Franziska Pietsch, the violinist on this recording, experienced a boycott and reprisals by the East German regime after her father escaped to the West in 1984, which profoundly influenced her understanding of music.
Composer Biography
Prokofiev, despite living abroad for many years, remained emotionally and intellectually devoted to Russia, eventually returning permanently in 1936.
Performer Biography
Cristian Măcelaru, the conductor, was the youngest concertmaster in the history of the Miami Symphony Orchestra and made his Carnegie Hall debut with them at age nineteen.
Compositional Technique
In his First Violin Concerto, Prokofiev reversed traditional tempo relations, placing a rapid scherzo as the central movement and basing the outer movements on a calm metre.
Composition History
Prokofiev's First Violin Concerto was completed during the Russian Revolution and shares its home key and neoclassical stance with his Classical Symphony.
Composition History
Prokofiev's Second Violin Concerto was composed across various countries, reflecting his nomadic life as a performing artist, with its main theme written in Paris and orchestration completed in Baku.
Composer Biography
Prokofiev left Russia in 1918 after a conversation with Anatoly Lunacharsky, the Soviet People's Commissar of Education and Culture, who did not obstruct his travel.
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