Prokofiev Plays Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No 3 (1932) Coppola

Serge Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, 1. Andante – Allegro (00:07) 2. Tema con variazioni (08:31) 3. Allegro, ma non troppo (16:17) Serge Prokofiev, pianist Pierro Coppola, conductor The London Symphony Orchestra Recorded on June 27/28, 1932 Abbey Road Studio 1, London Although Serge Prokofiev was one of the most distinguished composer-pianists of his time, he is best remembered for his work as a composer. The fact that he actually seemed to resent the idea of pursuing a career as a pianist, which kept him away from composing did not help, either. His pianistic reputation in the West was even further reduced by the ill-fortune that the Great Depression and his own efforts in Opera composition had on a critical time in his career. This cost him the kind of fame as a pianist that others, like Rachmaninov, would enjoy. In spite of these factors, Prokofiev’s abilities as a pianist were exceptionally good. Had he actually sought a concert career, he certainly could have achieved it. The present recording is the only large-scale studio effort that he ever made on the instrument, and it is well-worth hearing. The Third Piano Concerto is one of his greatest masterpieces, and remains one of the 20th Century’s most important works in the form. It is fortunate that Prokofiev left us this performance, which is also a testament to his great talent as a pianist. It is equally fortunate that the decision was made to bring in Coppola for this session, because it demanded a seasoned conductor with studio experience to record this “new music“. It has often been commented that his recorded performance is the fastest to be found anywhere. This is a fairly typical practice for composers with their own music. One reason may be that the score is the “Composer’s Own“ statement, and the approaches they take in performance tend to be conservative. We always suspected a high fidelity recording was in here somewhere, but nobody, including us, had been able to find it until now. In the early years of electrical recording piano and orchestra were extremely difficult to execute. Microphone and mixing techniques were in the earliest stages of development, and studios were challenged with the task of trying create a working balance between the dynamics of the piano and ensemble. Of course we are dealing with Abbey Road where the standards were high and the engineering was world class. In this instance the effort was to push the limits of what the technology could do, but they also pushed the limits of acoustic alignment within the limitations of the microphone. Bringing the room to heal was an epic task in restoration because of the fact that every square foot of Studio 1 was utilized. In order to control this the engineers appeared to use the “safest“ rollover possible. It took a lot of analysis to figure all of this out because the readings were a little deceptive as a result of the way the acoustics were being used with the early standard. They were literally re-writing the book here and using their newest tool; Abbey Road Studio 1, which was a marvel in acoustic design, to achieve it. At this time in recording history, a courier would be standing by to rush the finished sides to the mastering lab. If we listen a few minutes into the third movement we can hear the studio courier, who had probably just returned from making a delivery, knocking on the studio door and gaining admittance. At that time it was still felt that sounds like that would not register on the finished track. By 1935 studios had come to realize that electrical recording picked up everything; and the red “Recording - Do Not Knock or Enter When Light Is On“ sign became a standard fixture at all studio doors. Digital transfer (1991): Mark Obert-Thorn Sonic and Full Acoustic Restoration (2023): Paul Howard - The Yucaipa Studio In order for our posts to remain commercial-free, we do not monetize on this channel. If you wish to offer support for this kind of music and sound, you may make a donation to: