<\/p>
Prokofiev<\/a>\u2019s five piano concertos present a significant span from his career. He performed his First Concerto (composed 1911) as a final year student in 1914, winning the St Petersburg Conservatoire\u2019s \u2018battle of the pianos\u2019.<\/p> In the early 1930s his style was fully mature when he composed the still underestimated Fourth and Fifth concertos, their new depth of feeling anticipating such masterpieces as Romeo and Juliet<\/em>\u2004and the Sixth Symphony.<\/p> Many performers and listeners have been attracted to his brilliantly orchestrated Third Concerto. The challenge of recording all five works, though, has stretched many pianists; not one complete set does justice to all five works, but there\u2019s at least one which gives an engaging performance of four, with a moving account of one of Prokofiev<\/a>\u2019s most beautiful slow movements.<\/p> <\/p> Michel B\u00e9roff\u2019s superb technique and intelligent approach to all he performs are qualities too easily taken for granted. Since this recording of 1974, so many dazzlingly performed and digitally recorded cycles have been released which offer apparently tempting alternatives.<\/p> Listening critically to all these recordings, though, quickly reveals how detailed and yet consistently far-reaching B\u00e9roff\u2019s interpretations are. Kurt Masur and his Leipzig musicians match him, in the first four concertos at least, with some of the most beautiful orchestral playing.<\/p> B\u00e9roff (right) is equally convincing in the light-hearted First Concerto and the nightmarish Second: in the latter work he pays heed to Prokofiev\u2019s narrante (in a declamatory style) instruction, and plays with a carefree quality which makes the descent into hell all the more pointed.<\/p> For the Fourth, written for the left-handed Paul Wittgenstein, B\u00e9roff\u2019s bantering tone reveals its rarely heard charm even before we reach the lyrical slow movement. After all this superlative playing, it\u2019s disappointing to find Masur unstirred by the Fifth\u2019s pugilistic manner, missing the third movement\u2019s con fuoco (with fire); but both he and B\u00e9roff capture the beauty of the slow movement\u2019s rain-bedewed pastoral.<\/p> Overall, the set\u2019s greatest strength is how it illuminates Prokofiev<\/a>\u2019s sensibility beyond brilliant virtuosity.<\/p>The best recording \u2013 Michel B\u00e9roff<\/strong><\/h2>