Alexandra Silocea

Prokofiev: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1-5

Prokofiev:

• Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 1

• Piano Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 14

• Piano Sonata No. 3 in A minor, Op. 28

• Piano Sonata No. 4 in C minor, Op. 29

• Piano Sonata No. 5 in C major (Version 2), Op. 135

Performed by Alexandra Silocea

As a result of my being a radio broadcaster at a classical music show, I have come to learn, appreciate, and respect a whole lot more of 20th century and contemporary music. And Prokofiev has become one of my great favorites.

On this CD we have the young Rumanian pianist Alexandra Silocea who offers the first five Piano Sonatas of Prokofiev. This 26-year-old pianist was trained in Vienna and Paris, and she now lives in the UK. In 2003, while studying at Vienna University for Music and Performing Arts, she was awarded the Herbert von Karajan Scholarship, the latest in a string of prizes from competitions throughout Europe. Alexandra made her professional debut in 2008 with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. Recital debuts followed in 2009 at the Musikverein in Vienna, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in New York, and le Salon de Musique in Paris.

I like her performances of these sonatas. I am a great fan of Prokofiev’s percussiveness, and she executes these well. If I were to offer suggestions, I’d love more excursions toward real pianissimos, and overall dynamics changes.

Alexandra says: “This debut recording serves as a journey through my own musical path. The aim of recording Prokofiev’s first five piano sonatas together was to show all the facets of Prokofiev’s musical personality, from Op. 1 to Op. 138, which is the revised version of Sonata No. 5, one of the last works he completed before his death in 1953. Each Sonata is so different, so original, with such care for detail that whenever I play or listen to this music it’s a revelation.”

Here is a podcast of Gramophone Online’s Editor-in-Chief James Jolly as he talks to composer John Rutter about the new recording of his music on Naxos records. He also talks to pianist Alexandra Silocea about her first disc of Prokofiev Piano sonatas.

Tags: Alexandra Silocea, Prokofiev piano sonatas