The Second Violin Concerto was written for French violinist Robert Soëtens, who was given exclusive rights to perform it for one year.
Composer Biography
Sergei Prokofiev, the composer, was supremely confident in his abilities and made exacting demands of his musicians, as noted by fellow composer Nikolai Myaskovsky and ballerina Galina Ulanova.
Compositional Technique
The First Violin Concerto has an unusual emotional structure, with tender, lyrical outer movements framing a sardonic scherzo, described by violinist Joseph Szigeti as a 'mixture of fairytale naïveté and daring savagery'.
Composition History
Prokofiev's Second Violin Concerto was composed across multiple locations due to his nomadic concert-tour existence, with parts written in Paris, Voronezh, and Baku, and premiered in Madrid.
Composition History
Prokofiev began composing his First Violin Concerto during 1916-17, a period of political turmoil in Russia with the February and October Revolutions.
Performer Biography
Matthew Trusler, the violinist on this recording, has founded the record label Orchid Classics and the Lenny Trusler Children's Foundation, which supports desperately ill babies.
Compositional Technique
Prokofiev explored the full range of violin techniques in his First Violin Concerto, creating innovative virtuosic effects like abrupt shifts from pizzicato to arco and contrasting harmonics with marcato sul ponticello.
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