Classical Music With Big Mike

Happy Birthday Sergei Prokofiev

On April 23, 1891, the Russian pianist, composer and conductor, Sergei Prokofiev, was born in Ukraine [at that time Russian Empire] and he died on March 5, 1953 in Moscow, Russia [Soviet Union].

From Wikipedia: Sergei Prokofiev: “A graduate of the Saint Petersburgh, Conservatory, Prokofiev initially made his name as an iconoclastic composer-pianist, achieving notoriety with a series of ferociously dissonant and virtuosic works for his instrument, including his first two piano concertos. In 1915, Prokofiev made a decisive break from the standard composer-pianist category with his orchestral Scythian Suite.”

After the Revolution of 1917, with the approval of the Soviet authorities, “resided in the United States, then Germany, then Paris, making his living as a composer, pianist and conductor.”

“Prokofiev, who regarded himself as a composer foremost, resented the time taken by touring as a pianist, and increasingly turned to the Soviet Union for commissions of new music; in 1936, he finally returned to his homeland with his family. His greatest Soviet successes included Lieutenant Kije, Peter and the Wolf, Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, Alexander Nevsky, the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, On Guard for Peace, and the Piano Sonatas 6-8.”

To honor Sergei Prokofiev on his heavenly birthday, please turn up the volume and enjoy some of this Russian’s greatest works:

Suite from Romeo and Juliet – “Montagues and Capulets”:

Lieutenant Kije Suite:

Piano Sonata #7 in B Flat Major, Movement 3, “Precipitato”:

Piano Concerto #1 in D Flat Major:

Peter and the Wolf:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY #133 SERGEI PROKOFIEV