Miranda Liu plays Prokofiev 1: Courage & Vision - Redwood Symphony

Sibelius’ most popular work seems to draw its thrilling energy from Finland’s craggy landscape and heroic people. Prokofiev’s first violin concerto is an amazing, even visionary work by a prodigal, rebellious 26-year-old, and a sobering reminder of the composer’s later “smoothed edges,” under Stalin’s rule. Schnittke, living in Stalinist and post-Soviet times, inhabits a musical world that is utterly outrageous, ridiculous, yet moving as well.