Prokofiev's Paddy Wagon

[Hattoff]

It's still going, it's just slow. The chap who ran it, Sugi, became a father and lost interest in it.
Anything posted there with information that that may be relative to infringement of copyright is mysteriously and immediately acted upon, which makes posting about new finds and rarities difficult. 

[greg]

It's still going, it's just slow. The chap who ran it, Sugi, became a father and lost interest in it.

Ah, good to hear.

[Bogey]

Unearthing Prokofiev: Rare Works Get NYC Debut

Thought this may interest some of you here (wait for 10 second commercial):

http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=123493505&m=123519045

[greg]

Unearthing Prokofiev: Rare Works Get NYC Debut

Thought this may interest some of you here (wait for 10 second commercial):

http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=123493505&m=123519045

I hope they eventually come out with a recording of some of them, at the very least the original version of Trapeze. (also interested when that was actually discovered...)

[karlhenning]

Trapeze was the "proto-Opus 39," yes?

[Herman]

SO what about that book you acquired last December, Karl? Any good?

I have been listening a lot to the Cinderella music, and watching bits of the Ashton choreography.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=echtb6K4qk0

I know it's standard opinion to rate Cinderella much lower than R&J, and yet I have found myself consistently listening more to the later score, for years. Somehow it's eerie melos (it is after all a ballet about a fantasy becoming real) appeals a lot to me.

[karlhenning]

SO what about that book you acquired last December, Karl? Any good?

Very good, and rich . . . so I should soon re-read it.

I have been listening a lot to the Cinderella music, and watching bits of the Ashton choreography.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=echtb6K4qk0

I know it's standard opinion to rate Cinderella much lower than R&J, and yet I have found myself consistently listening more to the later score, for years. Somehow it's eerie melos (it is after all a ballet about a fantasy becoming real) appeals a lot to me.

I don't think that 'standard opinion' is at all fair to Cinderella, either.  The book you ask about is something of a mine of info on that ballet's genesis, too.

[greg]

Anyone into collecting rare Prokofiev CDs?

This is at the top of my list:
http://prokofiev.org/recordings/album.cfm?aid=000931

4 works I've never even heard on one CD, one that I have (i think another recording of), and one that I have heard and liked from another recording, but don't have.

Others I'd like:
http://prokofiev.org/recordings/album.cfm?aid=000495
http://prokofiev.org/recordings/album.cfm?aid=000557
http://prokofiev.org/catalog/workall.cfm?WorkID=17
http://prokofiev.org/recordings/album.cfm?aid=000596

which would be most of his works that I don't have already.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Anyone into collecting rare Prokofiev CDs?

Thanks for listing those, Greg. Definitely worth considering.

[greg]

Oh, and I also found a few links to youtube videos while going through my big list of opus numbers I have never listened to.

op.8 Autumnal Sketch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM4fTUpjh_w

op.18 The Ugly Duckling
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMPZ5tS7Fbg

op.56 Sonata for 2 Violins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svaOJs3faDY

op.58 Cello Concerto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNreRjGN3i0

op.69 "Athletic Festival March" from "Four Marches"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2piNUr-x9pk

op.74 October Cantata
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0veYI4SKGw

Some of these are pretty rare, so I'm sure most people will find something new out of these.
All I did was a search by opus number- for example, "prokofiev op.18," etc. It's possible there may be a few more rare ones out there that I haven't found.

[Cato]

Anyone into collecting rare Prokofiev CDs?

This is at the top of my list:
http://prokofiev.org/recordings/album.cfm?aid=000931

Thanks to the world-wide connections of my brother, I have this CD.

It contains They Are Seven the Chaldean exorcism      music (!     !) composed as something of a response to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.

That work just RAWKS!   

[greg]

Lucky! 

I just spent the last 20 minutes trying to find where you can even buy it... my only discovery was here:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00008DMEW/?tag=sacdinfocom-22

and of course, there aren't any in stock (not even sure how ordering from Japanese Amazon would work lol). 

It looks like it's technically possible to get recordings of all these works, though...
if I want the American Overture: http://www.amazon.com/Prokofiev-Symphonies-Classical-Suite-Oranges/dp/B0000029YZ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1268184670&sr=8-1

the Festive Poem:
http://www.amazon.com/Daniel-Pollack-Pianist-Legendary-Recordings/dp/B0000793VX/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1268184795&sr=8-2

the Meeting of the Volga and the Don:
http://www.amazon.com/Prokofiev-Symphony-Meeting-Volga-Don/dp/B00000E4SM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1268185059&sr=8-1

(almost hilariously obscure CDs) 

There really, really needs to be a complete set of his music. I bet it will happen, but it'll be 10-20 years from now. I guess he just wrote too much for any one man to conduct (although a few conductors have done very well at getting his works recorded).

[Air]

I have a copy of Rozhdestvensky's Seven, They are Seven.  The work itself is pretty terrifying - kind of like what today's screamo artists are trying to achieve.  Oh well.  I don't find the work anything more than interesting - but if y'all are too curious, just ask... 

Of the small-scale orchestral works, I like the Sinfonietta best, followed by the Symphonic Song.  Autumnal is a decent work, very interesting for Prokofiev.  I like the Overture on Hebrew Themes much better as a chamber work - indeed it sounds more distinctively cultural.  I've also heard the Russian Overture - as to be expected from SSP it is filled with great ideas, but it is quite a mess - I wonder if the American Overtures are similar?

[Dax]

Rozhdestvensky's recording of Seven they are seven is disappointing (the one coupled with The love of 3 oranges and Portaits from the Gambler), at least in comparison with the only other version I'd heard (until a couple of years back) which was an impressive live BBC version broadcast c1965. I can't remember who conducted, but Ronald Dowd was the tenor: unfortunately my copy of the recording is virtually unlistenable to. I note that when one clicks on the "Seven they are seven" link that a recording by Karel Ancerl comes up. Now that I would like to hear! I do have a copy of the score - quite a sight that is too.

[greg]

I have a copy of Rozhdestvensky's Seven, They are Seven.  The work itself is pretty terrifying - kind of like what today's screamo artists are trying to achieve.  Oh well.  I don't find the work anything more than interesting - but if y'all are too curious, just ask... 

Yeah, the piece gives me that impression, too. 

[karlhenning]

Семеро их is primo Prokofiev, no doubt!

[Dax]

?? is primo Prokofiev, no doubt!

I agree. It's considerably more than just "interesting". Unfortunately it's scale v. duration is such that only hastily prepared performances/recordings are likely - certainly this the impression given by the Rozhdestvensky account. I'd be interested to know how the recordings by Ashkenazy and Ancerl compare, if anybody can supply the information.

[greg]

Anyone have these?





Both have different covers, I guess (re-issues? who knows).

I've been listening to a little of both (2 discs of the first and several waltzes of the second) today.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

My Lucky Post #777!

I went ahead and ordered the Weller cycle, which I will pick up when I'm back in the US of A next month.

I thought about getting the Kitajenko. What swayed me toward Weller: 1. it's so cheap; 2. with a couple of exceptions, I don't think Prok's symphonies are really among his best work, so I didn't feel compelled to pay more for them.

Looking forward to it.

[greg]

I'm really considering buying this one, maybe in the upcoming months:



http://www.chandos.net/CD_Notes.asp?CNumber=CHAN%2010166

Not only do you get the only recording of the op.98 National Anthem for the Soviet Union, but also the only complete recording of the op.69 Four Marches. That'd be awesome if they had chose his work as the official Anthem... oh, wait, maybe not...