Prokofiev's Paddy Wagon

[Ken B]

Wow. The MTT was going on Azon at 3.99 shipped free with Prime! So I snarfed it.

[TheGSMoeller]

Wow. The MTT was going on Azon at 3.99 shipped free with Prime! So I snarfed it.

Good snarf.

[TheGSMoeller]

I will back up Monkey Greg's nomination of the Ozawa/BSO recording but I've currently been enjoying Previn's on EMI:

Is that complete, John?
I have some Previn conducting Prokofiev discs that are very good, especially the Sym.6 and Scythian Suite with the LA Phil. This R&J one might interest me.

[Mirror Image]

Is that complete, John?
I have some Previn conducting Prokofiev discs that are very good, especially the Sym.6 and Scythian Suite with the LA Phil. This R&J one might interest me.

Yep, it's complete. He also has recorded Cinderella that's worth looking into as well.

[Ken B]

Yep, it's complete. He also has recorded Cinderella that's worth looking into as well.

I bought that earlier tonight.

[Mirror Image]

I bought that earlier tonight.

Sweet. Enjoy!

[Dancing Divertimentian]

I have no R&J. Not even a suite or a waltz. Bupkis. So which R&J recordings are excellent ones?

I third the Ozawa, and put forth Gergiev:



[asin]B000051YDI[/asin]

[snyprrr]

I liked Violin Concerto No.2 for the first time last night- such a sunny walk in the park with a slight breeze. I have Sitkovetsky. Who do you like? Mintz, anyone? Lin?

[Mirror Image]

I liked Violin Concerto No.2 for the first time last night- such a sunny walk in the park with a slight breeze. I have Sitkovetsky. Who do you like? Mintz, anyone? Lin?

Lin and Shaham are two picks. And, yes, a very nice work.

[Karl Henning]

I agree that Sitkovetysky is good here, and glad that you have warmed to the piece's virtues!

Sarge will suggest Chung (and I still need to revisit that recording).  Heifetz/BSO/Munch remain a warm contender.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Sarge will suggest Chung

Me, too. Along with Mullova in the second concerto.

[snyprrr]

And, yes, a very nice work.

I have forgotten the Bartok VCs. But I'm not sure re-discovering this Prokofiev is making me want to go there. There's enough angst already, and this Prokofiev No.2 is just the most Positive concerto from the general period I've heard Zippy-dee-doo-dah music! I don't even want to hear No.1! (on the same disc)

I had, also, a negative approach to Martinu's dramatic VC2, but Isabella Faust's recording set me back.

I mean, don't tell me there's a VC from the mid-century crowd that I'm not at least acquainted with? Right now, the Bartok are the only (and Britten) I don't have in at least... I really enjoyed the Malipiero... Milhaud, eh... I mean, what else is there? So, I take it as quite a (re)discovery this Prokofiev. (I needed a cheerful Masterpiece)

And now I have Repin and Vengerov coming to compare with Sitkovetsky (I'm thinking the latter will comes off sounding the most feminine by comparison). I guess Mullova has the same pairing?

Let me just state that I do not believe that the Prokofiev and the DSCH belong together on a recital. The Prokofiev belongs more with something like the Myaskovsky or Khatchaturian, and the Shosty belongs more with... Schnittke? The Nordics? Maybe Prokofiev's 3rd VC would have been more of a DSCHian affair? I'd program Prokofiev VC1 with Shosty PC2, but not VC1.

EZPZ

[Ken B]

I have forgotten the Bartok VCs. But I'm not sure re-discovering this Prokofiev is making me want to go there. There's enough angst already, and this Prokofiev No.2 is just the most Positive concerto from the general period I've heard Zippy-dee-doo-dah music! I don't even want to hear No.1! (on the same disc)

I had, also, a negative approach to Martinu's dramatic VC2, but Isabella Faust's recording set me back.

I mean, don't tell me there's a VC from the mid-century crowd that I'm not at least acquainted with? Right now, the Bartok are the only (and Britten) I don't have in at least... I really enjoyed the Malipiero... Milhaud, eh... I mean, what else is there? So, I take it as quite a (re)discovery this Prokofiev. (I needed a cheerful Masterpiece)

And now I have Repin and Vengerov coming to compare with Sitkovetsky (I'm thinking the latter will comes off sounding the most feminine by comparison). I guess Mullova has the same pairing?

Let me just state that I do not believe that the Prokofiev and the DSCH belong together on a recital. The Prokofiev belongs more with something like the Myaskovsky or Khatchaturian, and the Shosty belongs more with... Schnittke? The Nordics? Maybe Prokofiev's 3rd VC would have been more of a DSCHian affair? I'd program Prokofiev VC1 with Shosty PC2, but not VC1.

EZPZ

Piston.

[Sergeant Rock]

I mean, don't tell me there's a VC from the mid-century crowd that I'm not at least acquainted with? Right now, the Bartok are the only (and Britten) I don't have in at least... I really enjoyed the Malipiero... Milhaud, eh... I mean, what else is there?

Piston.

Havergal Brian (1935), Dyson, Diamond, Korngold, Bo Linde, Martinu, Martin, Miaskovsky, Atterberg, Vaughan Williams.

Sarge

[not edward]

Havergal Brian (1935), Dyson, Diamond, Korngold, Bo Linde, Martinu, Martin, Miaskovsky, Atterberg, Vaughan Williams.

Sarge

I'd second many of these, and add Roberto Gerhard's (fabulous work if you ask me).

[snyprrr]

I'd second many of these, and add Roberto Gerhard's (fabulous work if you ask me).

Jolivet with Faust!


as an aside- I also check into Bartok's No.2. Now, I just know I've heard this before, and probably it didn't make an impression- but, mm, I just don't feel the burn to check it out again.

I'll have to listen to the Gerhard again, but I don't think I got that frisson...

Havergal Brian (1935), Dyson, Diamond, Korngold, Bo Linde, Martinu, Martin, Miaskovsky, Atterberg, Vaughan Williams.

Sarge

Well, I'm pretty set then- I did check out the Brian- I liked it! Reminded me a little of Malipiero's waywardness, cheery...


I think I have passed this VC stone... now, on to the piano!

[Karl Henning]

I've been listening to Slava's account of the d minor Symphony, Op.40. I think I have been grappling with it, without knowing I was grappling with it.  The first impression, is how relaxed the tempo is, compared to (say) Ozawa (let alone Leinsdorf);  and I own that that initial impression had me reckoning this symphony as (in the Slava set) a disappointment.  In the interval, I listened (rather heavily) to the disc with the two versions of the Fourth Symphony, which (in the first place) right away removed the scales from my eyes, and I no longer consider them 'second-rate' among his symphonies.  And (in the second) seems to have prepared the ground for a change of opinion on the Op.40.

So, now I've returned to the d minor Symphony.  Now, I'm not saying that it displaces either O. or L., but I am enjoying it on its own merits as an alternative reading.  And the tempo is not genuinely slow . . . the argument that this reading is Allegro ben articolato can readily be made.  And of course, Slava is masterly in the Theme & Variations.

Which, I suppose, leaves the "Classical" as the only relative 'dud' in the Slava set, a 'dud' vastly counterbalanced by the set's many virtues.

[snyprrr]

Violin Concerto No.1

Just becoming reacquainted with the first movement for, basically, the first time. Such fairy tale music in the introduction, enchanted forest, with a gentle capriciousness. Sitkovetsky and Colin Davis are very delicate yet incisive. It doesn't sound like just violin music,- the melody has some nice spunk-


So, the PCs 1-2, this VC 1,- what are some other of Prokofiev's fantastical scores of this period? Didn't he get a little conservative in the '30s? Here we still have him in the 'teens, writing (for me) surprisingly chipper music reminding me a little of Janacek? ...But it does have that Rimsky fairy tale stuff...

[Karl Henning]

Visions fugitives, buddy.

[Ken B]

Visions fugitives, buddy.

Yup.