CD. PROKOFIEV, Sergei (1891-1953)
Malofeev was 17 when this was recorded. His performance is deeply informed and imaginative.
To the notes:
First Movement
The first ten bars -- a solo clarinet, followed by another, rising, rising ...
and then the strings enter with stacked 4th/5th-interval chords, evoking a sunrise:
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Reduced:
Allegro, over a pedal C:
The solist enters with a flurry of controlled passion:
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The soloist yields the theme to the orchestra, descending in a torrent of 16th-note triplets, but comes in and out, decorating the texture:
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Pounding chords, accompanied by sweeping winds; then an off-beat duet with marcato strings:
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The next section features the soloist banging out 1/4-note chords, and quickly bringing the dynamics down, for this famous castanet part (much discussed in the wonderful film which features this piece, The Competition [1980]) ...
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Off to the races, again:
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Leading to a full-blown recap of the initial theme:
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The piano decorates consecutive chords -- against tremolo strings, first separated by a Major Seventh and then a Perfect Fourth. It feels like an eagle soaring above a towering mountain:
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Four bars of a cleverly-spaced repeating cluster chord (C/D/E/F) reintroduces the fast 16th-note theme in the piano:
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which pushes the suspense tighter and tighter until the it comes to rest on the theme from the original piano entrance:
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Themes are recapped, and it all comes to and end in a great tsunami of notes:
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Second Movement
Written as early as 1913, then set aside, this middle movement is the real meat of the concerto -- exemplifying Prokofiev's wit combined with a deep, profound feeling:
Tema
Orchestra only:
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Orchestra only:
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Mostly for the soloist alone. The theme is lavishly embellished:
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Variation II
A trumpet -- first unmuted, then muted -- announces the theme to another torrent of accompanying 16ths ...
Variation III
The theme is outlined in triplets, then syncopated:
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Variation IV
The tempo slowed, a stupifying haze is produced:
Variation V
Skipping, pounding, sweeping -- the theme resides in the violins, while the piano flies up and down the keyboard:
Tema (reprise)
The piano bounces along with staccato 1/8th-notes while the rest of orchestra exchanges the theme until that appoggiatura-ed bar leads into a few dark contrary-motion bars in the strings.
The piano finishes the movement with a deep dark E Minor chord.
The piano finishes the movement with a deep dark E Minor chord.
Third Movement
In 3/4, Prokofiev fools you by opening with a distinct 4/4 rhythm, soon corrected into threes:
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Soon, solist and orchestra are furiously sliding up and down the scale:
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The pianist finally gets a quick break. This yearning theme begins in the winds and is then taken over by the strings. The piano then enters alone, with a new gloomy theme:
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High celli, presently joined by high violas, sing the theme (con sentimento, Prokofiev writes) while the piano decorates with 1/8th-note triplets (while somehow managing to stick the slower theme in there -- three-against-two) ...
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Lightly falling rain:
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Recap:
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The stupendous ending:
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