Paul Wittgenstein, who commissioned Prokofiev's Fourth Piano Concerto, refused to play it, calling it 'aggressively modern' and stating he didn't understand a single note.
Performer Biography
Nikolai Demidenko, the pianist on this recording, studied with Dmitri Bashkirov at the Moscow Conservatoire and has been on the staff of the Yehudi Menuhin School since 1990.
Composition History
Prokofiev's First Piano Concerto, Op 10, written in 1911/12, was influenced by Rimsky-Korsakov's Piano Concerto of 1882/3, particularly in its broad ternary structure.
Notable Performances
Prokofiev's Fourth Piano Concerto remained unperformed during his lifetime and was premiered in Berlin in 1956 by Siegfried Rapp, a German pianist who also lost his right arm in wartime.
Composer Biography
Serge Prokofiev began writing music at the age of five or six, and his early compositions were praised by Serge Taneyev, a prominent Russian composer and theorist.
Compositional Technique
The Fourth Piano Concerto, written for the left hand alone, features a unique structure where the first movement permeates the entire score, and the work has two large central slower movements flanked by extraordinary opening and closing ones.
Composition History
Prokofiev's Fourth Piano Concerto was commissioned in 1930 by Paul Wittgenstein, a Viennese pianist who lost his right arm in World War I and commissioned many left-hand concertos.
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Prokofiev, S.: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-5
Prokofiev: Piano Concertos 2 & 5
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 16 & Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26
Prokofiev: Piano Concertos No. 1, 3 & 4
Prokofiev: Piano Concertos Nos. 4 & 5
Prokofiev : Piano Concertos Nos 1- 5
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26: III. Allegro, ma non troppo
