by Mike Telin
While Sergei Prokofiev’s third piano concerto receives more than its fair share of visits to the concert stage, and even his first concerto makes appearances from time to time, what about the composer’s second concerto — why does it languish in obscurity?
On Saturday, January 20 at E.J. Thomas Hall, guest conductor Daniel Hege led the first-rate Akron Symphony in a riveting performance of Prokofiev’s visceral Piano Concerto No. 2 in g, with the brilliant Gabriela Martinez as soloist. The young Venezuelan pianist was effortless in her handling of the 30-minute concerto’s technically challenging writing. But it was her instinctive music-making that made for a thrilling listening experience.
“I can look at all four symphonies of Brahms and say, ‘Oh that one is my favorite.’ Then I think, ‘No this one is,’” conductor Daniel Hege said during a recent telephone conversation. “But I have so much admiration for the Second Symphony. It has a lot of passion and emotional power all the way through, including a brilliant finish.”