Prokofiev Sonatas

[kaiwin]

Which one is the most famous? Which ones are the most easy to listen to? Which ones are the hardest?

Haha 

[pies]

Which one is the most famous?

All of them are equally famous.

Which ones are the most easy to listen to?

All of them are easy to listen to.

Which ones are the hardest?

None of them are anywhere near being hard.

[franz_]

I don't know them very well, but Sonata No. 7 must be the famous.

[mephisto]

All of them are equally famous.
All of them are easy to listen to.None of them are anywhere near being hard.

Are you joking?

[counterpoint]

Are you joking?

seems to me type of "silly question - silly answer"

But taken serious: Prokofieff Sonatas are not so difficult as they sound.

And by the way: Sonata 7 is my absolute favorite

[bella musica]

No. 2 in D Minor is a great one too.  The third movement when played right is positively creepy, and the last movement is really fun to play.  Except for the last 2 pages.    Lol!

[pianiststrongbad]

hehe, funny you mention the last two pages of the second sonata.  I am working on it now, and the other day I was sightreading most of the last movement pretty decently, and I get to the last two pages, and then the tempo cuts down considerably and more and more wrong notes start to creep in.

[moi_not_toi]

The second sonata I believe is the MOST famous, although no. 7 puts up a good contest.
The second mvmt. SCHERZO is one of the most famous tunes by Prokofiev. That and Dance of the Knives from Romeo and Juliet are in my opinion the most famous.

[xavierm]

A little late, but as a Proko fanatic I thought i should put my two cents in..

No. 1 - Most Romantic
No. 2 - Most Famous(tie)/Shows Prokofiev's true personality
No. 3 - Virutosos' Most Favorite
No. 4 - Most (wrongfully) Neglected
No. 5 - Most Deceptively Simple(tie)
No. 6 - Genius (all of them are, but I can't think of any other words to describe this)
No. 7 - Most Famous(tie)/Hardest to Understand
No. 8 - The "Pinnacle"/ The deepest / The largest
No. 9 - Most Deceptively Simple(tie)/Perhaps Deepest(?)

[mephisto]

A little late, but as a Proko fanatic I thought i should put my two cents in..

No. 1 - Most Romantic
No. 2 - Most Famous(tie)/Shows Prokofiev's true personality
No. 3 - Virutosos' Most Favorite
No. 4 - Most (wrongfully) Neglected
No. 5 - Most Deceptively Simple(tie)
No. 6 - Genius (all of them are, but I can't think of any other words to describe this)
No. 7 - Most Famous(tie)/Hardest to Understand
No. 8 - The "Pinnacle"/ The deepest / The largest
No. 9 - Most Deceptively Simple(tie)/Perhaps Deepest(?)

A very nice way of putting it.

Just for the record: no1,4,5 and 9 are rarely played.

[mikey6]

wow, I always thought 7 would easily be the most popular, especially the 3rd movt.
I find it rather easy to interpret (not that i've studied it) - 1st movt: torture/war (hell breaks loose in the development - the shrieks of pain, the barbaric repetition of the second subject.  2nd movt: I don't find to be a nice piece, I see it as a dream, covering the harsh reality.  3rd movt: the relentless ostinato reminds me of how everyone had to be kept in check and no one could step out of line (unless they wanted to go to Syria) and the second subject is someone trying to break free with the continous rhythm attacking it from all sides.
just my ideas.

[mikey6]

edit - my time limited ideas

[xavierm]

wow, I always thought 7 would easily be the most popular, especially the 3rd movt.
I find it rather easy to interpret (not that i've studied it) - 1st movt: torture/war (hell breaks loose in the development - the shrieks of pain, the barbaric repetition of the second subject.  2nd movt: I don't find to be a nice piece, I see it as a dream, covering the harsh reality.  3rd movt: the relentless ostinato reminds me of how everyone had to be kept in check and no one could step out of line (unless they wanted to go to Syria) and the second subject is someone trying to break free with the continous rhythm attacking it from all sides.
just my ideas.

You could say 7 is a little bit more popular than 2, being that it gets played very very frequently at major competitions and such. However, I agree it's not very hard to interpret, but it is usually difficult for someone who's not familiar with the piece (even if he/she is knowlegable in music) to come to grips with it, especially the first two movements. Some see it as random and chaotic and that those things are the only purpose it serves, when in reality it's one of the most tightly-woven, intricate, thematic sonatas ever written. One of my profressors who is a renouned musicologist, Dr. Lisa Feurzeig, absolutely HATES the piece because she thinks it's poorly written. To her misfortune, her emphasis is voice and not piano therefore I think she hasn't the time to actually do the theoretical work to discover the genius of the sonata... but my point is that on average, the piece is very hard to understand, much of it due to it's atonal premise (even though it's actually a tonal piece).

Whew. Sorry to ramble.