Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 4 in B major for the left hand, Op. 53, was commissioned by the one-armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein and completed in 1931.
Background Prokofiev noted the work's commission in his diary entry on 18 June 1930. "A proposal from the one-armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein to write him a concerto for the left hand. At first this seemed a ridiculous notion, but if the fee is decent, it should not take me too long."Sergei Prokofiev. Dnevnik: 1919-1933 (Diary, 1919-1933), Paris: SPRKV (2002), p. 776 In his autobiography Prokofiev noted Wittgenstein's reaction to the piece on receiving it: "Thank you for the concerto, but I do not understand a single note and I shall not play it".Prokofiev. Soviet Diary (1927), p. 293
It was the only one of Prokofiev's complete piano concertos that never saw a performance during his lifetime. It was eventually premiered in Berlin on 5 September 1956 by Siegfried Rapp and the West Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Martin Rich. The United States premiere was in 1958, by Rudolf Serkin and the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy. The British premiere was in 1961, by Malcolm Binns.'Malcolm Binns: a 90th Birthday Tribute', APR 7405 (2026), reviewed at MusicWeb International, 4 February 2026
Prokofiev expressed some interest in making an arrangement for piano two-hands and orchestra, but never went through with this idea.
Music The work is scored for solo piano (left hand), 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 1 trumpet, 1 trombone, bass drum and strings.
The four movements last around 25 minutes:
The concerto features neoclassical thematic material and is orchestrated in a Classical style.
The outer movements serve in a way as prelude and postlude, with the middle two comprising the bulk of the concerto. The Vivace is in rondo form, wih the Classical scales and arpeggios of the refrain contrasted with modernistic episodes.Rita McAllister, Christina Guillaumier: Rethinking Prokofiev (2020), p. 326 The Andante is reflective and makes rhetorical use of the strings, expanding with Romantic grandness. The remarkable third movement in modified sonata form, punctured and playful — some have said “sarcastic” — offers arresting, emphatic dialogs between the piano and the percussion section; it is marked Moderato and to be effective must be played strictly as such: not the least bit hurried. The final Vivace ends abruptly, with the piano running up pianissimo to a high B7.
Recordings Pianist Orchestra Conductor Record Company Year of Recording Format Siegfried Rapp Loh-Orchester Sondershausen (Orchester Der Deutsch-sowietischen Freundschaft) Gerhart Wiesenhutter ETERNA 1962 LPJohn BrowningBoston Symphony OrchestraErich LeinsdorfRCA Victor1968LP Vladimir Ashkenazy London Symphony Orchestra André Previn Decca 1975 LP Kun-Woo Paik Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra Antoni Wit Naxos 1991 CD Boris Berman Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Neeme Järvi Chandos 1989 CD Michel Beroff Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra Kurt Masur EMI 1974 LP Abdel Rahman El Bacha Théâtre de la Monnaie Orchestra Kazushi Ono Fuga Libera 2004 CD Nikolai Demidenko London Philharmonic Orchestra Alexander Lazarev Hyperion 1998 CD Gabriel Tacchino Orchestra of Radio Luxembourg Louis de Froment Vox Records 1977 LP Gabriel Tacchino Orchestra of Radio Luxembourg Louis de Froment Vox Records 2003 CD Leon Fleisher Boston Symphony Orchestra Seiji Ozawa Sony Classical 1992 CD Vladimir Krainev Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra Dmitri Kitajenko Atlantic/Teldec 1993 CD Alexander Toradze Kirov Theatre Orchestra Valery Gergiev Philips 1995,1996,1997 CD Viktoria Postnikova USSR Ministry of Culture State Symphony Orchestra Gennadi Rozhdestvensky Moscow Studio Archives 1983 CD Yefim Bronfman Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Zubin Mehta Sony Classical 1993 CD Jean-Efflam Bavouzet BBC Philharmonic Gianandrea Noseda Chandos 2012 CD Alexei Volodin St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra Valery Gergiev Mariinsky 2012 CD Rudolf Serkin Philadelphia Orchestra Eugene Ormandy CBS 1963 CD Malcolm Binns BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Norman Del Mar APR 1962 (2026) CD
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