Summer Intensive 2018 With Vanessa Zahorian & Davit Karapetyan
The Second Piano Concerto created almost as big a scandal at its premiere in the imperial resort of Pavlovsk, outside St. Petersburg, on September 5, 1913 as Stravinsky’ s The Rite of Spring had in Paris a few months earlier. One critic wrote that Prokofiev’ s performance“ left the listeners frozen with fright, hair standing on end.” Another, apparently as bewildered by the work as anyone there, described the event in detail:“ A youth with the face of a high school student appears on stage …. He sits down at the piano and starts either wiping off the keys or trying them out to see which produce a high or low sound …. The audience is uncertain …. A few … leave their seats. The young artist concludes his concerto with a mercilessly dissonant combination of sounds from the brass. The scandal in the audience is now full-blown. The majority of them are hissing. Prokofiev bows impudently and plays an encore.”
Today the Second Piano Concerto remains a provocative work, primarily because of its staggeringly difficult solo part. Written to show off its composer’ s brilliant, idiosyncratic skills, it gives the soloist no quarter— from its formidable four-minute-long cadenza in the first movement to its nonstop scherzo and gigantic conclusion. Its tone is mostly aggressive, and its orchestral part, though subservient to the soloist, is bold to stridency.
The first movement, however, begins softly as the pianist introduces a reflective theme, inspired by Russian folk melodies. Eventually, the music accelerates, and the soloist launches an angular theme with short, sharp attacks and the ironic style so characteristic of Prokofiev. Swooning, somewhat impressionistic music for the orchestra leads to the great solo cadenza, which takes over the task of developing the two themes. Toward the conclusion, Prokofiev marks the music“ colossale” as the pianist erupts with cascades of virtuosic arpeggios and scales. The brass instruments are also thinking“ colossale” as they lead the orchestra back for an oversized recapitulation of the angular second theme. The amphetamine-driven secondmovement scherzo gives the soloist no
Summer Intensive 2018 With Vanessa Zahorian & Davit Karapetyan
Former Principal Dancers with San Francisco Ballet
July 16- August 10
paballetacademy. org 717.774.7474 Camp Hill, PA
MAR – APR 2018 / OVERTURE 17