The first movement of Prokofiev’s 2^nd Piano Concerto is an extremely powerful and moving piece of music. A great source of this power comes from the dramatic and emotionally moving solo piano part. It takes full responsibility, unaccompanied by the orchestra, for the development of all the music’s ideas. Alone, it explores them, works through them and ultimately brings them towards a towering arch of sound that involves the whole orchestra entering very suddenly and playing very loudly. The contrast between the piano part’s lonely struggles and the overwhelmingly powerful wave of sound created by the orchestra’s entrance creates one of the most emotionally moving and memorable climaxes in all music.

The spectacle of not just hearing but also seeing one exposed person struggling with music of complex symphonic proportions is in itself compelling, and it is made even more so when the story behind the concerto’s composition is known. Prokofiev wrote this music whilst grieving for the loss of a close friend and when listening to it one can sense Prokofiev giving himself the personal space to struggle with his feelings of grief. Feelings of grief that, once fully worked through, can be exorcised within one climactic, almost generative moment.

Such an approach does not have to be limited to feelings of grief. When we are faced with any difficult problem or situation sometimes the best thing we can do is give ourselves time to think about and work through it alone. It is only when we have had such personal time to reflect that we can put our thoughts, views and ideas in order, so enhancing the contributions we can make to our team’s or group’s problem solving endeavours.

If you want your group’s problem solving to be successful one of the first things you need to do is allow yourself and others some time to struggle alone with the problems at hand. This way people will have more to contribute when they come together to share their thoughts, creating a gradual crescendo of ideas that will eventually build towards a successful climax of innovative solutions.

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