At its 1913 premiere, the Second Piano Concerto left listeners "frozen with fright, hair standing on end," according to St Petersburg music champion Vyacheslav Karatïgin.
Composition History
The October Revolution and Prokofiev's emigration from Russia delayed the completion of his Third Piano Concerto until 1921, when he finished it in France.
Compositional Technique
The Second Piano Concerto is known for its extreme technical demands, including an extraordinarily challenging cadenza in the first movement and a relentless stream of semiquavers for the soloist in the Scherzo.
Composition History
Prokofiev dedicated his Second Piano Concerto to the memory of his close friend, the young pianist Maximilian Schmidthoff, who died by suicide.
Composition History
Following the Russian Revolution, Prokofiev lost the orchestral score for his Second Piano Concerto and had to revise it from the piano score for its 1924 Paris premiere.
Compositional Technique
Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto shares stylistic traits with his 'Classical' Symphony, including athletic string semiquavers and balletic grace in its themes.
Cultural Impact
The Third Piano Concerto became one of the most popular concertos of the last century and was the only one Prokofiev was asked to record in his entire career.
You might also enjoy...
Brahms : Piano Concerto No.2
R. Schumann: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54
Bennett: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 5 - Adagio
Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No. 1/Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No.1 - Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini
Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 3
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 4
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concertos 2 & 3
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1; Grieg: Piano Concerto
