Prokofiev and Mozart: a thought while listening to Prokofiev's 2nd Violin Concerto

David Oistrakh plays this Concerto spendidly! (EMI, with the LSO). And, while listening, for some reason, Mozart came to my mind. Mozart and Prokofiev do have something in common - an extremely rare talent to compose beautiful melodies. But, while Prokofiev is for me the personification of inventivenness,  originality and genius, with Mozart I always have this unmistakable feeling of the Divine, which I don't feel with the former's music. A subjective (and therefore possibly wrong) view...

Ravel Piano Concerto: Michelangeli's miracle!

I was listening today to Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G,  in this miraculous Michelangeli’s rendering. What an extraordinarily beautiful concerto! What a harmonious combination of power, rhythmical strictness and melodic poetry!

As regards the Second Movement (Adagio Assai), I think that one would agree that rarely has music managed to express such profound and personal feelings as is the case with this movement. Michelangeli in this famous recording, achieves a musical perfection: the solo melody in the beginning of this movement is marked with such restraint emotion, an emotion, that is, which is not “outstretched” and over-the-top; the great pianist manages to control his sound and, eventually, achieves to eliminate his own presence allowing the sublime melody to speak for itself. Seldom in the recording history has such a prodigious result been achieved.

I have practiced this Concerto in the past and would love to play it at some point; I fear though that this will probably never happen. (I now remember a friend of mine who did play this work and was telling me that she was playing the Adagio Assai with tears in her eyes).

Richter on Rachmaninoff's Prelude

I often read parts of Sviatoslav Richter's diaries (from "Richter the enigma") - and whenever I do, I always find interesting things. Today, I read an entry made in 31.1.1977, about Rachmaninoff's F sharp minor Prelude - one of my favorite. I copy: "R's F sharp minor Prelude is a sombre and poetical piece. Neuhaus thought it was the best of the whole collection. In it you feel the freshness of a Russian evening beside a pond from which mist rises up. Levitanian atmosphere." 

The problem with this piece (as is the case, sadly, with many others - including the G minor prelude) is that it has "suffered" dozens of mediocre performances; I wonder if Richter himslelf has played it, I would be very interested to listen him depicting in sound the image that so beautifully describes above. 

I personally am very fond of Sokolov's live recording of the piece. It manages to set and convey the right atmosphere.