Sergei Prokofiev did not manage to compose more than a few bars of his Piano Concerto No. 6 (Op. 134, sometimes Op. 133) before his death in 1953, so it is impossible to reconstruct the underlying musical ideas and complete it.[citation needed]
The work is unusual in that it is scored for two pianos and a string orchestra. The other five of Prokofiev's piano concertos are written for solo piano (one for left hand alone) and more or less standard orchestration.[citation needed]
Ron Weidberg's "Concerto for Two Pianos and String Orchestra after Drafts by S. Prokofiev", written in 2005-07 was the first attempt to complete the work by means of orchestrating the drafts, filling the gaps between the existing sketches and continuing the original ideas through the work's conclusion.[1] The Concerto was commissioned by the Silver–Garburg Piano Duo. The completed three movement work was premiered on 2012 in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem by the Silver-Garburg Piano Duo and the Tel Aviv Soloists Orchestra conducted by Barak Tal.
In 2014, Norbert Palej (then assistant professor of composition at the University of Toronto) completed a version of the concerto with the assistance of Prokofiev's grandson Gabriel Prokofiev.[2] It was premiered on 27 February 2016 at the Louisiana State University School of Music at the Symposium on Prokofiev and the Russian Tradition.[3][4] Pianists Michael Gurt and Gregory Sioles served as the soloists.[3][4] This version was noted for its extensive and at times erratic use of the marimba and cymbals.[citation needed]
References
edit- ^ Berman, Boris (2020). The Five Piano Concertos, in McAllister, Rita, Guillaumier, Christina , Rethinking Prokofiev. USA: Oxford University Press. p. 332.
- ^ Judd, Bob (2014). "Symposium on Prokofiev and the Russian Tradition – Call for Papers". American Musicological Society. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
- ^ a b Louisiana State University, School of Music (2016). "Prokofiev Symposium". Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University, School of Music. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
- ^ a b Bazayev, Inessa (July 2018). "Introduction: Prokofiev at 125". Music Theory Online. 24 (2). Retrieved 13 June 2019.