Sergey Prokofiev’s father managed an estate, and his mother was a well-educated woman with a fondness for the arts. He began to learn the piano with his mother at the age of four and before he was ten had been to see many operas in St Petersburg. On a visit to Moscow in 1902 Taneyev suggested to Prokofiev’s parents that the boy should study piano with Alexander Goldenweiser. Goldenweiser declined to teach the ten-year-old, so he went to Reinhold Gliere for studies in piano, theory and composition during the summers of 1902 and 1903. When Alexander Glazunov, director of the St Petersburg Conservatory, heard the twelve-year-old boy play, he encouraged Prokofiev’s parents to let him enter the Conservatory. After passing the entrance examinations in 1904 he studied with Anatole Liadov and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, graduating in composition in 1909; but as his compositions were not enthusiastically received, he decided to concentrate on the piano and began to study with the eminent teacher Annette Essipov (1851–1914). He graduated in piano in 1914 winning the first prize by playing his own Piano Concerto No. 1 in D flat Op. 10.

In 1908 Prokofiev met some organisers of the Evenings of Contemporary Music, some of whom had links with Diaghilev. Prokofiev appeared as performer of his own works at the evenings, and first appeared before the Moscow public in 1910 playing some of his early works. Two years later he made his orchestral debut in public playing his Piano Concerto No. 1 in D flat Op. 10, first in Moscow, and then in Pavlovsk. He gave the first performance of his Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor Op. 16 in 1913 creating a sensation. An enfant terrible, Prokofiev infuriated the conservative music critics with such works.

In 1918 Prokofiev decided to travel to the United States of America. He went via Tokyo where he gave some concerts, arriving in New York in September 1918. His concerts in New York were not a success as the American public was not ready for a complete programme of piano works by Prokofiev. However, he made his debut in Canada a year later and performed with some of the major American orchestras. For the next few years Prokofiev gave concerts in the United States and Europe and in 1921 was in Brittany completing his Piano Concerto No. 3 Op. 26. He gave the premiere in Chicago with Frederick Stock in December 1921, and played it again the following month in New York under Albert Coates.

Having decided to return to Europe, Prokofiev settled in southern Germany. While based there, he gave concerts throughout Europe and also revised his Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor Op. 16. He then moved to Paris with his new wife, continuing to perform in Europe and also in America, where he gave fourteen concerts during the 1925–1926 season.

Whilst living in Europe Prokofiev had contact with the Soviet Union and in 1927 toured there for two months, playing his music in many cities including in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev and Odessa. In 1932 he acquired an apartment in Moscow, but still lived primarily in Paris, and it was not until 1936 that Prokofiev and his family finally moved to reside in the Soviet Union. A few appearances in Europe and a tour of America took place in 1938, but that was the last time Prokofiev played outside of the USSR. With his passport confiscated and the prospect of no more tours abroad, Prokofiev devoted all his time to composition. Like many Soviet composers, Prokofiev had his problems with the authorities: some of his music was banned and, far worse, his wife was arrested, accused of spying, and sent to a labour camp for twenty years. In fact, Prokofiev had been living with writer Mira Mendelson since 1941 and married her because the authorities declared his first marriage, which took place in Germany, to be invalid. His first wife, Lina Prokofiev, was released in 1956 after eight years in labour camps, and died in 1989 in London. During the 1940s Prokofiev was made an Honoured Artist of the RSFSR but his death received very little attention since it occurred on 5 March 1953, the same day as that of Stalin.

For an artist of his stature and abilities as a performer, it is unfortunate that more recordings were not made of Prokofiev; but at the time when he was available to record, it was commercial interest rather than the preservation of musical history which took priority. Prokofiev had great success with his Piano Concerto No. 3 Op. 26 and after its premiere in Chicago in 1921 he played it the following year in New York, Paris and London. Of the performance in London a critic wrote, ‘Music entered the room with Mr Prokofiev. His concerto is of absorbing interest all through. The pianoforte part is practically continuous, and is a real orchestral part, not concertante; the interesting thing about it is that the orchestral tone qualities are used with great adroitness to emphasize and give zest to the tone qualities of the piano, seldom to contrast with it.’ Prokofiev returned to London in April 1932 to perform this concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Henry Wood at Queen’s Hall. Two months later he recorded the work at HMV’s Abbey Road Studios with the London Symphony Orchestra and Piero Coppola. It is an excellent recording displaying all the facets the critic of The Times noted in his performance ten years earlier. The composer’s rhythmic drive and energy is readily apparent, and it is easy to see how he scored such a success with this work wherever he performed it.

Prokofiev’s only other commercial recordings were made by HMV in Paris in February and March of 1935 over four recording sessions. No doubt again for commercial reasons, he recorded a group of his more popular piano solos including extracts from his Visions Fugitives Op. 22, the Gavotte from his Classical Symphony Op. 25, the Andante assai from his Piano Sonata No. 4 Op. 29 and his exciting Suggestion Diabolique Op. 4 No. 4. In a work like the Etude Op. 52, Prokofiev’s style of playing can be heard to be not percussive, but a model of clarity, precision and finesse, coupled with a suavity and musicianship. As one critic who heard him wrote, ‘We must honestly confess we never understood Mr Prokofiev’s music until he played it himself.’ In every recording he gives an exemplary performance of his work and although his complete commercial recorded output can be contained on one compact disc, it is possible that radio recordings of Prokofiev playing more of his works, including the later piano sonatas, survive in Russia.

© Naxos Rights International Ltd. — Jonathan Summers (A–Z of Pianists, Naxos 8.558107–10).