Piano Concerto No. 4 (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.

Wittgenstein did not understand the work, but it is not the case (as has sometimes been claimed) that he refused to play it. He was simply not prepared to play it until such time as he had appreciated its inner logic. That time never came, but Wittgenstein and Prokofiev always remained on friendly terms.

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.^[1] The British premiere was in 1961, by Malcolm Binns.^[2]

Structure

The concerto has four movements, lasting around 25 minutes:

Vivace (4-5 mins)
Andante (9-13 mins)
Moderato (8-9 mins)
Vivace (1-2 mins)

The first and last movement serve as a brief prelude and postlude respectively. The middle two movements comprise the main bulk of the concerto. The andante is more reflective and expands with a romantic greatness. The sarcastic Moderato is in "modified sonata-form". The concerto has an unusual ending, with the piano running up pianissimo to a very high B-flat₇.

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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.

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Recordings

Pianist	Orchestra	Conductor	Record Company	Year of Recording	Format
Siegfried Rapp^[3]	LOH-Orchester Sondershausen	Gerhart Wiesenhutter
Vladimir Ashkenazy	London Symphony Orchestra	André Previn	Decca	1975	CD
Kun-Woo Paik	Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra	Antoni Wit	Naxos	1991	CD
Boris Berman	Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra	Neeme Järvi	Chandos	1989	CD
Michel Beroff	Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra	Kurt Masur	EMI	1974	CD
Abdel Rahman El Bacha	Théâtre de la Monnaie Orchestra	Kazushi Ono	Fuga Libera		CD
Nikolai Demidenko	London Philharmonic Orchestra	Alexander Lazarev			CD
Gabriel Tacchino	Orchestra of Radio Luxembourg	Louis de Froment	Quadromania	1977	CD
Leon Fleisher	Boston Symphony Orchestra	Seiji Ozawa	Sony Classical	1991	CD
Vladimir Krainev	Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra	Dmitri Kitajenko	Atlantic/Teldec		CD
Alexander Toradze	Kirov Theatre Orchestra	Valery Gergiev	Philips		CD
Viktoria Postnikova	USSR Ministry of Culture State Symphony Orchestra	Gennadi Rozhdestvensky			CD

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References

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External links

The Prokofiev Page [1]

v t e Sergei Prokofiev

Operas	The Giant Maddalena The Gambler The Love for Three Oranges The Fiery Angel Semyon Kotko Betrothal in a Monastery War and Peace The Story of a Real Man

Ballets	Ala i Lolli Chout Trapeze Le pas d'acier The Prodigal Son On the Dnieper Romeo and Juliet Cinderella The Tale of the Stone Flower

Symphonies	Symphony No. 1 in D major ("Classical") Symphony No. 2 in D minor (orig & rev) Symphony No. 3 in C minor Symphony No. 4 in C major(orig & rev) Symphony No. 5 in B♭ major Symphony No. 6 in E♭ minor Symphony No. 7 in C♯ minor

Concertos	Piano Concerto No. 1 in D♭ major Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major Piano Concerto No. 4 in B♭ major Piano Concerto No. 5 in G major Piano Concerto No. 6 (unfinished) Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor Cello Concerto in E minor Symphony-Concerto for Cello in E minor Cello Concertino in G minor (unfinished)

Orchestra works	Suites (3) from Romeo and Juliet Suites (3) from Cinderella Suites (4) from The Tale of the Stone Flower Scythian Suite from Ala i Loll Suite from Chout Suite from The Love for Three Oranges Suite from The Fiery Angel Suite from Le pas d'acier Suite from The Prodigal Son Suite from The Gambler Suite from On the Dnieper Suite from Lieutenant Kijé Suite from Semyon Kotko Sinfonietta in A major (orig & rev) Summer Night Symphonic Song The Year 1941 Pushkin Waltzes Waltz Suite

Film music	Alexander Nevsky Ivan the Terrible Lieutenant Kijé

Vocal music	Peter and the Wolf Alexander Nevsky Cantata for 20th Anniv of October Revolution Flourish, Mighty Land Seven, They Are Seven Songs of Our Days Zdravitsa

Chamber music	Overture on Hebrew Themes Quintet in G minor String Quartet No. 1 String Quartet No. 2 Violin Sonata No. 1 Violin Sonata No. 2 Flute Sonata in D major

Piano music	Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor Piano Sonata No. 2 in D minor Piano Sonata No. 3 in A minor Piano Sonata No. 4 in C minor Piano Sonata No. 5 in C major (orig & rev) Piano Sonata No. 6 in A major Piano Sonata No. 7 in B♭ major ("Stalingrad") Piano Sonata No. 8 in B♭ major Piano Sonata No. 9 in C major Piano Sonata No. 10 (unfinished) Piano Sonata No. 11 (unrealized) Toccata in D minor Visions fugitives March and Scherzo from The Love for Three Oranges Three Pieces from War and Peace Ten Pieces from Romeo and Juliet Three Pieces & Six Pieces & Ten Pieces from Cinderella

Related articles	List of compositions by Sergei Prokofiev Ballets Russes Sergei Diaghilev George Balanchine Sviatoslav Richter Mstislav Rostropovich Nikolai Myaskovsky Neoclassicism

Portal:Classical music

v t e Concertos by Sergei Prokofiev

Piano	No. 1 in D flat major, Op. 10 No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16 No. 3 in C major, Op. 26 No. 4 in B flat major, Op. 53 (for left hand) No. 5 in G major, Op. 55 No. 6, Op. 134 (sometimes 133) (unfinished)

Violin	No. 1 in D major, Op. 19 No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63

Cello	Concerto in E minor, Op. 58 Symphony-Concerto in E minor, Op. 125 Concertino in G minor, Op. 132 (unfinished)

List of compositions by Sergei Prokofiev

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Last modified on 2 April 2013, at 15:58