All five Prokofiev piano concertos in one concert – it’s a feat conductor Valery Gergiev achieved in 2012 at the Mariinsky and now brings to the Proms, along with three of his original pianists.

It’s a rare opportunity to hear three international soloists back-to-back, to compare styles and approaches, as well as to explore the composer’s later, lesser-known concertos with their newly expressive tenderness.

Daniil Trifonov, the prodigious young winner of the Tchaikovsky and Chopin competitions, shares the bill with his teacher Sergei Babayan, while Alexei Volodin tackles the rarely heard Fourth, commissioned, like Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand (Prom 36), by the one-armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein.

Prokofiev
Piano Concerto No. 1 in D flat major * 16’

Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor † 30’

interval

Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major * 27’

interval

Piano Concerto No. 4 in B flat major ‡ 25’

Piano Concerto No. 5 in G major † 23’

† Sergei Babayan piano

‡ Alexei Volodin piano

London Symphony Orchestra
Valery Gergiev conductor