Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 2 in g minor, Op. 16 (Gutiérrez)

Prokofiev begins gently with two measures of orchestral stage-setting, leading to two more measures of piano vamp until the appearance of the first theme, a melody of surprising extensions. Prokofiev wants a certain "speaking" quality in the performance at this point, for he has marked the theme narrante. A contrasting theme introduces an element of caprice and a new repertory of colors. Most of the development and even much of the recapitulation take the form of a huge cadenza (5:17), maybe the hugest in any concerto. (The instruction to the pianist at the climax is colossale.) The orchestral continuation is likewise larger than life, but then a modest restatement of the opening melody brings the movement to a quiet close.

The Scherzo is a tour de force of perpetual motion, of non-stop sixteenth notes for the soloist. "Intermezzo," at least in the piano repertory, tends to suggest a rather contained sort of music, but this one is fierce. The pianist Sviatoslav Richter said that to him it evoked "a dragon devouring its young." There is something here of the grinding harshness of the Scythian Suite of 1915, and it is a model for those sinister marches that rage their way through the pages of Shostakovich. Prokofiev's inventiveness in piano figuration is remarkable.

In a sense, the second and third movements are both intermezzi, music on a far smaller scale than the first movement and the finale. The last movement reverts to the expansive manner of the first and also has a cadenza as its focal point. The entry into this cadenza is one of Prokofiev's wittiest strokes in the work. This movement brings together the Scythian wildness of the Intermezzo and the touching, rather Mussorgskian narrative lyricism of the first movement's Andantino.

0:00 - Andantino-Allegretto
10:59 - Scherzo: Vivace
13:29 - Intermezzo: Allegro moderato
20:14 - Finale: Allegro tempestoso