Violin Concerto No. 2 (Prokofiev)
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The Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, opus 63, written in 1935 by Sergei Prokofiev, is a work in three movements:
- Allegro moderato
- Andante assai
- Allegro, ben marcato
It premiered on December 1, 1935 in Madrid with the French violinist Robert Soëtans and the Madrid Symphony Orchestra conducted by Enrique Arbós. Prokofiev was on a concert tour with Robert Soëtans (who commissioned the piece) while he was working on the concerto. As he later wrote, "The number of places in which I wrote the Concerto shows the kind of nomadic concert-tour life I led then. The main theme of the 1st movement was written in Paris, the first theme of the 2nd movement at Voronezh, the orchestration was finished in Baku and the premiere was given in Madrid."
The Spanish had liked the premiere so much that they sent a delegate of musicians to thank Prokofiev afterwards.
The concerto is more conventional than the composer's early bold compositions. It starts off with a simple violin melody related to traditional Russian folk music. The graceful violin melody flows throughout the entire second movement, ends with the initial violin theme reappears in solo cello, accompanied by solo violin. The third movement rondo's theme has a taste of Spain, with the clacking of castanets each time the theme appears.
[edit] External links
- More on the History of the Concerto
- Prokofiev.org page on Concerto
- Rochester Philharmonic Concert Notes on the Concerto
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