# Your favourite Prokofiev piano concerto



## Lisztfreak

Another poll! Hurrraaaah! 

What's your favourite Prokofiev piano concerto? Mine is No.1, very closely followed by No.5. In fact, I could listen to all of them all day long except to the No.3 - I've never quite understood why all that fuss about it.


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## R-F

The No.3 is my favourite. I've never actually heard the 4th or 5th (which I probably should) but I find the 3rd less heavy than the other two. It's one of my all time favourite piano concertos.


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## EarlyCuyler

I like the 2nd.


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## Lisztfreak

EarlyCuyler said:


> I like the 2nd.


Me too. The very opening and the second movement are highlights for me. Love the brass.


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## jhar26

Numbers 3 and 1 for me, but I like the others also.


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## Tapkaara

The 3rd. I know, how cliche of me.


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## Sid James

I don't think I really have a right to vote, as I've only heard Nos. 1 & 3.

I really like *No. 1*, it is different from all the piano concertos that have gone before. Not only its short length (about 15 minutes), but especially the clarity & economy with which he presents and fleshes out the ideas. There is alot of repetition, but it is done in such an interesting way, that it doesn't bother me. For me, _*No. 3*_ sounds like a kind of conventional rehash of the first concerto. I didn't enjoy it that much, it was just repetition of what he had already said in the first. Having said that, it's still a fine work. I can't really fault anything I have heard of Prokofiev. He was entitled to any indulgences, as they were all of such a high quality!


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## LvB

2 for me, closely followed by 1 and 3; I don't know 4 and 5 well enough to have a strong opinion on them, though teh last time I heard 4 I remember thinking I needed to give it more attention in the future. But I have loved 2 from the very first time I heard it.


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## Lisztfreak

The 5th was Richter's favourite. And it really is witty and jocund, just like most of Prokofiev's music. But this one's a bit different, it has 5 movements, the 3rd being a rapid and insistent toccata that sounds like a terribly accelerated version of the 1st movement. And in the slow, 4th movement, there's some heroism - an emotion not otherwise found in Prokofiev, or very rarely at least.


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## JAKE WYB

number two for me - the pianistic fireworks in the 1st movemnt blow me away - but of course its the heavy relentless rythmic colour that makes it such a gripping experience for me especially live

- i find 3 contains perhaps better music but its too crammed together and full of colours and bits if ideas that makes all 3 movements blurr into a mass of plinky plonk that slighlty bores me


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## maestro267

One vote for No. 2 please! 

One of the most thrilling endings in all music, imo.


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## emiellucifuge

2, the scherzo is great.

The speed!


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## Isola

No. 2 for me, followed by No. 3 & 1. No. 5 is okay. Never listened to No. 4.


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## danae

Tapkaara said:


> The 3rd. I know, how cliche of me.


Same here... Indeed, how cliche of me too.

I love the 2nd one too. Actually I love all of them (the 1st maybe not so much), since Prokofiev is one of my 10 most favourite composers of all time.


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## Somnifer

No. 3 is my favourite and is in fact the ONLY piece by Prokofiev I like. All the Prokofiev fans will massacre me for that one.


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## ecg_fa

I went narrowly for no. 2-- I also like the opening/brass a lot. But I could voted for
no. 3, maybe no. 1-- and lately I've been enjoying the 5th a lot too. Prokofiev in
general I really like.

Ed


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## kg4fxg

*Concerto No. 3 for Piano and Orchestra in C Major, OP. 26*

Composed around 1921. First performed with the Chicago Symphony December 16, 1921.

Interesting in that he wrote it to show his own abilities at the piano. The idea came long ago before WWI and his Classical Symphony.

He is very interesting in that he studied composition in Mosow, he also studied piano and conducting. He even studied cinema techniques in Hollywood.


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## Op.123

I like No. 3.


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## Bix

Number two for me


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## DavidA

No 3 especially played by Argerich or Janis.

Richter makes a good case for no 5


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## Cosmos

I honestly love them all, except for the 4th.

But the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th?...Oh my heart flutters


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## TrevBus

I have seen and heard Ashkenazy on both #2 and #3. Have a #3 recording w/him playing it and Bartock's 3rd.. I have Feltsman on #1 and #2. Close one between 2 and 3, w/slight edge going to #2. I like the rhythm of the piece better. 4 and 5, not really.


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## Vaneyes

3, 1, 5, 2, 4. :tiphat:


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## Art Rock

Hors concours: None.
Essential: Piano concerto 3.
Important: Piano concerto 1, Piano concerto 5.
Good to have: Piano concerto 2, Piano concerto 4.
Not required: None.


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## Skilmarilion

Sid James said:


> I really like *No. 1*, it is different from all the piano concertos that have gone before. Not only its short length (about 15 minutes), but especially the clarity & economy with which he presents and fleshes out the ideas. There is alot of repetition, but it is done in such an interesting way, that it doesn't bother me.


Well said, I think the 1st is probably my favourite. I like that those crashing D flat major chords in the beginning almost look back to Tchaikovsky's 1st, yet Prokofiev puts his personal, modern twist into that theme.


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## Rehydration

No. 3 was the last I heard while listening to the Cliburn during my last few weeks of school.

3, 1, 2, 5, 4

My kinds of piano concerti are the ones where there's a crashing ending that you never expect that gives you chills all over.


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## Tristan

Definitely #2. The first movement is so beautiful and haunting.


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## Novelette

2 or 3--hard to choose.

If Martha is playing it, I will love it. She once stated "Prokofiev is my best friend!" Sometimes I feel like Martha makes him my best friend too.


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## EllenBurgess

no 3 is my favorite one and it is considered to be the best and most melodious among all other versions...


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## Bix

EllenBurgess said:


> no 3 is my favorite one and it is considered to be the best and most melodious among all other versions...


By whom is it considered so? I don't necessarily disagree I just would like to know who these people are.


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## adrem

Definitely 2! One of my first musical shock.


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## LouisMasterMusic

While Lisztfreak seems to dislike No.3, I truly love it, although my favourite is No.1, again like Lisztfreak. No.1 is full of great technical finger-work and melody, and No.3 is great for both the orchestra AND the soloist. No.1 is more soloist-orientated, although the percussion evidently have some great fun, especially in the opening and closing movements. The ending of No.3 just gets me every time, as does that graceful and lyrical clarinet melody which opens the concerto. Straight out of Rachmaninov!


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## violadude

The 1st movement of #2 is my favorite movement out of all the movements, but #3 is my favorite overall.


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