Prokofiev: Concerto No.2 for piano & orchestra op 16 in g. minor. Vladimir Ashkenazy. Andantino Part 1

[JESUS1John]

excellent

[Chopibeetho]

This concerto is impossible! I love Gutierrez's no 2 and no. 3, his cadenza in no 2 is incredible!

[hymnofashes]

66 likes, 0 dislikes; normally I don't make dumb comments like this but... coincidence? Or SATAN?

[wagneristhebest]

its strange how so much of prokofiev's music is strangely pastoral, before he excellently ruins the scene with wonderful dissonant harmonies. Contrast this with the opening to his 3rd concerto - and to bartok's 3rd concerto. It's odd.

[gianpaga11]

Grazie Fabio!

[Flutist11]

Was Prokofiev really an "angry person" ? I think that he was simply brilliant at creating the impression of anger. I think he was pretty sensitive, he just built a really good wall around himself.

[Sveccha93]

@Flutist11 and if anyone had a right to be angry, it was the countless geniuses being compromised and harassed by the political movement of the day! But you're right, the emotion in music is its own world...it's a shallow view that reads it as the composer's nature.

[QMPhilosophe]

I first saw heard this Concerto when I attended the finals of the 1981 Van Cliburn Competition. Panayis Lyras was the pianist (he won the Silver Medal). I was blown away and still am every time I hear it. Prokofiev at his very best!

[Gargantupimp]

Insert witty insightful comment here.

[billyguns2]

Prokofiev wrote some of my favorite music, and this is no exception; I either like his compositions intensely or dislike his music profoundly. Ashkenzay eventually went into decline as a pianist by the time this recording was made; his early work made me think he was the logical successor to all the greats, but he declined and eventually went into conducting. He's a fine conductor.

[gydur1]

just fantastic!

[Eradicator00987]

Hmm, I wonder how good Prokofiev was at chess?  I wonder if I could take him if he were alive today... probably not...

[Gargantupimp]

@Eradicator00987 I know i bet I could take him at checkers.

[HiROBii]

simply amazing....

[cattleman6420012000]

This concerto is played so magnificently by Ashkenazy. There is also deep understanding of the work and wonderful raport with Andre Previn. I heard in an interview that Mehta, Previn and Barenboim were really liked by Ashkenazy when he was the piano soloist. He also played this work for his sucessful New York debut with Bernstein in 1958.

[Gargantupimp]

@cattleman6420012000 Richter played this, hes even better, its not on yew tube.

[cattleman6420012000]

@Gargantupimp It is always a matter of personal taste.

[Gargantupimp]

Sorry @cattleman6420012000 I could of sworn I heard a recording of Richter playing this, I even remember admiring that it was better technically than Ashkenzies which was my favorite until I heard the Richter. But I guess I was wrong, because I realized that Richter never recorded this work ever, wierd I sware to crap that I listened to him on Napster.

[cattleman6420012000]

@Gargantupimp I apologise. I of course respect Richter as being incredibly great.

Ashkenazy actually performed this work very successfully for his American debut with Bernstein in 1958.

Ashkenazy also had great raport with Andre Previn. When he was being interviewed, Ashkenazy mentioned that he particularly liked playing under Mehta, Previn and Barenboim.

[Gargantupimp]

@cattleman6420012000 Interesting! Is that recording better than this one? This would be some work to premiere with, it's more like a malediction than a celebration. I do enjoy Ashkenazy and he does a solid job every time IMO, and his conducting is really admirable, in fact I think he has the best Rachmaninoff symphony 1 ever.

[cattleman6420012000]

@Gargantupimp No I couldn't get a recording of that performance in 1958. If I had bought a large number of recordings of that whole series of early concerts with Bernstein, it might have been on it. I read the article from some specialist dealer for these older rare recordings. I actually bought from the same people a special DVD of the Horowitz TV concert in Carnegie Hall in 1968 ( not his famous 1965 return ).

[jezmuff]

The section at 3:15 is one of the reasons that prokofiev is my favourite composer. Grotesqueness of the intensest, more penetrating kind, all in the midst of beauty and lucid orchestral flourishes. It's his severity combined with his delicacy that makes him so addictivel

[paganiniGOGO]

3:15 is distinctly Prokofiev.

[agilbosco]

i Think, He is the greatest russian Composer of 20th Century

[Gargantupimp]

@agilbosco What about Rachmaninoff?

[agilbosco]

@Gargantupimp very good too, i Like him a lot

[Gargantupimp]

@agilbosco How bout Scriabin?

[agilbosco]

@Gargantupimp i don`t know him very well

[Gargantupimp]

@agilbosco Check him out he's good to, but he died early on in Prokofievs career. Scriabin Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff are the three biggest names from Russia after Tchaikovsky probably. I can't even imagine how lame 20th century music would of been in their absence.

[agilbosco]

@Gargantupimp I think, you forgott shostakovisch??

[ziegfried666]

cof cof .... shostakovich.. cof cof. 

[mojojojo928]

@jezmuff I'm relatively new to appreciation of classical music, but listening to this for the first time not long ago, I couldn't help but be entranced by it. Such complex rhythms of dissonance and harmony, delicacy and brutality, all swimming together. The emotional range is vast enough to wind you. 

[BrackenClelk]

That melody beginning on 0:51 is just so beautiful.

[alexilmagnifico]

does anyone how can I find the score on pdf?

I tried on the international music library but I cant

Thanx in advance

Alex

P.S. thanx for posting this above all ! :D

[Hervinbalfour]

If anyone needs the score in PDF shoot me a private email and I can get it to you. I just started working on this yesterday.

[kempff95]

this man was dark and evil.

from the music listned.

[etude12]

Prokofiev was an incredible mirror of dark and evil surrounds. His music is so amazingly evocative.

[flies101]

excellent!

[FabioThePianist]

Yeah I love this concerto I hope more people will listen it =)

[flies101]

yea I'm playing Prokofiev 4th sonata now and it makes me listen to this concerto in a completely different way now =)

[pranktheroyal]

@FabioThePianist I agree. This (and his fourth) are not played enough. Unfortunately, the fourth is sometimes dismissed as a novelty because it's for left hand, but it is melodically and harmonically very inventive (of course--it's Prokofiev).

[cattleman6420012000]

There was very good rapport between Ashkenazy and Previn.I heard in an interview that they liked working together.Previn was an excellent pianist himself which helped.