Prokofiev - Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 16

Prokofiev - Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 16

Valery Gergiev conducts the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre in a performance of Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 16. Soloist is the Russian pianist Nikolay Lugansky (*1972), who won the Silver Medal at the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition of 1994. Prokofiev started writing the Second Concerto in 1912 and finished it the next year. The initial score was destroyed in a fire related to the Russian Revolution, so Prokofiev recreated this work in 1923, two years after completing his Concerto No. 3. Consequently, he personally considered the work his "Concerto No. 4". He was the soloist in the first performance in Paris with Serge Koussevitzky conducting on May 8, 1924. Prokofiev dedicated the work to the memory of pianist Maximilian Schmidthof, the composer's colleague and friend. This performance was recorded at Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in the Russian capital Moscow as part of Prokofiev's 125th anniversary celebrations in 2013.