Prokofiev - Piano Concerto 3 [Krainev/ Kitaenko-Radio Sinfonie Orchester Frankfurt]
This is a lovely set of the Prokofiev Piano Concertos, i don't think Vladimir Krainev is very well known, born in 1944 in Russia, now lives in Germany, but mainly has worked in the East.
The booklet cover is by Ernst Kirchner, a surprisingly good painter, his painting Nollendorfplatz is really powerful.
The third Concerto is probably the most famous, i love the wonderful variations in the middle movement, full of quirky surprises, endless variety, and clashing instrumentation, this is Prokofiev at his best, the movement is jam packed with so much drama, i will just mention my favourite moments, variation 2 [2 :11-3:01] has this fanfare by muted trumpet, sharp and brittle, nicely clashing with everything else, as the piano runs up and down the keyboard, in variation 3 [3:01-4:14] the piano stamps out chords, with an out of tune lumbering gait, this for me is the best moment of the whole Concerto, in the middle of variation 4, there's this fluttering by the high woodwind [5:44-6:06], from treble down to bass, as if a bird has flown down from a tree to the ground, or a leaf has fallen, very effective, there's something new to find every time i listen to it.
Here's Yuja Wang playing the middle movement Theme and Variations on YouTube, with Dutoit conducting.
