John Cambre wrote:

>I'm not so sure I would dismiss SSPs 1st Violin Concerto as so lightweight.
>The 2nd is a lighter piece in comparison, but I find the first one to be
>quite strong.

It never entered my mind that Prokofiev Op.  19 is "lightweight"--it's an
absolutely characteristic piece of its time for him and a masterpiece of
lyricism, sardonic wit and orchestral legerdemain...

I heard another objection to it after conducting a performance in 1995
with the outstanding young emigre violinist Dmitri Berlinski, as part of
an all-Russian program [Prokofiev "War and Peace" overture, concerto,
intermission, Kallinikov Symphony No.  1].

An audience member "of a certain age" confronted me at the post concert
reception and pointedly informed me how much she had enjoyed "the second
half of the concert".  Unable to resist this bait, I enquired what she had
disliked about the two Prokofiev works and she told me that she found them
 [especially the Violin Concerto] harsh, ugly, discordant, and so forth.  I
suggested that Prokofiev was one of the great lyricists of the 20th
century, and that Op.  19 was one of his most moving achievements in this
respect....we agreed to disagree, ultimately...

However, I worked hard to restrain myself and not to suggest that the
work [written in 1917, hence approximately 88 years old at the time] was
deserving of more respect--it was, after all, at least a decade older than
she was!

Esprit d'escalier in reverse, I suppose....I do try to behave....

Joel Lazar