Sergei Prokofiev set about composing his Piano Concerto No. 1 in D-flat major, Op. 10 in 1911 and finished it in 1912. A one-movement concerto, it is the shortest of his five complete piano concertos, lasting only around a quarter of an hour.
The concerto can be divided into three sections as follows:
The first and last sections have a clear thematic relationship, as the concerto begins and ends with the same spacious D-flat major theme. The middle section (G-sharp minor) is darker but hardly less glorious than the other two, its climax abysmal rather than overbearing.
Prokofiev dedicated his first piano concerto to the "dreaded Tcherepnin".[1]
The concerto was first performed in Moscow on 25 July/7 August 1912, with the composer as soloist and Konstantin Saradzhev conducting. Prokofiev later wrote that Saradzhev "realized splendidly all my tempos".[2][3]
Prokofiev won the Anton Rubinstein Prize for his pianistic accomplishments in a performance of the work before the Saint Petersburg Conservatory on 18 May 1914.[4]
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