Sergei Prokofiev‘s Sinfonia Concertante in E minor is a large-scale work for cello and orchestra. Prokofiev dedicated it to Mstislav Rostropovich, who premiered it on February 18, 1952 with Sviatoslav Richter conducting (the only instance of Richter conducting). After this first performance (under the title ‘Cello Concerto No. 2′), it was revised and given its current title. It is itself a revised version of his earlier Cello Concerto, Op. 58, written in 1933–8.
On February 10, 1948 the Soviet Central Committee decided that Prokofiev should be considered a “suspect” musician. His work was disparaged as bourgeois and formalistic, and his first wife was convicted as a spy and taken to a forced-labor camp. These misfortunes and the possibility of being arrested without reason most likely affected Prokofiev’s already deteriorating health.
The work, around 40 minutes long, is in three movements:
- Andante (11 minutes)
- Allegro (18 minutes)
- Andante con moto – Allegretto – Allegro marcato (11 minutes)
This work inspired Dmitri Shostakovich to write his Cello Concerto No. 1, also dedicated to Rostropovich.
PERFORMANCE DATE:
Saturday, May 8, 2010