Sergei Prokofiev composed his second piano concerto at the age of 21 while on winter break from his studies at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He had already established himself as something of a bad boy with his brilliant and original First Piano Concerto; with his second he sought to evoke darker, deeper emotions. The result is one of the most technically difficult and fascinating piano concertos in the piano repertoire.
Unusually, Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto has four movements instead of three, perhaps reflecting the composer’s expressive ambitions. The first movement begins with a dark, expansive melody that intensifies as more of the orchestra enters.
By way of contrast, this music leads to one of Prokofiev’s characteristically sardonic, teasing themes. Halfway through the movement, the orchestra falls silent as the soloist returns to the opening melody, thus beginning the movement’s monumental cadenza (a long passage for the soloist alone). The cadenza becomes increasingly virtuoso in its figuration, until at the most dissonant moment the orchestra reenters with terrifying force. The movement ends as the soloist plays a ghostly echo of the opening theme.
The fiendish second movement is a perpetuum mobile that requires the soloist to play at top speed nonstop.
After this, the soloist only has about thirty seconds to rest as the orchestra begins the third movement, a grotesque march containing moments of levity that seem to mock their oppressive surroundings.
The last movement begins maniacally, but after the initial chaos, Prokofiev reveals an introspective, melancholy melody.
An extensive cadenza leads to a twisted, fragmented version of the lyrical theme. After a brief moment of reflection, the madness of the opening returns, and the movement ends with a hair-raising tour de force for piano and orchestra.
Here is Yuja Wang to play this music for you:
