Prokofiev's Paddy Wagon

[eyeresist]

Because of the nice cover, or are there other aspects of it you covet? Inquiring minds want to know, even if it's only a few words......I have absolutely no knowledge of this.

Well, I'm a huge fan of these symphonies

There aren't many recorded cycles in existence, so despite their reps I checked out the Amazon samples of Rostrop and Kosler. Kosler at the time was NA so I got the former, which wasn't perfect but had interesting points and some very enjoyable performances (1, 3, 6, 7, as mentioned before).

I noticed whilst comparing samples that both were slower than the norm, delving into the detail a bit more. The Third Ear guide says Kosler is slower and often brings out a lot of new detail, but perhaps consequently lacks for gumption. I am very curious to actually hear the performances for myself.

Third Ear also said Kosler brings out "thumb-to-nose atmosphere" in the 2nd symphony, and I have NO idea what that might mean. Is it something like nose-to-tail eating?

[The new erato]

wiktionary::  To place a thumb upon the tip of the nose, typically with the fingers spread and while simultaneously wiggling one's fingers, in a gesture of disrespect.

[eyeresist]

I know the gesture, but don't know how it relates to the music. Maybe Kosler will show me....

[Karl Henning]

Aye, I think that disrespect is far wide of the Second Symphony's mark.  Different as the two pieces are . . . as with the Shostakovich Fourth, the composer made a point of a show of strength after apparently 'slight' works.

[TheGSMoeller]

http://www.wfmt.com/  will be streaming live Chicago"s own Grant Park Orchestra's performance this Wednesday July 25th, of Dorman's percussion concerto Frozen in Time, and Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5

Begins at 7:30 eastern, 6:30 central with no intermission. The above link has a "listen live" button on its home page, easy to navigate, also WFMT has apps for iPhone and iPad, not sure about other mobile devices.

Hope you get a chance to listen and enjoy, them be a great group of musicians!! Plus, if you're lucky you can hear police and fire truck sirens in the background (hall is outside in downtown Chi-town)

Let me know if you need any more info or help with the site. Enjoy!

[bumtz]

Regarding piano concertos, let me add my voice in praise of Krainev / Kitayenko / RSO Frankfurt versions on Teldec. Great performances and sound! I have them as a pet of the (uneven) Warner Prokofiev mega-box.

[eyeresist]

Diverted from the Prokofiev's symphonies thread:

I'll give it a spin right now, I've become so attached to Tennstedt's recording the past few years and the sense of sadness that it portrays, that I haven't spent too much time lately with my others ( I believe I have six other recordings of his 7th), and I've become such an advocate of the slow ending, I do remember always very much enjoying Malkos third movement Andante espressivo from his 7th, it's more magical sounding than andante.

I must admit I don't care for the Tennstedt recording. It's a decent concert performance, but it sounds to me like he doesn't know the music very well (actually, a lot of his stuff sounds like this to me).

Just listened to Malko. Now listening to Kuchar.

LATER:

Well, it seems I like Kuchar's performance of 7 much more than I used to.

BTW, in mediaplayer, I've arranged this Naxos recording so that 7 comes before 3. This produces an interesting effect whereby the happy ending of the 7th is immediately smashed to smithereens by the opening of the 3rd.

[TheGSMoeller]

Diverted from the Prokofiev's symphonies thread:

I must admit I don't care for the Tennstedt recording. It's a decent concert performance, but it sounds to me like he doesn't know the music very well (actually, a lot of his stuff sounds like this to me).

Just listened to Malko. Now listening to Kuchar.

LATER:

Well, it seems I like Kuchar's performance of 7 much more than I used to.

BTW, in mediaplayer, I've arranged this Naxos recording so that 7 comes before 3. This produces an interesting effect whereby the happy ending of the 7th is immediately smashed to smithereens by the opening of the 3rd.

I would never claim that a conductor may not know the music, a fact that I wouldn't be able to produce any evidence on, but his approach is quite different than just about every other 7th I've heard so I can understand where your thought derives from.

And I'm becoming very fond of Kuchar's, looking past the audio issues I have and finding some great performances.

I like to mix up the movements so that the second movement of the "classical" is followed by the finale of the 3rd, it's the way Prokofiev intended it to be, must always end with fire! 

[Karl Henning]

(going ahead and cross-posting)

My 2¢ . . . the Second Symphony enjoyed something of an equivocal entrée, and it was quite a stretch in terms of his instrumental music.  Unlike a number of his other works, it never found its legs during the composer's lifetime.

The symphony and the ballet, Стальной скок (Le pas d'acier) came from the same period, a time of remarkable musical expansion for Prokofiev, I think.

Notably, in his efforts to repatriate to (now) the USSR, the ballet was a topical embarassment, as apparatchiki chided him for his Westernophile, fantasist view of the hardworking Soviet people.

Late in his life, no longer hale, and reeling from the formalist rigmarole of the 1948 Congress, I think the composer was apt to enjoy feelings of pride in the Opp. 40 & 41, and renewed disappointment that these scores went (apparently) nowhere.  Now, there was no way the ballet would enter Soviet musical life.  But the symphony now . . . what if he made a conciliatory effort to "rehabilitate" it? . . .

Obviously, I cannot pretend to get inside Prokofiev's head.  My unalloyed admiration for the Second Symphony disinclines me to the view that it 'needed' revision (as enjoyable as the result is in many ways, I am not sure that the Fourth Symphony 'needed' revision, either).  And as Cato indicates, the model of the Beethoven sonata was the core of the symphony's conception.  The 'plan' to revise the Second (which may have been musically no more than its inclusion in a sort of back-of-the-envelope list) strikes me as more a wistful wish that this old piece, in which he still had pride, and in whose merits he still strongly believed, might at last have an audience.

[North Star]

There's also the Fifth Piano Sonata, Op. 38, which he altered in his last year, and gave the revision a new opus number, because it was unpopular. I haven't heard the revised version, though.

[eyeresist]

Obviously, I cannot pretend to get inside Prokofiev's head.  My unalloyed admiration for the Second Symphony disinclines me to the view that it 'needed' revision (as enjoyable as the result is in many ways, I am not sure that the Fourth Symphony 'needed' revision, either).  And as Cato indicates, the model of the Beethoven sonata was the core of the symphony's conception.  The 'plan' to revise the Second (which may have been musically no more than its inclusion in a sort of back-of-the-envelope list) strikes me as more a wistful wish that this old piece, in which he still had pride, and in whose merits he still strongly believed, might at last have an audience.

Well, at least, given what happened with symphony 4 and sonata 5, you can be pretty sure he didn't plan to expunge the first version from the record. The fact that he meant to make the 2nd into three movements is intriguing, and surely indicates he meant to do more than just "conventionalise" the music. Assuming he planned to have the pre-existing music as the outer movements, what on earth was he going to put in the centre?

Alternatively (and perhaps more believably, given the times) he might have planned to add a stirring upbeat finale, a comparatively disappointing idea, but still - more Prokofiev!!!

[Cato]

Just came across this: great quality in the video!

http://www.youtube.com/v/IdtHOOxPgCo&feature=related

[Lisztianwagner]

Just came across this: great quality in the video!

http://www.youtube.com/v/IdtHOOxPgCo&feature=related

Amazing performance!

[North Star]

Amazing performance!

+1
Thanks, Cato.

Has this really been in Youtube nearly 9 months before anyone here noticed it?

[Karl Henning]

Groovy!

[Cato]

+1
Thanks, Cato.

Has this really been in Youtube nearly 9 months before anyone here noticed it?

I could not believe it either!

Of course, I do not search specifically for such things on a regular basis!   0:)

[Hattoff]

Thanks Cato,
The best performance I've heard out of the three or four that I've come across. Shivers up the spine stuff and completely original.

[lescamil]

Reviving this old thread because 2 days ago there was a performance of Prokofiev's 3rd symphony (my favorite) with Kirill Karabits conducting the Bournemouth SO. I'm only into the beginning of the 3rd movement and I'm pretty giddy about the quality of this performance. Performances of this symphony are hard enough to find, and great ones like this one are diamonds in the rough. Take a listen while you can:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01n6wsb

EDIT: And just while I'm typing this, the third movement is a bit of a letdown. The first two movements were great, though. Others may feel differently.

[Mirror Image]

Bought El Bacha's set of Prokofiev's PCs tonight. Pretty excited about hearing these performances.

[Mirror Image]

I've become quite interested in reading Prokofiev's diaries. Has anyone read these books?






There's a third, and final, volume coming out at some point.