Despite being a piano virtuoso, even Prokofiev would have had a challenging time performing all five of his piano concertos in three days. Yet Russian-German pianist Igor Levit will endeavor to do precisely that at the helm of the Budapest Festival Orchestra. In addition to a different concerto each night, the program will also feature different symphonies, allowing audiences at the three performances to enjoy an additional two symphonies, an overture and two suites, all from the oeuvre of the same composer. The incredible undertaking will kick off with Prokofiev’s first and last piano concerto and his Symphony No. 5. The pieces, which have left critics at a loss, were in fact created in part to allow the composer to show off his technical skill, but are also about much more than simply virtuosity: they are characterized by quality, depth and layeredness. Just as Levit’s performances are, according to critics.

“This will be my first time playing with an orchestra,” Prokofiev wrote in connection with the 1912 premiere of his Piano concerto No. 1. The work, which the composer said was his “first more or less mature composition,” is full of virtuoso sections. It was dedicated to Alexander Tcherepnin, whom Prokofiev had to thank for his knowledge of classical composers. The single-movement piece, which may be divided into three parts, begins with soaring romantic melodies which quickly give way to a playful world of fast-paced staccatos. Next, a dreamy, almost melancholic slow part follows with a hint of jazz, before a zig-zag of a chase signifies the nearing of the finale.

“I did not intend it to be too difficult, but it turned out to be rather complex, like most of my works during this period.” Prokofiev had this to say of his final piano concerto, a work he originally intended to title Music for piano and orchestra. The composer’s first ideas revolved around crossover melodies racing around the keyboard and chords chasing one another; the final piece, completed in 1932, turned out to be a five-movement challenge overflowing with melodies. The energetic overture, softened with a lyrical clarinet melody, gives way to a grotesque march with glissandos. The breathtaking main toccata, characterized by a wild tempo, is followed by the deep and lyrical slow movement of the piece, incorporating a tense middle part; finally, the piece closes with a finale which is threatening, funny, ethereal and vibrant all at the same time.

With the end of World War 2 drawing near, the USSR’s regime was convinced of its victory, and expected artists to share its optimism. Though claiming in an official statement that his Symphony No. 5, composed in just one month in 1944, was intended as “a hymn to (Man’s) mighty powers”, it is full of musical citations that suggest otherwise. Spotlighting the wind instruments, the macabre style scherzo following the moderately-paced opening movement features motifs from his Cinderella, while the dream-like slow movement quotes the nostalgic style of his Romeo and Juliet. The piece concludes with an iconic finale, heading towards victory but ultimately drowning in manic madness.

Did you know? Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 1 premiered in Moscow on July 25, 1912, with the composer performing the solo and Konstantin Saradzhev conducting; Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 5 premiered in Berlin on October 30, 1932, with the composer performing the solo and Wilhelm Furtwängler conducting; Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 was first performed in Moscow on January 13, 1945, with the composer conducting; the Budapest Festival Orchestra most recently performed Piano Concerto No. 1 on June 30, 2015 in São Paulo (soloist: Alexander Toradze, conductor: Iván Fischer); Piano Concerto No. 5 was most recently on the BFO’s program on April 18, 2010 (soloist: Garrick Ohlsson, conductor: Peter Oundjian); the BFO most recently performed Symphony No. 5 in New York on February 18, 2016 (conductor: Fischer Iván).

Contemporary events: On January 1, 1912, the Republic of China was established, with Sun Yat-sen as its first interim president / Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung published his book The Transformations and symbolisms of the libido in 1912 / Daphnis et Chloé, a ballet by French composer Maurice Ravel, premiered in Paris on June 8, 1912 / French painter Fernand Léger painted his painting The Woman in Blue in 1912 / The novel Brave New World by English writer Aldous Huxley was published in 1932 / In Soviet Ukraine, the Holodomor, the organized starvation of the peasantry, began in 1932, claiming millions of victims / German philosopher and psychiatrist Karl Jaspers’ Philosophy was published in 1932 / Animal Farm, the political satire by English writer George Orwell, was published in 1945 / String Quartet No. 2, by English composer Benjamin Britten, premiered in London on November 21, 1945 / The Open Society and Its Enemies by Karl Popper, an English-Jewish philosopher of Austrian origin, first appeared in 1945