­

[pies]

­

[apion]

Prokofiev's piano concertos 2 and 3 (and 1 and 5).  His 3rd PC is one of my top 5 of alltime.

[brokenagraffe]

some of his ballet music. mainly Romeo and Juliet.

[zalmanesd]

Toccata:
https://www.ciweb.com.ar/Mp3/Prokofiev_Toccata_op11_Martha_Argerich.zip
Perhaps some of his concertos for other instruments.
His violin concertos are awesome and his cello sinfonia-concertante is superb as well.
And yes, his 2nd and 3rd PC's are good.
In fact, listen to all of them.
Buy the Trio Complete Concertos with Ashkenazy, Bell, and Harrell.

[pies]

­

[Glissando]

Peter and the Wolf!
Still love that.

[apion]

I'm not a fan of concertos ......

Whatever.  I hope you rethink that, but to each his own.

[pies]

­

[dinosaurtales]

Crud.  I can't think of anything he wrote that ISN'T cool!  All of the sonatas are cool!  He wrote lots of little tiny pieces - op 65 (the one for "children" - yeah right) and other littls collections of pieces.  egad!  works for band, which are just good, clean fun.  All the concertos!  get it all!  bask in it!

[Pumpkinhead]

I am so incredibly excited right now!   My teacher says that I can either learn the Prokofiev Concerto #1, or the Rachmaninoff Rhapsody.   Obviously, Prokofiev is the better competition piece, so I'll probably be going with that one. I always get so excited whenever I hear the finale to the third mvt.

[Tash]

i LOVE prokofiev my god he is the bomb
my faves: lieutenant kije
the love for 3 oranges
alexander nevsky
cinderella
peter and the wolf
 romeo and juliet
piano concertos (haven't distinguished them from each other enough to make a judgement about which one's my fave yet- but soon to come!)
quintet op.39 for oboe, clarinet, violin, viola and double bass
overture on hebrew themes
the stone flower
yeah the toccata is super
plus a mash of piano works and waltzes and much more!

[pianowelsh]

tash - agreed it has to be one of the best - so inventive!

[earthward]

Visions Fugitives is soooooooo much fun.  Not too hard technically but really interesting musically and pianistically. 

The 3rd concerto blows me away.  My face while listening to Prok. 3rd = 

[pianowelsh]

Prokofiev 3 is stunning - true! it reminds me of a plane on the runway in the first mvt the sense of lift off and excitement is unparalelled anywhere in piano music. The second movement is so gorgeous harmonically - there are no words - you can tell i love prokofiev!!!!

[fergal]

 Check out the toccata op.12 i think or 22?

 Tour de force and sounds (and probably is) ridiculously difficult. but oh so cool!

[steinwayguy]

 Check out the toccata op.12 i think or 22?

 Tour de force and sounds (and probably is) ridiculously difficult. but oh so cool!

Tocatta, Op. 11

And yes, it is certainly hard as hell.

[DarkWind]

Tocatta, Op. 11

And yes, it is certainly hard as hell.

Actually:

Toccata, Op. 11. :p

I'm not a fan of concertos, I prefer solo piano.

You will be SERIOUSLY missing out on one of the greatest works the 20th century has given to us. The 2nd concerto is nearly perfect in regards to just about everything. So many ranges of emotion, so many memorable themes, so many beautiful orchestral colors. I could hum any movement of the 2nd Concerto, and all the themes are wonderful nad captivating.

Also, try his 7th Piano Sonata. And the Overture on Hebrew Themes. I'm particularly fond of that work.

[apion]

You will be SERIOUSLY missing out on one of the greatest works the 20th century has given to us. The 2nd concerto is nearly perfect in regards to just about everything. So many ranges of emotion, so many memorable themes, so many beautiful orchestral colors. I could hum any movement of the 2nd Concerto, and all the themes are wonderful nad captivating.

DarkWind, you clearly have excellent taste in music, but I'm damn, damn curious why you value Prokofiev's PC 2 over PC 3?  IMO, all things considered, PC 3 is the super-transcendent masterpiece non plus ultra.  But I'm looking at this from a piano competition perspective, so perhaps your perspective is different?   

[Chrysalis]

romeo and juliet... rest my case

[klavierkonzerte]

his firsviolin concerto is one of my favs in the violin rep, i just love the 2nd and 3rd movments.

[Etude]

The first piece I heard by Prokofiev was the Piano Concerto no. 1.  His second and third Piano Concerti are among my favourite pieces to listen to, along with the Toccata and seventh piano sonata.

[chromatickler]

da sonata7 mvmt3 is an officially certified SDC classic, az is da d minah toccata

[thierry13]

 Check out the toccata op.12 i think or 22?

 Tour de force and sounds (and probably is) ridiculously difficult. but oh so cool!

It's hard but not ridiculously hard  It isn't some show off useless free difficulty. It is difficulty required for the sound and principal effect of the piece. Ridiculously difficult would be more like : it's a joke that it is that hard, it should not be! He could have removed a lot of things to make it easier, and still keep the general idea and sound of the piece.

Maybe you have different visions of ridiculously difficult, but in those terms, it is not ridiculously difficult!

[Skeptopotamus]

actually there are two versions of the toccata.  one hard, the other crap.

and for prokofiev's sonatas, i'd rank then (from most awesome to least awesome):

1-6-2-4-8-5-3-7-9   <--- haha this will SO get flamed but i stick by it.

[DarkWind]

DarkWind, you clearly have excellent taste in music, but I'm ***, *** curious why you value Prokofiev's PC 2 over PC 3?  IMO, all things considered, PC 3 is the super-transcendent masterpiece non plus ultra.  But I'm looking at this from a piano competition perspective, so perhaps your perspective is different?   

   I'm just looking at it from pure musical likes, no competition or anything. I like the 3rd alot too, don't get me wrong, but I like the 2nd infinitely more. It's just able to captivate me throughout the completeness of the whole work, and I can hum probably the whole work from memory, while the 3rd one has lots of movements that I cannot recall. Many times I won't be paying attention. But the 2nd will hold me through, with it's perfect development of themes, it's twisted angry nature at times. If anything, I prefer lots of darker motives and moods to happier and lighter pieces, and the 2nd is one of the darkest pieces I know.
   Sometimes I play in my head a little scenario that goes along with the 2nd concerto. It is rather dark. The 1st movement shows a murderer deciding what he will do, arriving at the victims spot, going through the murder, and realizing what he has done. The 2nd movement is the chase. The 3rd movement is him trying to avoid authorities to eventually be capture. The 4th movement is just a journey through the person's mind, witnessing all the strange thoughts and visuals. I know, it all sounds kinda weird, but it makes perfect sense to me, and it's one of the only pieces I can associate an interesting story with.

[Skeptopotamus]

i agree with darkwind.  the second is better than the third, but......

ranks them from most awesome to least awesome:

4-5-1-2-3


sorry.  im a rebel.

[musicsdarkangel]

His 2nd violin concerto is incredible, do check it out.

The PC's are great (although I believe his violin concerto to be the landmark of his works) and all of his sonatas are descent as well.

[dbrainiak914]

Sergei Polusmiak told me that Prokofiev 2 is "the most difficult piano concerto, period.  It's just ridiculous." 

No. 3 is much more popular, many feel it is more musically lush than the second.  Also, the orchestra contributes much more in the third than second.  Many also see the second as full of too much nasty music, whereas the third contains much more acceptable music.  And most importantly, the second is just so damn hard - Prokofiev throws everything at the pianist - that only a special few are willing to take it on.

Personally, I like the second more, but it may be too hardcore  (end of 3rd movement?  muwahahah ) for those who have never heard such nasty stuff before.  The third is more of a happy medium.


As for sonatas, check out the THIRD!!!!  AAHHHHH, I love it so much.  Such bombastic, adventurous, cunning music.  It's only one movement, too, very short, but such a showstopper.  I must learn it.

[DarkWind]

i agree with darkwind.  the second is better than the third, but......

ranks them from most awesome to least awesome:

4-5-1-2-3


sorry.  im a rebel.

Ugh. I hate the fourth. Too ugly. Not in the mish mashing pounding heavy ugly, but just butt-ugly, I don't wanna look at it, tastes like what I ran over, ugly. It's a left-hand concerto, if anything. Ok, I'm exaggerating a little, but truth be, the 4th is pure mediocrity compared to the others.

I rank them:
2-5-1-3-4

[mastert61]

what's all the fuss about prok 3rd. I still don't like it in general after forcing myself to listen to it dozens of times. The start of the first movement is great, the finale in 3rd movement is great. The rest is boring (in my opinion)
omg the second concerto roxx, simply the best! the first movement is simply....magical, mysterious, fantastic


nobody mentionned suggestion diabolique, it's a great piece. Toccata of course..
I've recently listened to juvenilia #5. Nice piece there.

[Dazzer]

Concertos rank: 3 5 2 1 4 (how can anyone say the 1st is good compared to the others? goodness...)

Suggestions Diabolique is good, but gets tedious after playing it a bit... good for bashing though.
Same with op11 toccata.

[invsblmn]

The War Sonatas (6, 7, are I think some of the finest sonatas written in the twentieth century.

[apion]

what's all the fuss about prok 3rd. I still don't like it in general after forcing myself to listen to it dozens of times. The start of the first movement is great, the finale in 3rd movement is great. The rest is boring (in my opinion)
omg the second concerto roxx, simply the best! the first movement is simply....magical, mysterious, fantastic


nobody mentionned suggestion diabolique, it's a great piece. Toccata of course..
I've recently listened to juvenilia #5. Nice piece there.

OMG, how can you NOT appreciate the 2nd movement (variations) of Prokofiev's PC #3?  Beyond sublime!    And don't even get me started on the outer movements ........ beyond words ....... 

[virtuoso]

Okay.there is quite alot! Sonata's numbers 2,3,4,7 Symphony number 5!!!! violin concertos, toccata and etudes for piano, piano concertos 1,2,3 and the visions fugitives, four pieces op.4 and sarcasms.