DESCRIPTION:
S. Prokofiev : "Suggestion Diabolique" op. 4 no. 4 (Chiu).
Early in the 20th century, an aspiring 17-year-old composer named Sergei Prokofiev wrote a collection of primal, abrasive piano pieces that defied the lush, romantic inclinations of Russian classical music of the time. One of these compositions was a 3-minute piece called "Suggestion Diabolique". When Prokofiev performed this composition at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1909, he was denounced as an "extreme leftist", and a "bad boy of Russian music" (this wasn't meant as a backhanded compliment, like in the Russell Crowe sense). Since then, however, "Suggestion Diabolique" has come to be regarded as a piano masterpiece, a foil for concert pianists everywhere.