Around the time Prokofiev was writing brash, innovative piano works like his Op. 11 Toccata (1912), Sonata No. 2, Op. 14 (1912), and the Concerto No. 2, Op. 16 (1913; reconstructed, 1923), he produced this mellow, somewhat passionate work that sounds more like late- than early-Prokofiev. Unlike his music for violin and piano, the cello always drew music of moderation from this composer, even at this "enfant-terrible" stage in his career.

In the Op. 15 Ballade, melody soars on the cello, and the piano blends in to forge rich textures and lovely, if sometimes seemingly rudderless music. The mood does not always wallow in mellowness, though: the piano indulges in some of that typically spiky, driven early-Prokofiev keyboard menace, attempting to incite the cello to engage in mischievous interplay, but to no avail. In the end, this pleasant piece must be assessed as a minor success that is very much in the spirit of Prokofiev's Op. 119 Sonata for Cello and Piano (1949).

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