Topic: Prokofiev's Paddy Wagon

[karlhenning]

Sergi drove the narrow country roads of France like a maniac.

When in Rome . . . .

[Lady Chatterley]

I remember.

I mean: I know.  I wasn't there, so I couldn't remember, not like that 

 I disremember what ballet he was working on at the time ,Three oranges,perhaps,the accident forced him into his chair for weeks so he finished the ballet in record time.

[Danny]

Lady, you drive straight to the heart of the matter! 

He wore those tiny, odd looking spectacles...............art for art's sake, I guess.

[pjme]

Listened to fragments from Ivan - Eisenstein. Muti conducting .

[Maciek]

Forgot to mention another one of my favorites: the ballet Shut’ (The Buffoon)

Maciek

[karlhenning]

Chout is good fun, Maciek!

[Catison]

Forgot to mention another one of my favorites: the ballet Shut’ (The Buffoon)

Maciek

Have you heard the recent complete ballet performance from Jurowski?  It's marvelous!

[Maciek]

No, just an old Melodya CD.

[karlhenning]

Brett's right, Maciek, I think you'll very much like the Jurowski!

[Maciek]

It's the CPO one, isn't it? I'm adding it to my wishlist then!

[karlhenning]

It's the CPO one, isn't it?

Yes, indeed.

[m_gigena]

My favorites of Prokofiev:

3rd piano Concerto (Argerich, Abbado)
(...)
The 8th piano Sonata (Gilels)

I second you in the Argerich selection. There's no better Prok 3 than hers. Watching her live doing this work is a must for everyone who claims to be a Prokofiev lover (Even if she is playing with a cheap mid-range orchestra, as was my case a couple of years ago).

But for the 8th sonata my votes go for the unstopable and out-of-control Gavrilov. Followed by some live Richter one of the fellow GMG members shared in the past.

[BachQ]

I second you in the Argerich selection. There's no better Prok 3 than hers. Watching her live doing this work is a must for everyone who claims to be a Prokofiev lover (Even if she is playing with a cheap mid-range orchestra, as was my case a couple of years ago).

As to modern recordings, Argerich is indeed excellent; but as to less recent recordings, Byron Janis and Sergei Prokofiev ( ) offer stellar interpretations. 

[greg]

I could try to list my favorite Prokofiev works, but that list would go on forever, even clips from his lesser know works like Chout make my mouth water.
The only two works, to this day, that I really don't care about much even after listening to many times, are the last 2 piano concertos. The 6th symphony is also questionable, but it might change over time. This is saying a lot since I have a pretty big Prokofiev collection   

one day, i'll get them all............

[m_gigena]

As to modern recordings, Argerich is indeed excellent; but as to less recent recordings, Byron Janis and Sergei Prokofiev ( ) offer stellar interpretations. 

I also like Kapell very much. And there's one with Mitropoulos conducting from the piano I enjoy too.

[karlhenning]

It is one of the more poignant might-have-beens in music, that Shostakovich never set the words of Akhmatova (though he did pay tribute to her, by setting a poem about her, in the Tsvetayeva cycle).

Prokofiev set five early poems of Akhmatova in 1916, for his Opus 27, which is to say, from a period when neither had yet had occasion to run afoul of the cultural upheavals which would characterize the Soviet Union in after years.

Prokofiev’s songs are charmingly simple in presentation, delightful in their accompaniment.  Alas, the set is brief enough, that it simply makes the listener eager for more.

[Maciek]

I don't think I know any Prokofiev songs. Will have to rectify that!

[karlhenning]

You might start with The Ugly Duckling, Opus 18, Maciek!

[Maciek]

The title alone makes me want to have it, Karl!

[greg]

You might start with The Ugly Duckling, Opus 18, Maciek!

That must've been embarassing for him, when his old girlfriend wrote the lyrics and the main character described Prokofiev exactly.