Donal Fox: Variations and Improvisations on Prokofiev's Toccata, Op. 11

Variations on Prokofiev's Toccata, Op. 11 by Donal Fox
Donal Fox, piano
Commissioned by The World Music Institute
and Thomas Buckner
Interpretations series
Merkin Concert Hall, New York
November 16, 2000
Leonellis Music (BMI)
www.leonellismusic.com
New World Records
www.newworldrecords.org

Reviews:

"After intermission came three takes on existing classical works, including one by C.P.E. Bach, another by J.S. Bach (both unspecified), and finally the Prokofiev Toccata, Op. 11. This all gave Donal a chance to end the concert by taking his virtuosity for a ride. The C. P. E. Bach piece married baroque music to stride piano, with great driving energy; the J. S. Bach became a seething surge of rhythm. In his Prokofiev transformation, Donal departed from the original as early as the fifth bar. Prokofiev starts with four measures of pounding 16th-note Ds, alternating between the pianist's hands. At bar 5, the right hand starts playing C and E for two measures, but Donal kept it going twice as long. But then the whole beginning is pianissimo in Prokofiev, and a lot louder as Donal asserts it, so of course he's not playing the piece as it's written. Instead, he uses parts of it as a point of departure for what I take to be improvisation. . . his version brought the concert to an exuberant and thundering conclusion. Right then, I knew I wanted to write about the evening, but I didn't have the chance; I'm thrilled to do it now. Everybody interested should check out Donal's two New World CDs (which include some of the pieces I've described here). But there's no substitute for seeing him live.

-- Greg Sandow
© 2001 NewMusicBox

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Donal
• Fox
• piano
• Prokofiev
• Toccata
• Classilcal
• improvisation
• recital

[Zebeldarebel]

You seem to find all the Prokofiev pieces ever uploaded on youtube ssprokofiev! I agree; it probably took a great deal of creativity on his part as well.

[ssprokofiev]

This piece, which touches on ragtime, blues, boogie-woogie and straight classical, is quite spirited and compelling. Mr. Fox plays brilliantly and with a fine sense for each idiom he employs. Bravo!