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Piano Concerto No. 4 (Prokofiev)

1931 piano concerto by Sergei Prokofiev

1931 piano concerto by Sergei Prokofiev

Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 4 in B-flat major for the left hand, Op. 53, was commissioned by the one-armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein and completed in 1931.

It was the only one of Prokofiev's complete piano concertos that never saw a performance during his lifetime. It was premiered in Berlin on 5 September 1956 by Siegfried Rapp and the West Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Martin Rich. The United States premiere was in 1958, by Rudolf Serkin and the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy. The British premiere was in 1961, by Malcolm Binns.

Prokofiev expressed some interest in making an arrangement for piano two-hands and orchestra, but never went through with this idea.

Structure

The four movements last around 25 minutes:

  1. Vivace (4–5 mins.)
  2. Andante (8–13 mins.)
  3. Moderato (8–9 mins.)
  4. Vivace (1–2 mins.) The outer movements serve in a way as prelude and postlude, with the middle two comprising the bulk of the concerto. The Andante is reflective and makes rhetorical use of the strings, expanding with Romantic grandness. The remarkable third movement in modified sonata form, punctured and playful — some have said “sarcastic” — offers arresting, emphatic dialogs between the piano and the percussion section; it is marked Moderato and to be effective must be played strictly as such: not the least bit hurried. The Vivace ends abruptly, with the piano running up pianissimo to a high B-flat7.

Instrumentation

The work is scored for solo piano (left hand), 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 1 trumpet, 1 trombone, bass drum and strings.

Recordings

PianistOrchestraConductorRecord CompanyYear of RecordingFormat
Siegfried RappLoh-Orchester Sondershausen (Orchester Der Deutsch-sowietischen Freundschaft)Gerhart WiesenhutterETERNA1962LP
John BrowningBoston Symphony OrchestraErich LeinsdorfRCA Victor1968LP
Vladimir AshkenazyLondon Symphony OrchestraAndré PrevinDecca1975LP
Kun-Woo PaikPolish National Radio Symphony OrchestraAntoni WitNaxos1991CD
Boris BermanRoyal Concertgebouw OrchestraNeeme JärviChandos1989CD
Michel BeroffLeipzig Gewandhaus OrchestraKurt MasurEMI1974LP
Abdel Rahman El BachaThéâtre de la Monnaie OrchestraKazushi OnoFuga Libera2004CD
Nikolai DemidenkoLondon Philharmonic OrchestraAlexander LazarevHyperion1998CD
Gabriel TacchinoOrchestra of Radio LuxembourgLouis de FromentVox Records1977LP
Gabriel TacchinoOrchestra of Radio LuxembourgLouis de FromentVox Records2003CD
Leon FleisherBoston Symphony OrchestraSeiji OzawaSony Classical1992CD
Vladimir KrainevFrankfurt Radio Symphony OrchestraDmitri KitajenkoAtlantic/Teldec1993CD
Alexander ToradzeKirov Theatre OrchestraValery GergievPhilips1995,1996,1997CD
Viktoria PostnikovaUSSR Ministry of Culture State Symphony OrchestraGennadi RozhdestvenskyMoscow Studio Archives1983CD
Yefim BronfmanIsrael Philharmonic OrchestraZubin MehtaSony Classical1993CD
Jean-Efflam BavouzetBBC PhilharmonicGianandrea NosedaChandos2012CD
Alexei VolodinSt. Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre OrchestraValery GergievMariinsky2012CD
Rudolf SerkinPhiladelphia OrchestraEugene OrmandyCBS1963CD

References

References

  1. "Piano Music for the Left Hand Alone".
  2. "Classical Music | ArkivMusic".
  3. Howe, Blake. (2010). "Paul Wittgenstein and the Performance of Disability". [[The Journal of Musicology]].
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