What are the most famous violin concertos? Degree of difficulty for each? (e.g. Tchaikovsky, Beethoven)?

Question

I played the violin for years when I was young, and have recently started taking lessons again (as an adult). I'm trying to decide which pieces to think about working on since my teacher has left it up to me, but I realized I don't know what pieces I should eventually have in my repertoire. I've played parts of the Mendelssohn, the easy part of the Tchaikovsky. I don't want to bite off more than I can chew. Just want to know what's out there - what my goal should be. Thanks!

Answer 1

These are presented roughly in order of difficulty.

Bach--I like the E Major--not so difficult, could be a challenge to play it with a proper sense of period style.
Mendelssohn--probably the easiest of the major concertos, though it has a tricky lick in the last movement
Bruch #1--also a good one to start on. I like the "Scottish Fantasy" as well--very lovely tunes. Harder than #1.
Beethoven--doesn't look as technically challenging, but don't try it until you can play scales in octaves pretty cleanly and with perfect intonation
Wieniawski #2--played by every conservatory student. There are passages I still can't get out of my head 20 years later.
Barber--first two movements not so hard technically; last movement is a sprint
Lalo--another fun one, not as hard as the later ones.
Vieuxtemps #2--a lot of fun, more technically challenging than the above
Tchaikovsky--quite challenging technically
Brahms--very challenging, musically and technically
Sibelius--the most technically demanding so far (requires fingered octaves, doesn't let up much).
Walton Violin concerto--I don't know it well, quite lyrical

There's also Bartok, Prokofief, etc.

If you're playing at this level why don't you work up some violin sonatas? Schumann, 3 Brahmses etc. are really fun and you can actually hear all of what the composer wanted. You should also start playing chamber music! There are lots of enthusiastic amateur string players out there. It's quite a community once you get into it.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

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Answer 4

The Tchaikovsky concerto in D Minor is very famous, but not quite as much as the Sibelius. These are both increadibly difficuld, with plenty of double, tripple, and perhaps quadruple stops. Other easier ones that are pretty famous are the Dvorak, Khachaturian, and Brahms.