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Sergei Prokofiev entered the St. Petersburg
conservatory at the age of 13. At that time one of the greatest composers
of the 20th century was a cocky teenager who enjoyed startling his teachers -
Rimsky-Korsakov, Lyadov and Tcherepnin. Myaskovsky encouraged his interest
in Strauss, Debussy, Scriabin and Stravinsky.
Being also a pianist and conductor, Prokofiev played
the piano part at the premiere of his
diploma work - The First Piano Concerto. The first public performance took
place in 1912 under Konstantin Sarayev. Prokofiev's skills as a pianist
were acknowledged by the Anton Rubinstein Prize in 1914. The concerto is
written in the one-part form of sonata allegro with an introduction and
conclusion. Though Prokofiev's music always remained tonal, his works
including the First Piano Concerto were very fresh, modern and often difficult
to understand at that time.
Prokofiev's music have been categorized as barbaric,
eclectic, ironic, romantic, post-romantic and antiromantic, neoclassical,
sarcastic, cosmopolitan, cold, industrial, lyrical, full of adrenaline, epic,
schizophrenic... It looks like he cannot perfectly match any box our
musicologists have been attempting to put him into. In fact his music
simply reflects the controversial time in which he lived, its rapid dramatical
changes.
Four other concertos followed the first one during the
next 20 years. Prokofiev composed more piano concertos than any
other Russian composer. All piano parts were written to be performed by
the author, except the Fourth Piano Concerto, which was commissioned by the
Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein. He requested the piano part to be
composed for the left hand only.
Wittgenstein wrote to Prokofiev after receiving the
score: "Thank you for the concerto, but I do not understand a single note
and I shall not play it". After receiving another concerto, this time
from Ravel, Wittgenstein wrote: "I asked for a concerto, not a
sonata". He also rejected the concerto composed for him by Richard
Strauss. For this reason Prokofiev's Fourth was premiered only after his
death by German pianist Siegfried Rapp, who lost his right hand during World War
Two. Prokofiev reduced the orchestra to the double staff to balance the
piano solo with the orchestral tutti.
Prokofiev's evolution made his music more lyrical and
tragic. Besides the vigour inherited
from his youth, a more profound and balanced approach is displayed in his Fifth
Piano Concerto.
A kaleidoscope of images and their amazing coherence, a
developed luxurious piano texture and brilliant orchestration feature in all
piano concertos by Prokofiev.
It is interesting, that he repeated the standard route
of many Russian artists - after trying the USA most of them move to Paris. The
outcome of American policy in regard to Prokofiev and other Soviet composers -
Prokofiev never was paid mechanical royalties by American publishers and record
labels during his lifetime, being discriminated against as a Soviet citizen.
All together he spent 17 years abroad and after his
return to the USSR in 1934, at the time of Stalin's terror, he was not allowed
to leave the country again. His wife was taken to a labor camp and
Prokofiev was left to enjoy communism alone. Stravinsky and Rachmaninov
knew of Stalin's hospitality and stayed abroad, a distance from the communist
regime.
The death of the great Russian composer remained unnoticed in
his motherland. He and Stalin died on the same day - March 5, 1953, and
most people were overwhelmed by the death of "Uncle Joe". A few
students and close friends buried Sergei Prokofiev.
Gennady Rozhdestvensky
Son of conductor Nikolai Anossov and singer Natalya
Rozhdestvenskaya, whose name he adopted, Rozhdestvensky studied piano with Lev
Oborin and orchestral conducting with his father at the Moscow Conservatory. He
made his debut at the Bolshoi Theater at the age of twenty with a performance of
"The Nutcracker" by Tchaikovsky. He spent ten years at the
Bolshoi as assistant to Yuri Fayev and conducted several ballets. In 1961
he was appointed as artistic director of the USSR Radio Symphony Orchestra,
where he worked until 1974. From 1964-70 he was simultaneously principal conductor at the
Bolshoi Theater. In 1972, he became a musical director of the Moscow
Chamber Opera. From 1974-77 he was artistic director of the Stockholm
Philharmonic Orchestra. From 1978-81 - principal conductor of the BBC
Symphony Orchestra and from 1981-83 - principal conductor of the Vienna Symphony
Orchestra. While in Vienna, he also taught orchestral conducting at the
Conservatory. In 1982 he was appointed as director of the newly-founded
Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Ministry of Education and Arts. From 1987 he
taught orchestral conducting at the Academia Musicale Chigiana in Sienna.
In 1991 he returned to work with the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and in
1994 he became chairman of the artistic committee of the Moscow Bolshoi Theater.
Rozhdestvensky is considered today as one of the
leading interpreters of Russian music.
In respect of his musical contribution to Japan, Maestro Rozhdestvensky was
decorated
the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon in autumn 2001. He
is married
to the pianist Victoria Postnikova.
Victoria Postnikova graduated from the Moscow
Conservatory in 1967 in the class
of Professor Fliere. She is a laureate of several international
competitions: Chopin in Warsaw, in Leeds (Great Britain), Vian da Mott in Lisbon
and Tchaikovsky in Moscow. The interpretation of five piano concertos by
Prokofiev is one of her the most remarkable accomplishments.
©2003 Evgeni
Kostitsyn
Sergei Prokofiev
(1891 - 1953)
Five Concertos for Piano and Orchestra
Disc I: 1. Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No.
1 in D flat major, Op. 10 - 16:26
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 4 (for left hand) in B flat major, Op. 53
2. I. Vivace - 4:31
3. II. Andante - 11:52
4. III. Moderato - 7:41
5. IV. Vivace - 1:37
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 5 in G major, Op. 55
6. I. Allegro con brio - 5:40
7. II. Moderato ben accentuato -
4:35
8. III. Toccata. Allegro con fuoco - 1:59
9. IV. Larghetto - 7:33
10. V. Vivo - 5:59 Disc II:
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16
1. I. Andantino Allegretto -
12:39
2. II. Scherzo. Vivace -
2:42
3. III. Intermezzo. Allegro moderato -
7:35
4. IV. Finale. Allegro temestoso -
11:59 Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 3
in C major, Op. 26
5. I. Andante. Allegro - 9:49
6. II. Theme with Variations. Andantino - 9:45
7. III. Allegro ma non troppo - 10:56
Total time - 133:46
Victoria Postnikova, piano
USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra
Conductor - Gennady Rozhdestvensky
cover painting - "Red Cavalry" by Kazimir Malevich
Recording engineers Shakhnazarian and Pazukhin
concertos recorded: #2 in 1983; #1,3 and 5 in 1985; #4 in 1987
Design by Evgeni Kostitsyn
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