Prokofiev 6th Sonata - VIDEO

[alonsovich]

1st movement:

2nd:

3rd:

4th:

Recorded in Wiener Saal in Salzburg last november...

[birba]

That was a splendid performance of this masterpiece.  It was so lyrical.  Never ever was your sound harsh and banging - in fact, the only complaint, if you want to call it that, is there were times when it was a little tame (the development in the 1st mvt, e.g.) - there was so much of romeo and juliet in it!  Your third movment I especially enjoyed.  Simply beautiful.
I'm just curious.  Have you done the 7th?  And if you have, would you rate the 6th more difficult?  It is certainly the greater masterpiece, IMO.

[alonsovich]

Hi!. Thanks for the kind comments. It was indeed a bit held back, since I recorded it for the DVD round of a competition and I was a bit concerned with technical perfection, since it had to be a live recording (which normally brings a typical case of pianistic neurotism, LOL), rather than doing an all out type of performance.

I'm kind of a Prokofiev freak, I simply love his music. I have done all three of the war sonatas (6th, 7th, 8th) and I personally think that none of them are comparable between them, which is the most beautiful thing of the cycle. If anything, the 6th and the 8th are a bit more comparable between them than the 6th with the 7th. The 7th is somehow a much more bold work that requires much more physicallity and edgier playing; the 6th is a bit less physical and with a much broader structure and many more lyrical moments. I think they're both equally difficult, just that their difficulties are quite different between them.

[birba]

You're not only a very talented pianist and musician, you're very coherent and articulate as well!  Your observations are right on.  I've done very little prokofiev in my life - the toccata, the 3rd and 7th sonata, and that's about it - oh, the visions fugitives - but you've inspired me to take up that 6th sonata.  I remember I heard it for the first time in a competition almost 40 years ago, and I've been taken with it ever since.  That third movement!!!!!!!!!!!!