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Piano Concerto No. 2 (Prokofiev)
Encyclopedia
Sergei Prokofiev
set to work on his Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16 in 1912 and completed it in 1913. Performing as solo pianist, he premiered the work on August 23 the same year at Pavlovsk. Most of the audience reacted intensely. The concerto's wild temperament left a positive impression on some of the listeners, whereas others were opposed to the jarring and modernistic sound ("To hell with this futurist music!"/ "What is he doing, making fun of us?"/ "The cats on the roof make better music!"). Today it is generally recognized as a masterpiece.
The work is dedicated to the memory of Maximilian Schmidthof, a friend of Prokofiev's at the St. Petersburg Conservatory
, who had committed suicide in April, after having written a farewell letter to Prokofiev. The original orchestral score was destroyed in a fire following the Russian Revolution. Prokofiev reconstructed and considerably revised the concerto in 1923, making the new version, in his own words, "less foursquare" and "slightly more complex in its contrapuntal fabric". The finished result, Prokofiev felt, was "so completely rewritten that it might almost be considered [Concerto] No. 4". (The Third Concerto
had premiered in 1921). He premiered this revised version of the concerto in Paris on May 8, 1924 with Serge Koussevitzky
conducting. It remains one of the most technically formidable piano concertos in the standard repertoire.
s, 2 oboe
s, 2 clarinet
s, 2 bassoon
s, 4 horns, 2 trumpet
s, 3 trombone
s, tuba
, timpani
, bass drum
, snare drum
, cymbal
s, tambourine
and string
s. It consists of four movements lasting some 29 to 37 minutes.
s. They both contain long and developed cadenzas with the first movement's cadenza alone taking up almost the entire last half of the movement.
A brief forte, backed by the orchestra, leads to a third, expansive, walking theme performed again by the solo pianist; Layton notes that this "looks forward to its counterpart in the Third Piano Concerto: there is no mistaking its slightly flippant character". The development section is in effect carried entirely by the soloist's notoriously taxing yet highly effective five-minute cadenza. It is noted as one of the longer and more difficult cadenzas in the classical piano repertoire, taking the listener all the way to the climax. Noted in two staves, the piano plays a reprise of its own opening theme. A third staff, which requires the pianist to perform large jumps with both hands frequently, contains the a motif from the earlier orchestral accompaniment.
The accumulated charge is eventually released in a premature climax (G minor), fff and colossale
, which consists of oscillating triplet semiquaver runs across the upper four octaves of the piano, kept in rhythm by a leaping left-hand crotchet accompaniment. Prokofiev himself describes this as one of the very hardest places in the concerto. The last bars before the absolute climax drown themselves in thundering bass notes, occasionally sending up ineffectual distress flares. They are marked tumultuoso and reach supreme discord as C sharp minor collides with D minor.
As both hands move apart, to embrace the piano fff in D minor, an accent on every note, the orchestra announces its return, string quartet and timpani swelling furiously from p to ff. The listener is exposed to the apocalyptic blare of several horns, trombones, trumpets and tuba, which - as Jaffé describes it - "balefully [play] the opening 'fate' theme fortissimo", while piano, flutes and strings still shriek in unison up and down the higher ranges. Two cymbal crashes end the cataclysm in G minor.
A decrescendo brings the music back to an almost spooky piano within the next two bars. The piano, accompanied by strings and its own now only feebly undulating left hand, timidly puts forth the second narrante theme, echoes its last notes, repeats it pianissimo, ever fading. Pizzicato strings meaningfully point several more times to the opening theme, the significance of which has now been revealed. Both piano and orchestra decline to minimum volume, playing at last nothing more than the fifth and the octave. One deep G ends the movement.
and the last movement of Piano Sonata No. 7
). One fleeting motif, to make a major appearance in the final movement, appears (fig. 39 in the score) in the cellos' part - "a chromatically inflected triplet plus quaver, played twice before tailing off".
Unlike the other three movements, it is mainly in D minor.
), Prokofiev provides an Intermezzo. Layton characterises this movement as "in some ways the most highly characterized of all four movements, with its flashes of sardonic wit and forward-looking harmonies".
The movements starts with a heavy-footed walking bass theme - directed to be played heavily (pesante
) and fortissimo. The music has returned to G minor. Strings, bassoon, tuba, timpani and gran cassa (bass drum) march along with moody determination. Trombones sharply pronounce a D, followed by tuba and oboe in a sudden diminuendo. For several bars, the orchestra issues ever waning threats, at the same time making inexorably for the tonic. At which point the piano enters and the music immediately gains force. There is one moment of respite from this "sarcastically grotesque procession" with the single appearance of "an introverted theme of numbed lyricism".
The piano stands aside for eight bars while the strings, still mf, embark on a new voyage. The soloist then plays a wistful theme of a character similar to the first movement's piano opening theme, characterised by Jaffé as "lullaby" while noting (as does Nestyev) its affinity to Musorgsky. The bassoons take up the wandering piano-theme, while the piano itself goes over into a pp semiquaver accompaniment. The music eventually winds down, with "a despondent-sounding version of the lullaby theme on bassoon abruptly cut off by a sharply articulated and very final sounding cadence from the orchestra". But, as Jaffé notes, "The pianist won't let things rest... but hammers out the 'pursuit' theme", so initiating "not so much a cadenza... but a post-cadential meditation on the 'bell' chords". The orchestra joins in after some time, reintroducing the piano's "lullaby" theme, while the soloist's part still flows across the octaves. The key regularly changes from A-minor to C-minor and back again, the music becomes ever broader and harder to play. Rhythm and tune then fall into an abrupt piano, no less threatening than the previous forte. Trundling chromaticism has the music roll up to a fortissimo, the orchestra still proclaiming the originally wistful piano-theme. This is the only place outside the andantino where the piano exceeds the older range of seven octaves, jumping two octaves up to B7 just one single time.
A long diminuendo of gliding piano rushes brings the volume to a minimum pp (Prokofiev does not once use a ppp in the concerto's piano part). Then a ferocious blast (ff) from the orchestra starts off the reprise.
R-199-182. The pianist was Jorge Bolet
and the orchestra was the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conducted by Thor Martin Johnson. The recording was supervised by Laszlo Halasz and Don Gabor and was probably done in stereo. Jorge Bolet's performance set the standard by which practically all subsequent recordings were judged: Shura Cherkassky and Herbert Menges (HMV, mono); Nicole Henriot-Schweitzer and Charles Munch
(RCA Stereo), Malcolm Frager with René Leibowitz (RCA Stereo).
"The Prokofiev Page", a site led by Sugi Sorensen, highly recommends the 1990 recording by Horacio Gutiérrez
with Neeme Järvi
and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
. Vladimir Ashkenazy
's rendition with André Previn
and the London Symphony Orchestra
(Philips 452588) is also recommended. More recently, the Grammy Award
-winning recording by Evgeny Kissin
with Vladimir Ashkenazy
and the Philharmonia Orchestra
(EMI Classics
), has received high praise and recommendation. In 2009, Horacio Gutierrez
’s 1990 recording with Neeme Jarvi
and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
, was reissued, Prokofiev The Concertos, receiving notable acclaim.
provides the musical score for Swiss animator Georges Schwizgebel
's animated short, Jeu
.
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
set to work on his Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16 in 1912 and completed it in 1913. Performing as solo pianist, he premiered the work on August 23 the same year at Pavlovsk. Most of the audience reacted intensely. The concerto's wild temperament left a positive impression on some of the listeners, whereas others were opposed to the jarring and modernistic sound ("To hell with this futurist music!"/ "What is he doing, making fun of us?"/ "The cats on the roof make better music!"). Today it is generally recognized as a masterpiece.
The work is dedicated to the memory of Maximilian Schmidthof, a friend of Prokofiev's at the St. Petersburg Conservatory
Saint Petersburg Conservatory
The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory is a music school in Saint Petersburg. In 2004, the conservatory had around 275 faculty members and 1,400 students.-History:...
, who had committed suicide in April, after having written a farewell letter to Prokofiev. The original orchestral score was destroyed in a fire following the Russian Revolution. Prokofiev reconstructed and considerably revised the concerto in 1923, making the new version, in his own words, "less foursquare" and "slightly more complex in its contrapuntal fabric". The finished result, Prokofiev felt, was "so completely rewritten that it might almost be considered [Concerto] No. 4". (The Third Concerto
Piano Concerto No. 3 (Prokofiev)
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26 is the best-known concerto by Sergei Prokofiev. It was completed in 1921 using sketches first started in 1913.-Composition and performances:...
had premiered in 1921). He premiered this revised version of the concerto in Paris on May 8, 1924 with Serge Koussevitzky
Serge Koussevitzky
Serge Koussevitzky , was a Russian-born Jewish conductor, composer and double-bassist, known for his long tenure as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1924 to 1949.-Early career:...
conducting. It remains one of the most technically formidable piano concertos in the standard repertoire.
Movements and Scoring
The work is scored for piano solo, 2 fluteFlute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
s, 2 oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
s, 2 clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
s, 2 bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
s, 4 horns, 2 trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s, 3 trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
s, tuba
Tuba
The tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
, timpani
Timpani
Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
, bass drum
Bass drum
Bass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...
, snare drum
Snare drum
The snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...
, cymbal
Cymbal
Cymbals are a common percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture. The greater majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a...
s, tambourine
Tambourine
The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
and string
String section
The string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...
s. It consists of four movements lasting some 29 to 37 minutes.
- Andantino-Allegretto (10–14 minutes)
- ScherzoScherzoA scherzo is a piece of music, often a movement from a larger piece such as a symphony or a sonata. The scherzo's precise definition has varied over the years, but it often refers to a movement which replaces the minuet as the third movement in a four-movement work, such as a symphony, sonata, or...
: Vivace (2–3 minutes) - Intermezzo: Allegro moderato (5–9 minutes)
- Allegro tempestoso (10–13 minutes)
Analysis
The first and last movements are each around twelve minutes long and constitute some of the most dramatic music in all of Prokofiev's piano concertoPiano concerto
A piano concerto is a concerto written for piano and orchestra.See also harpsichord concerto; some of these works are occasionally played on piano...
s. They both contain long and developed cadenzas with the first movement's cadenza alone taking up almost the entire last half of the movement.
Andantino-Allegretto
The first movement is opened quietly by strings and clarinet, playing a two-bar staccato tune which appears to be no more than an intro (though one commentator, the Prokofiev biographer Daniel Jaffé, has suggested that the theme "sounds almost like a ground bass passacaglia theme, that musical symbol of implacable fate".). The piano takes over, constructing a G minor narrante theme upon a left hand accompaniment of breathing undulation: the Soviet biographer Israel Nestyev has proposed that this theme "suggests a quiet, serious tale in the vein of a romantic legend". British musicologist Robert Layton further observes that as music this narrante theme is "a discursive idea full of Prokofiev's deft modulatory sleights-of-hand". This opening theme contains a second idea, a rising scalic theme; as Robert Layton observes, when it is later taken up by unison strings as "a broad singing melody, one feels that the example of Rachmaninov has not gone altogether unheeded".A brief forte, backed by the orchestra, leads to a third, expansive, walking theme performed again by the solo pianist; Layton notes that this "looks forward to its counterpart in the Third Piano Concerto: there is no mistaking its slightly flippant character". The development section is in effect carried entirely by the soloist's notoriously taxing yet highly effective five-minute cadenza. It is noted as one of the longer and more difficult cadenzas in the classical piano repertoire, taking the listener all the way to the climax. Noted in two staves, the piano plays a reprise of its own opening theme. A third staff, which requires the pianist to perform large jumps with both hands frequently, contains the a motif from the earlier orchestral accompaniment.
Colossale
The musical term "colossale" indicates that the performer is to play the so marked passage in a fashion that suggests immensity. An example of this rare expression can be found at the climax of the cadenza in the first movement of Prokofievs second piano concerto in combination with the dynamic...
, which consists of oscillating triplet semiquaver runs across the upper four octaves of the piano, kept in rhythm by a leaping left-hand crotchet accompaniment. Prokofiev himself describes this as one of the very hardest places in the concerto. The last bars before the absolute climax drown themselves in thundering bass notes, occasionally sending up ineffectual distress flares. They are marked tumultuoso and reach supreme discord as C sharp minor collides with D minor.
As both hands move apart, to embrace the piano fff in D minor, an accent on every note, the orchestra announces its return, string quartet and timpani swelling furiously from p to ff. The listener is exposed to the apocalyptic blare of several horns, trombones, trumpets and tuba, which - as Jaffé describes it - "balefully [play] the opening 'fate' theme fortissimo", while piano, flutes and strings still shriek in unison up and down the higher ranges. Two cymbal crashes end the cataclysm in G minor.
A decrescendo brings the music back to an almost spooky piano within the next two bars. The piano, accompanied by strings and its own now only feebly undulating left hand, timidly puts forth the second narrante theme, echoes its last notes, repeats it pianissimo, ever fading. Pizzicato strings meaningfully point several more times to the opening theme, the significance of which has now been revealed. Both piano and orchestra decline to minimum volume, playing at last nothing more than the fifth and the octave. One deep G ends the movement.
Scherzo: Vivace
The scherzo is of an exceptionally strict form considering the piano part. The right and left hand play a stubborn unison, almost 1500 semiquavers each, literally without a moment's pause: Robert Layton describes the soloist in this movement being like "some virtuoso footballer who retains the initiative while the opposing team (the orchestra) all charge after him". At around ten notes a second and with hardly any variations in speed, this movement lasts circa two-and-a-half minutes and is an unusual concentration challenge to the pianist. It displays the motor line of the five "lines" (characters) Prokofiev describes in his own music. (Other such pieces include Toccata in D minorToccata (Prokofiev)
The Toccata in D minor, Op. 11 is a piece for solo piano, written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1912 and debuted by the composer on December 10, 1916 in Petrograd. It is a further development of the toccata form, which has been used by composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach and Robert Schumann...
and the last movement of Piano Sonata No. 7
Piano Sonata No. 7 (Prokofiev)
Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 7 in B flat major, Op. 83 , the second of his three so-called War Sonatas, was composed between 1939-1942 and premiered January 18, 1943 in Moscow by Sviatoslav Richter....
). One fleeting motif, to make a major appearance in the final movement, appears (fig. 39 in the score) in the cellos' part - "a chromatically inflected triplet plus quaver, played twice before tailing off".
Unlike the other three movements, it is mainly in D minor.
Intermezzo: Allegro moderato
Instead of a lyrical slow movement which might have been expected after a scherzo (cf Brahms's Second Piano ConcertoPiano Concerto No. 2 (Brahms)
The Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83 by Johannes Brahms is a composition for solo piano with orchestral accompaniment. It is separated by a gap of 22 years from the composer's first piano concerto. Brahms began work on the piece in 1878 and completed it in 1881 while in Pressbaum near...
), Prokofiev provides an Intermezzo. Layton characterises this movement as "in some ways the most highly characterized of all four movements, with its flashes of sardonic wit and forward-looking harmonies".
The movements starts with a heavy-footed walking bass theme - directed to be played heavily (pesante
Pesante
Pesante is a musical term, meaning "heavy and ponderous." It is often used in Latin languages, such as Spanish or Portuguese, with the word pesado meaning heavy in both of these languages. The French equivalent is lourd....
) and fortissimo. The music has returned to G minor. Strings, bassoon, tuba, timpani and gran cassa (bass drum) march along with moody determination. Trombones sharply pronounce a D, followed by tuba and oboe in a sudden diminuendo. For several bars, the orchestra issues ever waning threats, at the same time making inexorably for the tonic. At which point the piano enters and the music immediately gains force. There is one moment of respite from this "sarcastically grotesque procession" with the single appearance of "an introverted theme of numbed lyricism".
Allegro tempestoso
Five octaves above the intermezzo's end note, a fortissimo tirade pounces out of the sky, written in four-four-time but played in seven-eight (one-two-three-four-one-two-three etc.). After six enraged bars it settles down in the broader vicinity of middle C, the horns groaning painedly somewhere below. Running up to an acid semitonal acciaccatura in both hands, the piano goes over into a sprint of octave-chords and single notes, jumping manically up and down the keyboard twice a bar. A relative tune is recognisable, quivering around the fifth (D) at various altitudes. During a piano and staccato repetition of the theme, the strings and flutes rush up, bringing the music to the briefest of halts. A moment later the piano goes back to forte and the sprint sets off anew. It is repeated three more times in total, piano and orchestra both becoming ever louder, the leaps turning ever more implausible. In the end, the piano performs a stormy gallop of triads (tempestoso), the hands flying apart more or less symmetrically, while the strings throw in a frantic accompaniment of regular staccato eighths. The piano puts a momentary end to its own fury with a barely feasible manoeuvre, both hands jumping up three or four octaves simultaneously and fortissimo in the time of a semiquaver. But by then the sprint has transformed into a "fearful pursuit with an obsessively repeated triplet motif [first heard fleetingly in the Scherzo movement] overshadowed by the baleful roars of tuba and trombones". Only moments later, the orchestra has reached a halt and the piano, unaccompanied, plays soft but dissonant chords which, Jaffé suggests, are "reminiscent of the bell-like chords which open the final piece in Schoenberg's Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19" which were composed in homage to Mahler shortly after his death. (Jaffé points out that Prokofiev had introduced Schoenberg's music to Russia by playing the Op. 11 pieces, and suggests that Prokofiev may have known and been inspired by Schoenberg's Op. 19 to use a similar bell motif to commemorate Schmidthoff.)The piano stands aside for eight bars while the strings, still mf, embark on a new voyage. The soloist then plays a wistful theme of a character similar to the first movement's piano opening theme, characterised by Jaffé as "lullaby" while noting (as does Nestyev) its affinity to Musorgsky. The bassoons take up the wandering piano-theme, while the piano itself goes over into a pp semiquaver accompaniment. The music eventually winds down, with "a despondent-sounding version of the lullaby theme on bassoon abruptly cut off by a sharply articulated and very final sounding cadence from the orchestra". But, as Jaffé notes, "The pianist won't let things rest... but hammers out the 'pursuit' theme", so initiating "not so much a cadenza... but a post-cadential meditation on the 'bell' chords". The orchestra joins in after some time, reintroducing the piano's "lullaby" theme, while the soloist's part still flows across the octaves. The key regularly changes from A-minor to C-minor and back again, the music becomes ever broader and harder to play. Rhythm and tune then fall into an abrupt piano, no less threatening than the previous forte. Trundling chromaticism has the music roll up to a fortissimo, the orchestra still proclaiming the originally wistful piano-theme. This is the only place outside the andantino where the piano exceeds the older range of seven octaves, jumping two octaves up to B7 just one single time.
A long diminuendo of gliding piano rushes brings the volume to a minimum pp (Prokofiev does not once use a ppp in the concerto's piano part). Then a ferocious blast (ff) from the orchestra starts off the reprise.
Recordings
The first recording on LP of the Second Concerto was made in November 1953 and was released on LP one year later on Remington RecordsRemington Records
Remington Records was a low budget record label. It existed from 1950 until 1957 and specialized in classical music. Unfortunately, the discs suffered from considerable surface noise.-History:...
R-199-182. The pianist was Jorge Bolet
Jorge Bolet
Jorge Bolet was a Cuban-born but mostly American-resident pianist and teacher.-Life:Bolet was born in Havana, and studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he himself taught from 1939 to 1942...
and the orchestra was the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conducted by Thor Martin Johnson. The recording was supervised by Laszlo Halasz and Don Gabor and was probably done in stereo. Jorge Bolet's performance set the standard by which practically all subsequent recordings were judged: Shura Cherkassky and Herbert Menges (HMV, mono); Nicole Henriot-Schweitzer and Charles Munch
Charles Munch
Charles Munch may refer to:*Charles Munch , American artist*Charles Munch , orchestral conductorSee also:*Charles Munch discography, recordings of Munch, the conductor...
(RCA Stereo), Malcolm Frager with René Leibowitz (RCA Stereo).
"The Prokofiev Page", a site led by Sugi Sorensen, highly recommends the 1990 recording by Horacio Gutiérrez
Horacio Gutiérrez
Horacio Gutiérrez is a Cuban-American virtuoso classical pianist.-Early life and education:Gutiérrez was born in Havana, Cuba, the eldest of four children, to Tomás V. Gutiérrez and Josefina Fernandez Gutiérrez. His mother was his first piano teacher, and was herself, an accomplished pianist. His...
with Neeme Järvi
Neeme Järvi
Neeme Järvi is an Estonian-born conductor.-Early life:Järvi studied music first in Tallinn, and later in Leningrad at the Leningrad Conservatory under Yevgeny Mravinsky, and Nikolai Rabinovich, among others...
and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is a symphony orchestra of the Netherlands, based at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In 1988, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands conferred the "Royal" title upon the orchestra...
. Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy is a Russian-Icelandic conductor and pianist. Since 1972 he has been a citizen of Iceland, his wife Þórunn's country of birth. Since 1978, because of his many obligations in Europe, he and his family have resided in Meggen, near Lucerne in Switzerland...
's rendition with André Previn
André Previn
André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
and the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
(Philips 452588) is also recommended. More recently, the Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-winning recording by Evgeny Kissin
Evgeny Kissin
Evgeny Igorevitch Kissin is a Russian classical pianist and former child prodigy. He has been a British citizen since 2002. He is especially known for his interpretations of the works of the Romantic repertoire, particularly Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt.-Biography:Kissin was born in Moscow to...
with Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy is a Russian-Icelandic conductor and pianist. Since 1972 he has been a citizen of Iceland, his wife Þórunn's country of birth. Since 1978, because of his many obligations in Europe, he and his family have resided in Meggen, near Lucerne in Switzerland...
and the Philharmonia Orchestra
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
(EMI Classics
EMI Classics
EMI Classics is a record label of EMI, formed in 1990 in order to reduce the need to create country-specific packaging and catalogs for internationally distributed classical music releases....
), has received high praise and recommendation. In 2009, Horacio Gutierrez
Horacio Gutiérrez
Horacio Gutiérrez is a Cuban-American virtuoso classical pianist.-Early life and education:Gutiérrez was born in Havana, Cuba, the eldest of four children, to Tomás V. Gutiérrez and Josefina Fernandez Gutiérrez. His mother was his first piano teacher, and was herself, an accomplished pianist. His...
’s 1990 recording with Neeme Jarvi
Neeme Järvi
Neeme Järvi is an Estonian-born conductor.-Early life:Järvi studied music first in Tallinn, and later in Leningrad at the Leningrad Conservatory under Yevgeny Mravinsky, and Nikolai Rabinovich, among others...
and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is a symphony orchestra of the Netherlands, based at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In 1988, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands conferred the "Royal" title upon the orchestra...
, was reissued, Prokofiev The Concertos, receiving notable acclaim.
Film
The concerto's scherzoScherzo
A scherzo is a piece of music, often a movement from a larger piece such as a symphony or a sonata. The scherzo's precise definition has varied over the years, but it often refers to a movement which replaces the minuet as the third movement in a four-movement work, such as a symphony, sonata, or...
provides the musical score for Swiss animator Georges Schwizgebel
Georges Schwizgebel
Georges Schwizgebel is a Swiss animation film director whose paint-on-glass-animated 2004 film L'Homme sans ombre won various awards....
's animated short, Jeu
Jeu
Jeu is a 2006 animated short by Georges Schwizgebel. Described as a film about the frenetic pace of modern life, Jeu is set to scherzo of Prokofiev's Concerto for Piano No. 2, Opus 16...
.
External links
- The Prokofiev Page by Sugi Sorensen (including Catalog of Prokofiev works)
- Online version of Liner Notes from Recording on Naxos