Vladimir Krainev and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra - Prokofiev Piano Concertos Nos. 1-5

Genuine classical fans forgive me, I still have no idea how to genuinely review non-programmatic orchestral music. What am I supposed to say about the mix? The tones? The rhythmic choices? I don’t know on this one, all I can really say is “it’s pretty good”. This is a double CD I picked up at the Scotti’s Records forced-out-of-business-by-a-greedy-landlord sale. The back panel of the CD booklet is upside-down. At least the design is clean, I do love color-and-white woodblock-style aesthetics.

The Concertos are not simply performed in chronological order. On the first disc, we start with the nimble and comparatively melodic Concerto no. 1 in D-flat major, where Prokofiev was at his showiest. We then transition hard into the Concerto no. 4 in B-flat major for the left hand, where the playing is necessarily less flashy. To support the limited capabilities of one-armed commissioner Paul Wittgenstein, the tempos are slower, and the mood much more reflective and complex. It isn’t atonal, but it does builds drama through convolution and refuses easy melodic resolution. The third movement is practically gritted-toothed in its unhappy brightness.

The second disc starts with the Concerto no. 2 in G minor, one of the most technically demanding pieces in the classical piano repertoire. Its massive leaps and ceaseless trills challenge Krainev, but he’s able to put them to emotional use rather than treat them as a technical exercise. I think that the brooding darkness and the focus on melody in the brass section makes this, somewhat paradoxically, the most approachable of the five concertos as well. The Concerto no. 3 is probably the most “Russian” of the five. I hear echoes of Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov in here, refracted through the lens of post-Revolutionary, pre-Stalin Russia.

Listening to this like I would a rock record is nonsensical. Based on the simple interior booklet, this isn’t intended to be a program straight through, but a representative cross-section of Prokofiev’s evolution. Of course, I did it anyway. This album did make me turn the volume on my stereo a lot more than the other CDs I’ll talk about today. The dynamic range is used to full effect by conductor Dmitrij Kitaenko. All the things I love about early 20th century classical music are here. It’s weird. It’s slippery. It’s on the edge of noise if you’re not paying attention, but once you find the internal logic of the piece, it becomes something wonderful. Not always attractive, never conventional, not even beautiful necessarily. But it always provokes wonderment. I will listen to this again in the future - but never again in one sitting.

Prokofiev Piano Concertos Nos. 1-5 by Vladimir Krainev and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra is a good album, and I like it.