Violin solo & romantic concertos ranking

November 25, 2025, 11:35 PM · Hi, any rankings (technique, musicality) for the 1st & 3rd movements of the following concerti/violin + orchestra?
Saint saens no 3
Wieniawski no 2
Wieniawski no 1
Mendelssohn
Brahms
Tchaikovsky
Beethoven
Dvorak
Sibelius
Barber
Prokofiev no 1
Prokofiev no 2
Lalo
bruch no 1
buch scottish fantasy (mov 2, 4)
sarasate carmen
sarasate introduction & tarantella
Saints-Saens Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso
hubay carmen
hubay carmen
Amy other major romantic violin concerto/violin+ orchestra

and solos
bach partita & sonatas 1-6, chaccone
ysaye sonatas, 1-6
kreisler recitativo & scherzo

Replies (7)

Stephen Brivati

Edited: November 26, 2025, 1:26 AM · Greetings,
There is some kind of list by DeLay online.
Why don’t you like 2nd movements?
You have omitted the Mozart concertos which are the proverbial fly in the ointment.
I don’t usually rank concertos according to musicality once you get out of the beginner/didactic/often studied but rarely performed realm.
PS The Bach solo sonatas may be the hardest these days because whichever way you chose to play them, 2 out of 5 people get mad at you…

Raymond Concannon

Edited: November 26, 2025, 7:12 AM · They are all pretty challenging. For the 19th century, you can add Robert Schumann’s Violin Concerto and his violin arrangement of his cello concerto to the list.

In the 20th century, there is Elgar, Hindemith, Berg, and Schoenberg.

Any works in the key of F major? Vivaldi and Beethoven liked that key, but it seems underrepresented. Composers seem wary of writing concertos in flat keys.

Richard Pairaudeau

November 26, 2025, 7:18 AM · C20, also the Benjamin Britten concerto.

Bruce Berg

November 26, 2025, 7:29 AM · This is the Dorothy Delay list:
https://www.simonfischeronline.com/uploads/5/7/7/9/57796211/dorothy_delay_concerto_sequence.pdf

Susan Agrawal

November 26, 2025, 8:07 AM · It would help if you explained what exactly you want to know this for. Are you a student? A teacher?

Andrew Fryer

Edited: November 26, 2025, 8:11 AM · Bruce's link, for those who can't work out how to access it