Type: Classical Music
Location: The Moscow Conservatory Great Hall
Orchestra: The Mariinsky Orchestra
Conductor: Valery Gergiev
Soloist: Denis Matsuev
Composer: Sergei Prokofiev
Program: The Scythian Suite; Piano Concerto No. 3
Year: 2012

The 2nd concert of the “Absolute Prokofiev” cycle plunges into the composer’s most uncompromising early style with the visceral Scythian Suite and edgy Piano Concerto No. 3. Here we encounter Sergei Prokofiev at his most daring and theatrical: the Scythian Suite, originally conceived for a ballet, evokes a primitive world with pounding rhythms, blazing orchestral color, and striking dissonance, reflecting the early 20th-century fascination with raw energy. Prokofiev is pushing against tradition.