Octo_Russ

Prokofiev - Piano Concerto 2 [Beroff/ Masur-Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig] 

Prokofiev's Piano Concerto's haven't been spread all over my Blog, in fact they're thin on the ground, i still don't know these works very well, the Second and Third appeal to me the most, they are in fact teeming with Prokofiev's quirky rhythms and off hand devices, he certainly has a way with throwing in spanners that at first seem to clog up the natural flow, but in reality they're delicious ideas that are part of the very 'un'natural flow!, his Fourth and Fifth Concertos are harder to follow, everyone seems to like the Third the best, but i've always gravitated towards the Second, it has some scintillating ideas. 

Michel Beroff is French, he's now 62, he recorded this work in 1974, this is a 2 disc 'fatbox' set, very nice, it comes from the EMI 'Rouge Et Noir' series [Red & Black], i have a number of these box sets, notably Poulenc and Faure sets, this one comes with an excellent photo on the front [by Jacques Sarrat], it's the black background which sets the subject out so starkly, there's also a light shining from the upper back, giving a nice highlight on the shoulders, making things stand out all the more against the blackness, the hands are very interesting and well posed, nice wristwatch, the lettering shape / size isn't great, but it's made up for by the colour scheme, the green of course matches the shirt, and the red matches the logo, well placed and well thought out, on the back inlay it's small writing, but it gives all the information, you don't need to flip through the booklet to find the timings, a great disc set.

The whole of this Concerto was fantastic, very very inventive, i just loved the first movement the best, a quirky and awkward start on hesitant low pizzicato strings, and even the piano doesn't at first seem interested, lazy in its tune, but slowly increases in volume, and it's when Prokofiev gets going that his crazy ideas all make sense [1:57+], i like the way Prokofiev goes up and down the keyboard like some Jazz Organist [2:17-2:23], the music comes to some sort of conclusion [2:45+], as if the preceding music was just an introduction, and Prokofiev gets his keyboardist really working hard [3:07-3:25], while in the background the woodwind [piccolos i can hear] are going piping crazy, .

Here's Yuja Wang playing the first movement on YouTube.