Prokoviev Piano Concerto #2 in G minor: recommendations, please

My favorite set of Prokofiev Piano concerti is the complete set on Apex (budget Teldec reissues) by Vladimir Krainev, with Radio Symphony of Frankfurt conducted by Dmitri Kitaenko. Available very cheaply on Amazon. Fantastic performances of all 5 concertos. In my opinion better than the big "name" perfomers in these pieces. That cadenza in Concerto #2 is pretty amazing , isn't it

Fred, I suggest you also pick up Byron Janis' famous recording of the 3rd concerto on the Phillips Living Presence series. One of the all-time great concerto recordings by anyone. I saw a DVD of Janis playing this concerto and he was amazing. A shame his career was cut short by hand problems.

Ashkenazy or Beroff. If ever Arcadi Volodos records it, then Volodos. (I heard a radio broadcast of him playing it in Detroit and loved it.)

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Fred. There is an excellent new CD on DG of the Prokofieff #2 by Yundi Li and the Berlin Phil (Ozawa)--a live recording-sounds great to me, with excellent sound too. Coupling is the wonderful Ravel Concerto in G. My only complaint is they easily had enough room for either the Prokofieff #1 (very nice early work) or the Ravel Concerto for the Left Hand, either of which would have been an ideal coupling. That caveat aside, you might find this CD to be very nice.

Oooh ... Prokoviev 2 with Ravel in G ... might be hard to pass up ... two of my favorites.

Thanks for the tip.

All best,
Fred

quote:

Originally posted by Oldnslow:
Fred. There is an excellent new CD on DG of the Prokofieff #2 by Yundi Li and the Berlin Phil (Ozawa)

Thanks, it's superb.

There are so many young pianists these days with insane technique (and the Prokofiev demands insane technique ... one of the most difficult in the repertoire), but rare to find one who has deep poetry as well.

All best,
Fred