Piano Concerto No. 2 by Prokofiev

You think you're sooooo good at piano, hotshot? Well, why not try giving Prokofiev's 2nd Piano Concerto a try and just learn how wrong you are, hoss. In contrast to his 1st Piano Concerto, Prokofiev's 2nd demonstrates a substantial shift, both into tonal expressionism (a VERY brief period for the Soviet composers, due to Stalin's relentless assertion that "modern" musical trends were anti-worker), and into a different instrumental structure-- here, it is the piano that leads the symphony along, rather than filling in gaps for the symphony, and indeed there are 5 or 6 minute stretches of a full, lush piano exploring a variety of conflicting, complex modal twists, dancing from playfulness to dread, from excitation to tragedy and back. Hey, here's a video of an 11 year old girl playing what is considered one of the hardest pieces of piano music ever composed almost flawlessly. Enjoy a delicious humility sandwich why don't you?

RATING: 93%