400]

My favorite concerto is probably Einojuhani Rautavaara's Percussion Concerto. A strong contender for second favorite is Gabriel Prokofiev's Concerto for Turntables and Orchestra - if you haven't listened to it already you should, it's *wild*.

[@jackrobinson5671]

My favourite concerto is the berg violin concerto

[@blackmagentaorange5940]

My favorite mainstream concerto is probably Sibelius, rare concerto Karlowicz violin concerto, and then finally Bartok Concerto for Orchestra.

[@jag3596]

Hey. I love the video, but can I suggest something? Do you think you can bring the camera closer? Make it so that we only see the head and shoulders? Leave some space to the right for visual aids and maybe a nice bust on top of some books. The reason I'm suggesting this is because with the camera this far back, we get to see your posture. And unless one has been trained in speaking posture, it just feels kinda awkward seeing someone change posture and not know where to move their hands. It also makes it so that whenever you have a cut in your footage, you don't suddenly jump left and right in the shot (or at least makes it less obvious). That's just a suggestion and feel free to ignore it if you wish. Love your videos and keep doing what you do!

[@ClassicalNerd]

I used to have a much smaller set and hated being close to the camera ... and many commenters on older videos concurred. Right now, I always line up the edges of the frame with the sides of the bookshelf, so that it's less obvious when the camera runs out of memory and needs to be turned back on. A better recording setup would allow more room for presentation experimentation.

[@jag3596]

@@ClassicalNerd Well, I guess that's fair. I appreciate the response! :)

[@blackmagentaorange5940]

There was a moment where I misread "Part 4:" and "Party!" And how fitting Mozart's portrait was in the background.

[@likavefxviashvili8732]

my favorite concerto is krommer's clarinet and salieri's concert for piano

[@classicalmusic3334]

Busoni wasn't the only composer to write a piano concerto featuring a choir. The 6th piano concerto by Henri Herz features a choral finale as well, but unfortunately it seems like the orchestral parts are lost. And two years before Beethoven started writing his 9th symphony, Daniel Steibelt wrote his 8th piano concerto which also features a choral finale, but unfortunately that piece seems to be lost in its entirety.

[@kelkjeffery4780]

Favourite concerto is probably either Brahms or Sibelius for violin. Both pieces I really wanna play one day but man they're difficult.

[@OdiseasGeorgiadis]

U R A BOSS!

[@CharlieFretwellPianist]

Favourite concertos rn are Mendelssohn 1, Carl Vine 2, and Bach 1 (keyboard instruments only)

[@firepyro66]

curious fact: in italian, da chiesa means "for church" not "of the church". have a good day. wonderful videos

[@ReinholdOtto]

My favorite? c-minor, this is just magical.

[@adrianwright8685]

Composer? Instrument?

[@ReinholdOtto]

@@adrianwright8685 Mozart, Piano Concerto C Minor

[@TheseAreMyHooves]

I thought I was starting hear things... ice cream trucks. But it was just your backing track, very quiet ;)

[@obnoxiousoboe]

I hope for the next Great Composers series you can talk about one of my favorite composers: OTTORINO RESPIGHI!!!

[@ClassicalNerd]

Duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@jacobbass6226]

My favorite concerto is ingolf Dahl saxophone concerto.

[@chessematics]

Beethoven wrote so many trios he just threw a whole concerto for his boys

[@scriabinismydog2439]

My favourite concerto is probably Rauravaara 1st Piano Concerto or Prokofieff 2nd Piano Concerto. They're both amazing I can't choose :)

[@StackExchan9e]

But not one of your own?

[@scriabinismydog2439]

@@StackExchan9e XD nope, but I love the Left hand one. Also Le Tombeau de Couperin is my favourite piece togher with Rautavaara's Piano Concerto no.1

[@Cryseris]

mans really played the first movement of a concerto just to show the trill at the end edit: my favorite part of a concerto is the cadenza of the second bottesini concerto

[@johnmillholland6550]

Favorite concerto is the Brahms violin concerto

[@FeonaLeeJones]

i LOVE LOVE LOVE your background! Where did you find such a cool bookshelf?

[@ClassicalNerd]

It's from IKEA! I got a donation from a viewer in 2018 that allowed me to upgrade my set beginning with my Aaron Copland video, and I was so taken with the sturdiness and presentability of the shelves that I made sure I got more of the same when I moved up to grad school (starting with the Silvestre Revueltas video).

[@chessematics]

At this point I won't be surprised if he says "So Taylor Swift in her latest song just sits on the piano for a pitch cluster, but oh! Beethoven did it first though!"

[@caterscarrots3407]

I am thinking of writing a piano concerto. But I find that writing for orchestra is hard despite my study of orchestration. So I was thinking of writing a piano concerto before I write a symphony. But how would I go about this? Would I write the piano exposition first and base the orchestral exposition off of the piano exposition or what because I find writing for piano more comfortable than writing for orchestra?

[@signodeinterrogacion8361]

My favourite concerto is de Falla's Harpsichord concerto. Yes, I'm Spanish, how could you tell?

[@tej_s9]

fav is Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto no 2

[@allesvergaengliche]

Also, Webern wrote a concerto, op.24.

[@maksimliakh3907]

I find the topic of romantic and classical concerti for brass instruments interesting... Trumpet, Horn and Trombone... Especially the concerti for lower ones do not seem to follow the common rules, for example Ferdinand David or F. Graefe...

[@amogus1]

my fav concerto has to be Beethoven 5, then Brahms 2, then Schumann, then Rach 3.

[@davidteitelbaum7335]

Superb video, and, as usual, great opinions and observations on the topic. I do want to make on appeal from the crazy, non-opaque trajectories of history, where far more nuance exists in the more minute details and personalities of the nineteenth century, than the binary distinction twixt empty virtuoso showpieces in contrast to meaningful musical works for soloist(s) and orchestra. There are (probably) dozens of concerti that are far more musical and intriguing, even though they were written by virtuosi, that are not played for more pathetic reasons than that they were ephemeral. Hummel, Moscheles, Reinecke, Spohr, Joachim, Bruch (after his first violin concerto, Scottish Fantasy and Kol Nidrei, where a wealth of extraordinarily brilliant concertante works still reside, relatively obscured,) Vieuxtemps (in his many concertante works for violin, viola and cello, other than his fourth and fifth violin concerti that still enjoy some popularity,) Glazunov, Raff and so many others are not guilty of writing concerti with vapid, uninspired music-as-vehicles-to-show-off; they wrote truly masterful musical works, and are roundly forgotten today. Why? I’m still trying to figure that out. But surely such and tens of other composers of such genius wrote worthwhile, universal concerti, only they’re seldom heard. Sure, such virtuosi as Thalberg, Dreyschock, Hertz, Ernst, and others didn’t have much to say beyond their day-they really were more sizzle and gristle than steak-but there is less of an excuse why the others are still ignored.

[@ClassicalNerd]

Indeed-there are a great many "forgotten masterpieces" here on KZbin that just aren't big enough names. No one knows a lot of these names outside of a small group, and orchestras that want to do a concerto need to bring in enough money to cover costs-not to mention that most of those pieces aren't warhorses that lots of soloists will learn just to have in their repertoire. I'd even put the Busoni concerto in that camp of masterpieces that continue to get a cold shoulder for financial reasons ... but the financial reasons would be alleviated if more symphonies were willing to take risks; the huge audience for the Brian _Gothic_ Symphony at the Proms more than attests to an audience hungry for something other than Rachmaninoff.

[@tej_s9]

My all time favorite is Rachmaninoff's PC 2

[@classicalmusic3334]

Mine is Bortkiewicz's PC 1

[@benthepen3336]

Yesss Chopin PC 1 Rachmaninoff PC2 and Beethoven PC 3 are all great ones👍

[@KuroiPK]

Great overview, do you plan to do this for other time periods?

[@ClassicalNerd]

I would eventually like to do this with other major forms (symphony, sonata, etc.), but I have no definitive plans as to when those might be produced.

[@kallehed6330]

prokofiev 2nd is pretty good

[@ericrakestraw664]

Excellent video on the history of the concerto. I hope you'll do something similar for the symphony. BTW, my favorite concertos are Bach's 5th Brandenburg (really the first concerto to feature a solo keyboard cadenza) and Beethoven's 4th.

[@ClassicalNerd]

I'd love to dive into the symphony in the same way, but there's so much more there that I'd really have to split it into several parts. Otherwise, it'd be five hours and still inevitably miss out on major things.

[@ericrakestraw664]

@@ClassicalNerd I'd still watch though - even if the video was five hours long!

[@srothbardt]

I sometimes like to think of Mozart’s c minor as the greatest. Or Schumann’s a minor con.

[@michaelwu7678]

Dear Classical Nerd, Would you please recommend me some books to give to a friend to get them into classical music? They don’t have any music training but listen to a wide variety of popular genres. Thank you.

[@ClassicalNerd]

For the 20th century, I highly recommend _The Rest is Noise_ by Alex Ross. I've not read his second book, _Listen to This,_ but I hear that it's a really good, wider view of music history, and one that links in the best of pop music with the wider classical tradition. The issue with many writings-especially about the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic eras-is that they're either light reading (like Tim Rayborn's _Beethoven's Skull_ ), or they're highly specific and technical (like any one of the biographies that populate the left side of my shelf). I started this channel largely because I didn't see a substantive resource for in-depth introductory material.

[@michaelwu7678]

Classical Nerd Thank you so much!

[@valentinalujan3039]

Mendelssohn violin concerto in E minor with Hilary Hahn

[@kanelbullenochkakan2322]

46:54 I mean the man even imitates bells doing stuff incredible with the harmonic series! Uhrm.. Eh... Uhm... *_G E N I U S B E A R D M A N_*

[@superblondeDotOrg]

But the harmonic series is simply a Dom7 add9 chord thru to the first 8 harmonics sooooo... beard man is impressive exactly how?

[@alexbrockwell8158]

Beethoven's 3rd and Glass' Concerto for Two Timpanists

[@vrixphillips]

I'm sure you get tonnes of recommendations, but could you consider doing one on Luigi Nono? There's no English video about his life or work on KZbin :O which sucks because his music is so interesting! at least, no videos that I found....

[@ClassicalNerd]

You're the third to request Nono: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@jessicamateus2074]

Rach 3

[@laurenlofton9039]

I may have an unpopular opinion, but my favorite concerto would have to be Vieuxtemps’s 4th Violin Concerto.

[@firepyro66]

da camera: for chamber

[@carlosmendozapiano]

My favourite concerto is the Mozart 23

[@thijmenkrijgsman2417]

53:15 Anton Webern did write a concerto : Concerto for nine instruments Op.24. Right?

[@thijmenkrijgsman2417]

Jep he did. If you would like to see the piece go to Bartje Bartmans : Anton Webern Concerto for nine instruments Op.24.

[@ClassicalNerd]

I should have clarified that I was talking about the traditional soloist-ensemble concerto; Webern's example falls under the Bartokian concerto-for-orchestra category.

[@thijmenkrijgsman2417]

Doesn’t matter, I don’t blame you at all. You have an amazing chanel.

[@kanelbullenochkakan3118]

My top 10 favourite concerti 1. Vivaldi Concerto For 2 Violins In A Minor 2. Vivaldi Concerto For 4 Violins in B Minor 3. Vivaldi Concerto For 1 Violin In A Minor 4. Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 In C minor 5. Vivaldi Concerto For 4 Violins And 1 Cello In F Major 6. Vivaldi Concerto For 4 Violins In D Major 7. Vivaldi Concerto For 2 Violins In A Major 8. Bach Organ Concerto In A Minor After Vivaldi 9. Bach Concerto for 4 Harpsichords In B Minor After Vivaldi 10. Paganini Violin concerto No. 1 Also a question, Why is vivaldis concerti around 10 minutes?, while other concertos are 20-30 minutes long. Three vivaldi concerti fits in one Paganini concerto

[@ClassicalNerd]

It all comes down to changing tastes! Forms got bigger because there were more instruments in the orchestras, and composers took more time with them because they weren't trying to churn them out as fast. When Paganini or Rachmaninoff wrote a concerto, they knew that it had to be really good and serve them well for many years to come, while the Vivaldi pieces were usually for a handful of performances and then filed away.

[@kanelbullenochkakan3118]

@@ClassicalNerd thanks!

[@sneddypie]

_thats a lot of vivaldi_

[@avaonalee]

#geniusbeardman

[@BRIRICO]

Webern composed the Concerto for 9 instrument, but off cause is not realy a solo concerto.

[@ClassicalNerd]

Yes, that's been pointed out in the comments-it would probably have been worth mentioning, looking back, but my point there was still about the concerto as a soloist-vs.-ensemble genre, in which Webern wrote nothing.

[@jesica9540]

Concerto in modern music ?

[@julianmisut6258]

Lutoslawski piano concerto

[@qwaqwa1960]

And then there's the Chorfantasie.

[@grungeisdead4455]

Golly

[@adolfoboffo5250]

Gustavo Cuchi Leguizamon

[@ClassicalNerd]

Duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@santiagoboffo9942]

Duke Ellington

[@ClassicalNerd]

Duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@ethankindle7367]

Rachmaninoff 3

[@adrianwright8685]

Why are people so keen to say what their favourite concerto is?

[@ClassicalNerd]

I ask them to somewhere in the video.

[@adrianwright8685]

@@ClassicalNerd ah!

[@superblondeDotOrg]

So yeah uhh, so, what is a concerto? I mean.. what's the answer? After watching this 1 hr video, some parts repeatedly, it starts with a vague definition "one voice playing with many others" and ends with an even vaguer definition "one voice playing maybe with many others or perhaps alone" even though the end claims "it is fairly popular to be commissioned to write one". Huh?? So what do people want, when they "buy" a concerto? What's the audience's perception of what it is? What's the patron's conception of what they're paying for? It seems this video is biased towards what the composer writes (or thinks they have written) and not from the paying customer's perspective (which is actually the more important perspective). And also using text titles for important onscreen definitions would be 110% better.

[@ClassicalNerd]

The concerto has meant one of several things depending on the era in which it was written. I gave substantive definitions of what the word has meant in several major eras, but today there is no hard-and-fast rule of what constitutes one, even if the title is still quite popular among today's orchestral composers. I don't really know how I could have been more clear since there is _not_ one definition of a concerto.

[@superblondeDotOrg]

@@ClassicalNerd Thanks for the reply though maybe missed the point of the question. You even just replied "even if the title is still quite popular among today's orchestral composers." The question is, what is today's composer supposed to write, when someone asks, "Write me a concerto." The composer should never "write whatever they want" when they're being commissioned or assigned or especially paid to write something (even if the patron says "write whatever you like"). That means the real question, "What is a concerto?" means: "What does the AUDIENCE expect a concerto to be nowadays?" ...and as far as I see that question is unanswered but maybe could go back to the original meaning "one voice with-or-against many voices." Consider this in another way. Suppose a radio station says they have a popular playlist show for concertos. The radio station invites you to have a piece played in regular rotation on their radio hour, as long as it is a concerto. This means your piece could find a large number of new listeners ($$$). So what do you write? Maybe framing the question in this way demonstrates the importance of the specific genre label. Or alternatively for an academic perspective.. suppose your advisor says "Write me a concerto sketch for next week" with no other information and your grade hinges on it.

[@superblondeDotOrg]

@@ClassicalNerd Regarding how to make videos more clear, I suggested text titling, to be 100% clear, the answer is simple: include a table. Musician educators continually make this mistake including all modern textbooks and all modern videos by leaving out proper diagrams, tables (compare/contrast), lists. It is almost as if musicians can't comprehend such information representations. The rest of the world makes diagrams for any presentation to summarize/compare/contrast information.. but musicians.. 🤦‍♀️

[@ClassicalNerd]

Well, no one today is commissioning pieces without being explicit about the instrumentation. If a soloist commissions a concerto, they are going to want to play the solo part, and hence it will take after the tradition of soloist vs. orchestra. However, an orchestra or other ensemble might commission a concerto that might turn into a concerto grosso or a concerto for orchestra. Largely, the concerto-even today-hinges on this soloist-vs.-ensemble dynamic, but there are no formal rules as there were in the Classical era and concerti that are named such but do not follow that dichotomous convention do, indeed, exist. By saying that the concerto must have the soloist/ensemble duality, that invalidates many definitions from the Baroque era as well as masterpiece concerti for orchestra. As for your second point ... I find criticisms on production quality on older videos such as this one to be ... rather pointless, considering that my production values have improved over time. There's plenty of subtitle information in any of my latest videos, and I'm improving my computer setup in 2021 to make that process even easier.

[@sneddypie]

form? pfft. diarrhea on paper is where it's at.