let's start with saying that the physical excitement is huge!
in fact, there are certain passages in this piece that are written more or less with this very physical excitement in mind - Olli Mustonen said wisely in an interview about Prokofiev that it's all so very acrobatic and elegant. In certain cases, it means that Prokofiev even writes things in a way (ie having the hands cross, etc) that could be done in a more "practical" way (and in a few cases I've opted for more practical solutions), but in some cases there is a loss of excitement if you re-arrange things he wrote. Hope this makes sense. That's the first important thing. The second thing to consider is that the piano literally has pause for perhaps 12-20 bars per movement or so, the rest of the time you're busy trying to hit all of the notes at the right time. There are few moments to breathe and relax, and even in lyrical and slow passages there's always the issue of being together with the orchestra or 2nd piano - not always that easy, my pianist did a great job. Out of the other concerti you mentioned I've only played Rach 2. It's just a completely different piece of music, I guess, that's all. Prokofiev 3rd is just plain fun and a pure joy to play from the first to the very last bar. But Prok is probably more physically draining - I still felt tired two hours after this performance, the whole ending of the 3rd movement is such a knockout...
