Utwory na płycie:

• Piano Concerto No 4: i. Vivace
• Piano Concerto No 4: ii. Andante
• Piano Concerto No 4: iii. Moderato
• Piano Concerto No 4: iv. Vivace
• Piano Concerto No 5: i. Allegro con brio
• Piano Concerto No 5: ii. Moderato ben accentuato
• Piano Concerto No 5: iii. Toccata: Allegro con fuoco
• Piano Concerto No 5: iv. Larghetto
• Piano Concerto No 5: v. Vivo
• Symphony No 4: i. Andante - Allegro eroico
• Symphony No 4: ii. Andante tranquillo
• Symphony No 4: iii. Moderato, quasi allegretto
• Symphony No 4: iv. Allegro risoluto
• Symphony No 6: i. Allegro moderato
• Symphony No 6: ii. Largo
• Symphony No 6: iii. Vivace
• Symphony No 7: i. Moderato
• Symphony No 7: ii. Allegretto
• Symphony No 7: iii. Andante espressivo
• Symphony No 7: iv. Vivace

Piano Concerto no. 4
Piano Concerto No. 5
Piano Concerto No. 4 (1947 version)
Symphony No. 6
Symphony No. 7

This major release launches the Mariinsky label’s projects to honour the 125th anniversary of Prokofiev’s birth. A long-time champion of the music of Prokofiev, Valery Gergiev conducts Symphonies Nos 4, 6 & 7, performed masterfully by the Mariinsky Orchestra and coupled with Piano Concertos Nos 4 and 5. The result is a 2-SACD set programmed to showcase some of Prokofiev’s finest works written before and after the Second World War.

Prokofiev began his Symphony No 4 in 1929, drawing from the musical material of his ballet The Prodigal Son. The Symphony was premiered the following year, though he substantially revised the work seventeen years later.

Prokofiev’s Symphony No 6 was written in 1947 as an elegy of the tragedies of World War II. Speaking of the Symphony, Prokofiev said, ‘Now we are rejoicing in our great victory, but each of us has wounds which cannot be healed. One man’s loved ones have perished, another has lost his health. This must not be forgotten.’

Prokofiev’s Symphony No 7 was completed in 1952, the year before the composer’s death. The Symphony was well-received following its premiere in Moscow, and was awarded the prestigious Lenin Prize in 1957 at Miami’s Knight Concert Hall.

Acclaimed for his highly sensitive touch and technical brilliance, Alexei Volodin performs Prokofiev Piano Concerto No 4. Written for the one-armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein, the concerto was completed in 1931. It was the only one of Prokofiev’s piano works that never saw a performance during his lifetime. Premiered in Berlin in 1956, it was played by the West Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. Alexei Volodin’s performance of the Concerto is described as ‘superbly controlled and beautfiully subtle’ by The Guardian.

Praised for his ‘fast and furious hand-crossing’ the American-Armenian musician Sergei Babyan performs Prokofiev’s last complete piano concerto, No 5. Written in 1932, the Concerto is made up of five short movements, each of which contains a wealth of virtuosity and invention.