19 Jun 2021

PROKOFIEV: Sinfonia Concertante

From Music Alive, 8:00 pm on 19 June 2021

'I chose to learn this concerto because Prokofiev's music speaks strongly to me and I was drawn to it after I heard it the first time' ~ Hyein Kim

Finalists concerto competition April Ju (Christchurch), Hyein Kim (Auckland) and Catherine Kwak (Auckland)

Hyein Kim Photo: Supplied

Sergei Prokofiev's Sinfonia Concertante is a large-scale work for cello and orchestra. Prokofiev dedicated it to Mstislav Rostropovich, who premièred it on 18 February 1952, with Sviatoslav Richter conducting.

The virtuosic concerto was written and revised mostly in 1950 and 1951, a period when Prokofiev was in declining health and out of favour with the Soviet authorities. It is one of his final completed works and has three movements.

This work inspired Dmitri Shostakovich to write his Cello Concerto No 1, which is also dedicated to Rostropovich.

  • National Concerto Competition - finally!
  • Recorded at the National Concerto Competition 19 June 2021 in James Hay Theatre, Christchurch by RNZ Concert

    Producer/sound engineer: Darryl Stack

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