question: Why do the pianists always shake the hands of the first violinist in the orchestra when they are performing a piano concerto?
comment: The first violinist is the concertmaster/symbolic leader of the orchestra and it's a way to thank the entire orchestra.
passages: Violinist Andor Toth joined the Trio in the Spring of 1963. During the Fall of 1963, the Alma Trio made their first Russian tour. In a story related to this author, at the airport Rejto was informed of a new rule, that he would need a second ticket for his cello, and there were no remaining seats available. Faced with the impending cancellation of the tour, Rejto responded quickly, "But it is a bass balalaika." He was able to fly since that instrument was not listed by the airline
  
  Section::::New pianist.
   A place where the addition of the piano to the orchestra is particularly common is in the last bars after the cadenza, where the orchestra in score plays to the end on its own (except in No. 24, K. 491), but in practice pianists, if only to finish playing at the end, sometimes accompany.
   The well-known "Mozardt" is her brother-in-law, and has taught her so well that she accompanies from a score and plays interludes like a Kapellmeister.
   Different eyewitnesses to the premiere performance of Joseph Haydn's Creation in April of 1798 indicate that Haydn used a baton to conduct with his hands. Said Princess Eleanor von Liechtenstein, "Hayden[sic] gave the tempo with his two hands;" and wrote a Swedish relative of Franz Berwald, "on a higher level stood Haydn himself with his baton."
  
  Section::::History.:19th century.
   It seems likely, although it is not absolutely certain, that the piano would have retained its ancient keyboard basso continuo role in the orchestral "tuttis" of the concertos, and possibly in other places as well. That this was Mozart's intention is implied by several lines of evidence. First, the piano part is placed in his autographs at the bottom of the score under the basses, rather than in the middle as in modern scores. Second, he wrote "CoB" ("col Basso" – with the basses) in the lower stave of the piano part during "tuttis", implying that the left hand should reproduce the bass part. Sometimes, this bass was figured too, for example in the early edition of Nos. 11–13 by Artaria in 1785, and Mozart and his father added figuration themselves to several of the concertos, such as the third piano part of No. 7 for three pianos (K. 242), and to No. 8 (K. 246), where Mozart even realised the figuration.
   One can also use the left hand fingers for pizzicato, either when they are not in use or as they are leaving their previous position. This allows pizzicati in places where there would not normally be time to bring the right hand from or to the bowing position. Use of left-hand pizzicato is relatively uncommon and is most often found in the violin solo repertoire; two famous examples of left-hand pizzicato are Paganini's 24th Caprice and Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen. Left hand pizzicato can also be used while bowed notes are being held, an effect appearing primarily in repertoire of the late 19th century and beyond. Examples of this technique can be found in the works of Wieniawski, Berg ("Violin Concerto"), Stravinsky ("Three Pieces for String Quartet") and many others.
   The technique was invented in Europe in the mid 18th Century, and its first celebrated exponent was Giovanni Punto, who learned the technique from A. J. Hampel  and subsequently taught it to the Court orchestra of George III.
   On the other hand, when Rubinstein played Beethoven's "Archduke" Trio with violinist Leopold Auer and cellist Alfredo Piatti in 1868, Auer recalls:
   When a note is marked "pizz." (abbreviation for "pizzicato") in the written music, it is played by plucking the string with a finger of the right hand rather than by bowing. When the bow hand is occupied (or for virtuosic effect) the left hand can be used; this is indicated by a "+" (plus sign) in the music. This allows players to simultaneously play bowed notes while plucking on a different string. In addition, some players have acquired the trick of playing fast "pizzicato" passages using two alternating fingers of the right hand. Players continue playing pizzicato until there is an indication to return to arco (playing with the bow).
   Each concert season is extremely full of engagements for Vesko Eschkenazy; some of his most outstanding performances were that of Mozart's Violin Concerto in A Major under Mariss Jansons, and the Dvořák Violin Concerto under Sir Colin Davis and coming up in November 2008 performances of the Barber Violin Concerto conducted by Jaap van Zweden, all with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. In April–May 2009 Eschkenazy performed extensively with his brother, the conductor Martin Panteleev, with whom he performed the Dvořák Violin Concerto with Orkest van het Oosten, Mozart's A Major Concerto No. 5 with the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra and many other works. The two brothers accomplished a tour to Sofia and Istanbul with the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra in the same time.
   Some specific varieties of this kind of closed position are used in specific categories of ballroom dance. For instance, in the American tradition and the older European traditions, the joined hands are usually held lower than the shoulder, with the elbows low and often sharply bent. In the international standard ballroom dances the joined hands are held at or just above shoulder height, with the arms outstretched and the elbows bent at obtuse angles. In the latter style the leader's right hand stays on the left side of the follower's back and (except in the tango) is placed on the shoulder blade, while the follower's left hand is placed on the leader's right upper arm (or, in the tango, underneath the upper arm).
   The premiere of the concerto was on either 3 or 7 April 1786 at the Burgtheater in Vienna; Mozart featured as the soloist and conducted the orchestra from the keyboard.
   One of the issues that must be settled in rehearsal is who leads the ensemble at each point of the piece. Normally, the first violin leads the ensemble. By leading, this means that the violinist indicates the start of each movement and their tempos by a gesture with her head or bowing hand. However, there are passages that require other instruments to lead. For example, John Dalley, second violinist of the Guarneri Quartet, says, "We'll often ask [the cellist] to lead in pizzicato passages. A cellist's preparatory motion for pizzicato is larger and slower than that of a violinist."
   In the Berlin performance, "There steps a fat little blond boy on the podium, and wins at once all hearts as in an irresistably ludicrous way, like a penguin, he alternately places one foot down, then the other. But wait: you will stop laughing when he puts his bow to the violin to play Bach's violin concerto in E major no.2." 
   The Bethlehem Digital History Project notes that, "In the interval between 1754 and 1767, the only set of trombones(2) in the Moravian Church (North) was the one at Bethlehem; and so it came to pass, that the "Bethlehem Trombonists" were frequently called from home to discourse music on their instruments in other Churches. They were present for instance, and performed at the laying of the corner-stone of Nazareth Hall, in May 1755; on the anniversary of the birth of King George II, (October 30, 1754,) that fair complexioned but to art indifferent Hanoverian, who was more than once heard to growl in his German accent, that he saw no good in "bainting and boetry"; at the dedication of the second grave-yard on the Nazareth Tract, in February 1756"
   "The musical phrase on which most of the concerto is built is sounded immediately by a pair of basses": 
  
  This idea is "then taken up by the alto and tenor, then by the sopranos, and finally by the pair of violins as transition to the explosive tutti": ]
   Any one in Indiana who has not danced to the fascinating measures of Henry Hart's violin has missed a treat. It's an open secret that when a dance is contemplated the first person visited in regard to arranging a date for it is Henry Hart. If there is an anniversary approaching, "Henry," as every one calls him, must be secured, and if it happens to be in the social season, say from the middle of September to the middle of February, or just after Easter, or in June, when the weddings begin to bloom ...
   Section::::Franz Liszt.
  
  On 13 April 1823, the twelve-year-old Hungarian pianist Franz Liszt (1811-1886) performed in Vienna. It was said that the 53-year-old Beethoven gave him a kiss – the so-called "Weihekuss", or 'kiss of consecration' – for his marvellous playing. This is unlikely to be true, as Beethoven was profoundly deaf by this time. A more reasonable account of the Beethoven kiss event is reported in the reminiscences of the pianist Ilka Horovitz-Barnay:
   This became a common practice: the "revolver" part is indicated as tam-tam in the published score, and the recordings of the piece use this instrument. The first commercial recording to introduce a real revolver shot into the music was made by Łukasz Borowicz for DUX in 2016 (issued 2017).
  
  Section::::Style.
   In his memoirs, Arthur Rubinstein recounts having insisted on a Bechstein instead of the hall's Bösendorfer before a recital in Austria. After the performance, the then-head of the Bösendorfer company came backstage to meet this young artist who refused to play a piano highly cherished by his Russian namesake, Anton Rubinstein; Rubinstein claims he thereafter always sought out Bösendorfers when in Austria. Both Rubinsteins were Steinway & Sons artists and played these pianos when in the United States.
   BULLET::::- The Kohanic or Priestly Blessing - a gesture of benediction in Judaism, used (especially by those of Kohanic or priestly descent) when reciting the Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6: 22-26). Both hands are held up, palms toward the congregation, with the fingers grouped in twos - the little and ring fingers together, the index and second fingers together, and the tips of the two thumbs touching.
   Later in the movement, the piano plays both the theme in the right hand and the accompaniment in the left, leaving the violin and ‘cello free to provide decorative countermelodies:The concluding bars of the movement ring the changes in instrumentation yet again, adding further ideas, such as the falling octave figure in the first and final bars, while varying and enriching the harmony and instrumental color. The strings here accompany the piano playing pizzicato, before returning to their bows for the deeply expressive final bars: A complete performance of the entire movement can be heard here.
   When a string player does finger substitution, they usually take care to hide the switching of the fingers by doing the replacement during a bow change or a rest. Finger substitution is more difficult with bowed (arco) passages than with pizzicato passages, because the notes are sustained much longer with the bow; if the substitution is not done carefully, an arco passage is more likely to result in unwanted shifting noises. In some cases, as with Romantic era music, Roma music, or Tango pieces, players may deliberately leave in the short glissando that occurs with finger substitution, using this as an expressive effect or ornament. When cello or double bass players are playing a high-register passage in thumb position, the thumb may be replaced with a finger if there is a sustained note which would otherwise have to be played with the thumb, because the vibrato with the thumb sounds different from finger vibrato. The bony side of the thumb cannot produce the same type of vibrato as the fleshy pads of a fingertip.
   Many concerts, such as its acclaimed ‘Piano Explored’ series at St John's Smith Square, involves a deconstruction of the works on the programme, allowing greater understanding and engagement with the music and with the musicians themselves. 
  
  Section::::LMP Podium - "Business Leadership Development".
   While some conductors use both hands to indicate the beat, with the left hand mirroring the right, formal education discourages such an approach. The second hand can be used for cueing the entrances of individual players or sections, and to aid indications of dynamics, phrasing, expression, and other elements.
  
  During an instrumental solo section (or, in an opera orchestra during a vocalist's unaccompanied solo), some conductors stop counting out all the subdivisions and simply tap the baton down once per bar, to aid performers who are counting bars of rests.
  