Prokofiev Sinfonia Concertante in e minor, Op. 125 (Han-na Chang)

This work, also known as the Symphony-Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, is a reworking of Prokofiev's Cello Concerto in e minor, Op. 58 (1933 - 1938). The story behind Prokofiev's decision to recast the piece is fairly well known: in 1947, he heard the young cello virtuoso Mstislav Rostropovich play the e minor concerto, a work the composer and the general public was dissatisfied with, and he told Rostropovich that he would revise it for him.
The first movement, marked Andante, opens with a rhythmic motif over which the cello introduces the lyrical, dark main theme. Despite the lack of a conventional buildup or climax, further attractive thematic material develops in the same subdued and melancholy vein.
The second movement, marked Allegro giusto, is the one of the longest movements Prokofiev ever wrote, lasting around 18 minutes in most performances. It has three themes, the first (10:34) driving and busy, the second (11:43) sarcastic and lively, and the last (12:59) a soaring Romantic creation of great beauty. In this lengthy movement the satirical, grotesque music so strongly identified with Prokofiev's youth struggles to find a place with his distinctive Russian lyricism. There is also a challenging, lengthy cadenza (16:15) situated in the middle part of the movement.
The finale (Andante con moto) begins with a somber theme on the cello which soon turns heroic when the tempo increases and a muted trumpet plays it. Several variations follow, and then a playful, sort of drunken theme (30:04) appears to provide much color and humor in the brief middle section. The ending is pure excitement as the cello turns frenzied in repeating an insistent rhythmic figure, after which the brasses take up the sarcastic theme from the second movement (36:04) in a thrilling buildup that reaches its climax as the cello rises to its highest registers.
The Sinfonia Concertante was premiered by Rostropovich, with Sviatoslav Richter conducting (this is the only instance of Richter conducting). The technical difficulties of this work are so great that, for some solo passages, Prokofiev provides alternate, less challenging music. For a long time, the piece was considered unplayable. Although most cellists are able to play it today, it is still widely viewed as one of the most difficult pieces in the standard cello repertoire.
0:00 - Andante
10:03 - Allegro giusto
26:49 - Andante con moto - Allegretto - Allegro marcato

[@mojeo522]

Every day that I discover something new about Prokofiev, it never disappointed me.

[@Bampaloudu64]

I'm absolutely fond of his music too. However there is one piece I don't appreciate, which is the first Piano Concerto. The second movement is wonderful, but I can't appreciate the rest.

[@greghudon4696]

I I've been there with prokofiev. He is so A Live.

[@1972Diogenes]

I just cannot imagine somebody playing this piece any better. These are downright stellar performances of everybody involved. The cello-playing is divine. I thought I knew this piece. I didn't. Never heard it sparkle like this.

[@nathanrock9269]

Ha na Chang is on par with rostapovich :D

[@kevinmelendez1460]

@@nathanrock9269 for me personally, this is better than any of Rostropovich’s recordings.

[@nathanrock9269]

@@kevinmelendez1460 ikkkkr , she’s really good , it’s probably bc her teacher was taught by rostopovich/danill shafran or at some point by the legend him self

[@zackwyvern2582]

Rostropovich is great, but there's something special about Chang's recording. The improvements are two-fold - she seems to have uncovered some greater understanding of many parts of the work, as well as applied her incredible technique to enabling other parts that were understood but not easily executed. This is especially clear in the second movement.

[@pierrebeaumont4135]

couldnt agree more

[@RyanDubHd]

35:35 harmonies in this finale are so powerful

[@Gozoman24]

It says in the description "...Although most cellists are able to play it today..." HA! I'm a professional and this piece is so freaking hard!

[@cendresdutemps6279]

IKR I read that and I actually laughed. This piece is an absolute beast

[@musisavante6036]

Check out my Symphonic Poem,, Inspired by Prokofiev, Hope you will like it kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKXKgKOcis6lipY

[@freemanmoser2829]

My friend was going to play this piece for his college auditions but was told not to by his teacher, as its gained the reputation of being so difficult, by coming into a college audition with it, it says you’ve played everything else already, which sends the wrong message. What a crazy difficult piece. Prokofiev struck the balance between beautiful yet punishingly difficult better than even Paganini in my opinion with this work

[@jackminto7062]

Same here, I'm a pro and I won't be able to b play this for at least 50 years!

[@potrelviewer9536]

You call this piece "hard"? Penderecki's concertos are way harder than this!!

[@Baton793]

22:00 at this point it just becomes a glissando yet still executed perfectly... bravo

[@radudeATL]

There goes Prokofiev being Prokofiev again... #brilliant

[@matthewsonnenberg303]

So love Prokofiev's music! Wondrous! Thank you ever so much for posting!

[@christianvennemann9008]

That A major 7 chord at 36:30 is so satisfying to me.

[@aramkhachaturian8043]

So delicous

[@CaradhrasAiguo49]

28:35 sounds like a brass instrument with that pizzicato, well-done cellist Chang!

[@karlovisttimes8271]

Prokofiev being GREAT as always.

[@jelanisurpriscomposer]

This is the best recording of this piece wow!

[@zounai8387]

7:54 my favourite, so cool harmonies

[@christianvennemann9008]

*Patrick voice:* Yeah, E minor! All right!

[@paulfreeman4900]

E major only exists in the eye of the beholder

[@nathanrock9269]

@@paulfreeman4900 :0

[@ho-sekim3930]

What does this mean

[@christianvennemann9008]

@@ho-sekim3930 SpongeBob reference.

[@ho-sekim3930]

@@christianvennemann9008 I finally understand now. Thank you.

[@indioduran4535]

25:12 DSCH motif in celli e bassi!!!

[@stueystuey1962]

not gonna lie, always like this piece

[@musisavante6036]

hello everyone, I want to share with you my Symphonic Poem, Inspired by Prokofiev s Music, I hope you will enjoy it kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKXKgKOcis6lipY

[@Itsnikowhy]

My most favorite performance !

[@itamarbar9580]

7:07 that high B is perfect!

[@msruag]

i cannot it's literally off the fingerboard

[@user-ms6fp4uj5m]

Prokofiev would really like this performance.

[@FattyChuna]

the entire middle section of the scherzo is just so gorgeous, my god. the pastoral air of it gives me Till Eulenspiegel vibes almost. 13:24 and on just gives me chills every time

[@FattyChuna]

11:43 must be where John Williams got the inspiration for the second section of Hedwig's theme right?

[@patrickrealdeal]

What a masterwork this is and what a performance. Prokofiev music is incredible I hope it will be played more and more in the future

[@steveegallo3384]

Brilliant! BRAVO from Acapulco!

[@dabonem5317]

21:38 Cello concerto or Violin concerto?😧

[@nathanrock9269]

Ha na Chang is amazing

[@musiceveryday3665]

My friend is playing this piece and He is really sad and depressed

[@samuelyao3811]

wtf lol

[@gearyg5649]

Samuel Yao seen your comments from 7 months ago on this piece...must really like it too:)

[@samuelyao3811]

@@gearyg5649 Geary G do you have any other pieces that has the same style as prokofiev sinfornia and shostakovich cello concertos, i just cant find any, oh also shostakovich string quartet 8. if theres any that came to ur mind, tell me about it!

[@gearyg5649]

Samuel Yao hmm well I’m a pianist so I’m not too enriched in cello repertoire...maybe the prok piano concertos 2 and 3, his fifth symphony, rachmaninoff symphonies 2 and 3 and the symphonic dances. Bartok music for strings percussion etc and the concerto for orchestra are good too:)

[@fyrexianoff]

@@samuelyao3811 Symphonies by Revol Bunin, Lev Knipper, Tsintsadze violin and cello concertos, symphonic works by nikolai peiko, string quartets by Alexander Mosolov, Roslavets, Levitin, Peiko, Lyatoshynsky Symphonies and geez ... uff i cant remember more but there are so much more actually. You can find some in my channel =)

[@tonylu5593]

13:24 goosebumps

[@micahtruesdell7197]

16:15 and the solo part after is amazing

[@samuelyao3811]

cadenza baby

[@samuelyao3811]

i love this cellist's cadenza a lot

[@calebhu6383]

35:29

[@qkayaman]

I don't know if it's the coffee, but hearing this I got so excited I started having heart palpitations. This is intense!

[@butuska]

First movement reminds me of 'Juilette seule' from his R&J ballet

[@user-ho3tm1zc2d]

crazy music

[@aramkhachaturian8043]

This piece is so hard I can play parts of it on my violin.

[@nathanrock9269]

Lmao it’s still probably hard on violin still

[@KarimAlhvarado]

Pensé que solo yo hacia eso jejejejejeje😂😂😂😂😂

[@KarimAlhvarado]

​@@nathanrock9269 en violín si hay partes tocables 😅😅

[@KarimAlhvarado]

Tal como el partir del compas 15 del min 5:20

[@christianvennemann9008]

35:29 to the end is simply glorious.

[@pierrebeaumont4135]

bravooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@slateflash]

The best version of this piece. But i still prefer the original cello concerto version

[@iriuss9455]

광고제거: 36:45 2악장: 10:02

[@ultimawerewolfbluephoenix9670]

Now i wanna learn Cello

[@nathanrock9269]

Yes you should , as a cellist , seeing improvement in your own playing is one of the most rewarding thing ever , being able to nail a piece that in the beginning you couldn’t , it’s a amazing feeling.

[@juliav8159]

This piece makes me wish I played cello instead of viola.

[@andrewohler2902]

Hey! But violist get to play lots of cello transcriptions. You can maybe transcribe it :D

[@kevinvargas2763]

33:25

[@user-vx9bv9es3x]

Life!!!

[@aramkhachaturian8043]

35:25 This is where the fun begins

[@colefortier]

7:58 :))

[@arnekorpen3143]

11:56 R.I.P trumpet player

[@gearyg5649]

Is this on the same caliber as rach piano concerto 3 but for cellists I’m difficulty?

[@espirited4848]

It's really difficult to compare concertos of different instruments to eachother, but it's well accepted that this is easily in the top 3 hardest cello pieces in technique and interpretation. I know that probably isn't the answer you wanted, but it's kinda as close as you can get without being impartial. But as someone who has played this piece, maybe think even a bit harder in my opinion than rach 3.

[@gearyg5649]

Espirited oh I get what you mean, as a pianist it’s difficult for me to identify what’s technically challenging for the cello. Is the second movement the most difficult in this piece? The first seems lyrically challenging as well but I’m not sure lol.

[@flatmars7072]

@@gearyg5649 this double stop stuff, the speed, the super high registers, the smooth transitions between low and high registers, and overall how clean this sounds is beyond difficult. I'd say about 95% of cellists won't play this in their lifetime, and like 0.1% will play it this well. Basically just take the cadenza and it's a culmination of how hard this piece is

[@user-fm3bh6io9e]

10:04

[@phoebedraper3046]

10:53 wow

[@vishnuhalikere2151]

Ikr!! My favorite part is 10:56

[@aramkhachaturian8043]

16:45 uhhh left hand pizz? On a cello?!?!?!?!?! And then tenths afterwords? Ouchy my fingers hurt from looking at this

[@realnigga19]

no one said it would be easy!

[@qfcbv]

i think that's actually one of the easier parts (*internal screaming*) because the cello's strings are fifths apart, so long distances are easier than on the piano. the left hand pizzes open strings so it's easier than one would expect, but still difficult.

[@jiaxuli1013]

19:25 Is that Peter and wolf ????

[@qfcbv]

there's also a shostakovich dsch reference as pointed out by another comment this piece is an easter egg gold mine lol

[@russelabban3197]

2: 13

[@annelysecombitsis7553]

Where did you get this piano and cello score 😀 I cannot find it

[@cjoduse95]

7:07 😮

[@julincheung8748]

25:12 DSCH

[@glebnasekin3372]

Nach dem Tode Gustav Mahlers hat die Seele der Musik beschlossen gen Osten zu fliegen.

[@romerogalvanrafael089]

7:54 !!!!

[@Roititouan]

7:00 People : Prokofiev, the cello is not a violin Prokofiev : What?

[@samuelyao3811]

22:03

[@samuelyao3811]

a year ago!

[@samuelyao3811]

3 months ago!

[@nathanrock9269]

@@samuelyao3811 4 months ago?

[@samuelyao3811]

@@nathanrock9269 11 months ago

[@nathanrock9269]

@@samuelyao3811 Thanks for the correction :D

[@batteryshower4714]

I can't wait to bang to this music

[@potrelviewer9536]

Technically it could be played on horn; just lower some passages, simplify some chords (maybe use multiphonics), and voilà!

[@malkin_laboratory4692]

Что то здесь есть от Шостаковича, хотя Прокофьев совершенно другой.

[@lovettboston]

Yes, a difference in where the composers are coming from, as in St. Petersburg and Donetsk. Babel (from Odessa) also noted the north-south difference of sensibility, though I could also differentiate between Prokofiev the chess player and Shostakovich the football fan. I will admit that, especially in the tempo and drive of the 1st movement, the recording is closer to Rostropovich with Kondrashin than to his versions with Sargent and Rozhdestvensky. I usually listen to this piece on recordings by Rostropovich, so I think of his versions as authoritative, but I'm extremely impressed with Chang's level of execution and engagement--even if there are times when I'm not altogether convinced it's totally in character. It's certainly better than the performance I heard live a couple of years ago in St. Petersburg--when the audience showed more enthusiasm for next piece on the same program--the Serenade by Leonard Bernstein. I went to the same high school as Bernstein (in Boston), but I felt few reservations about Russian musicians getting the character right.

[@tennisteuton]

The only way to play this piece is with a masterful performance. Anything less will fail. All or nothing.

[@jiaxuli1013]

22:00

[@_rstcm]

I like how from 35:30 Prokofiev forgot to include the key signature in the score. 😂😂😂😂

[@Asperibra.]

You mean time signeture?

[@vKarl71]

Shostakovich had an ambivalent relationship with Prokofiev but said he thought this was an excellent piece.

[@user-qp9nu8jt8v]

12:13

[@user-qp9nu8jt8v]

15:50

[@user-qp9nu8jt8v]

18:10

[@user-qp9nu8jt8v]

25:46

[@marinavoronova4579]

Who play?

[@marinavoronova4579]

Thanks) i like it

[@arturzmijewski4185]

An advertisement in the middle of Symhony ..? - What a lack of good taste ...

[@WEEBLLOM]

kid

[@russelabban4828]

2:08 6:58 10:02 10:48 11:23 12:19 13:52 15:50 16:30 21:15 24:49 26:12 27:52 33:24

[@kunalex4236]

The poor accompanist

[@user-qp9nu8jt8v]

I’m 14 year old and I’m going to work on the second movement.....WTF!!!!!!!?????

[@homogingerus2253]

I’m 2 and I just learned the entire piece, just in time for a bath and story time!

[@kevinmelendez1460]

@@user-qp9nu8jt8v do you not understand that it’s a joke?

[@user-qp9nu8jt8v]

@Nathan Rock great 😊😊

[@_rstcm]

@@homogingerus2253 u did it out of fear from getting EmOtIoNaL DaAmEj from ur very Asian parents, right?

[@cjames0723]

Lol. "Most" cellists can certainly not play this. Only the best can make passable attempts on a technical level. And only the very few best of the best can actually deliver a true performance of the music.

[@stevehinnenkamp5625]

A bit too formal with only allowed Soviet journey by the soloist. Sounds regimented and of no emotion al appeal

[@orb3796]

"Soviet music sucks, i swear guys!! its bad!!" copium

[@arsene2169]

26:48

[@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji]

22:27

[@samuelyao3811]

33:25

[@grandmothers8041]

11:40 23:03