5th piano concerto (Prokofiev)

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The Piano Concerto No. 5 in G major, opus 55 by Sergei Prokofiev was composed at the end of 1931. The world premiere took place on October 31, 1932 in Berlin with the Berlin Philharmonic under Wilhelm Furtwängler . As a soloist , the composer played himself, as in almost all world premieres of his concerts.

music

After Prokofiev had completed his 4th piano concerto (a commissioned work only for the left hand and orchestra, which was rejected by his client Paul Wittgenstein ), he decided to write a new piano concerto, again for two hands and orchestra. With its five movements, the concerto does not correspond to the classical three- or four-movement concert form, which is why the composer originally wanted to describe the work as music for piano and orchestra. Prokofiev's good friend Myaskovsky convinced him to call the composition a piano concerto.

The first and third movements in particular bear witness to Stravinsky's influence. The second and fourth movements have old Russian folk themes.

The five sentence names are:

  1. Allegro con brio (4–5 min)
  2. Moderato ben accentuato (3–4 min)
  3. Toccata: Allegro con fuoco (1–2 min)
  4. Larghetto (6–7 min)
  5. Vivo (5–6 min)

occupation

Woodwind:

two flutes , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons

Brass:

two horns , two trumpets , two trombones

Striking mechanism:

Timpani , bass drum , snare drum

Strings:

Violins , violas , cellos , double basses

Discography

In addition to the complete recordings of Alexander Toradze , Valeri Gergijew , Wladimir Aschkenasi and André Previn, there are also recordings by Svyatoslaw Richter and Nikolai Demidenko.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Piano Concerto No. 5 in G major, op. 55. Hyperion Records Limited, 1988, accessed on April 9, 2018 (description of the work).
  2. ↑ Barbara Nissman: The Many Faces of Prokofiev - As seen through his piano concertos. Serge Prokofiev Foundation, accessed April 9, 2018 .