Prokofiev's Paddy Wagon

[amw]

Symphony-Concerto I guess. I keep waiting for the day when I'll get tired of the piece as everyone else seems to be, and it's been a decade, and hasn't come yet >_>

Part of it I guess is just all the aspects of the piece that harmonise with or seem to describe my own personality as well. I feel like, dude, you know when you take a hit of some real good #$*@, and you feel, like, all connected to everything, like, that's me and that piece, dude
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but anyway it's particularly the second movement, with its obsessive bursts of activity and then that beautiful aspirational melody that gets progressively weakened throughout the movement until disappearing completely, and this whole doom-laden atmosphere, that I find super relatable. Also love the ending, with those ridiculous high harmonics and then this great big bass drum thwack that cuts everything off like a 500 ton anvil dropping. Conductors who minimise the percussion here will forever be my enemies.
[audio]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/32084883/Sergei%20Prokofiev%20-%20Sinfonia%20concertante%20op.%20125%20-%20III.%20Andante%20con%20moto.mp3[/audio]

I like the Sonata No. 8 answer as a second choice, but my preference would actually be 6. (It was the first Prokofiev piano work I heard and I thought it dreadfully ugly and barbarous, especially the outer movements. Turns out that yes, it kind of is, that's the point >_>) I like 8, but don't particularly like the resumption of the Vivace busywork in the finale after the central 3/4 section and its collapse into darkness—would have preferred a slow, elegiac coda to follow that instead and am always disappointed. But he might not have felt able to do that under Stalin even if he wanted to.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

I like the Sonata No. 8 answer as a second choice, but my preference would actually be 6. (It was the first Prokofiev piano work I heard and I thought it dreadfully ugly and barbarous, especially the outer movements. Turns out that yes, it kind of is, that's the point >_>)

The 6th sonata is a fine work, too. I almost picked it instead of the 8th.

I like 8, but don't particularly like the resumption of the Vivace busywork in the finale after the central 3/4 section and its collapse into darkness—would have preferred a slow, elegiac coda to follow that instead and am always disappointed. But he might not have felt able to do that under Stalin even if he wanted to.

That's an interesting take but to me what you're describing sounds more like Schnittke, or Pettersson, than Prokofiev. Prokofiev isn't exactly wired that way (plus during the war Stalin wasn't the ball-buster he was previously, and later became, so I wouldn't say that factors in, here). 

To me the Vivace works great, and it's right in line with Prokofiev's musical language: it's used as a type of musical mood-buster (in the form of razor-wire, here, offset against the gloom, but it can turn up as the lyrical as well, offset against whatever) which often is surgically placed pretty much wherever in the music. But the effect is never arbitrary. The intent seems to be to keep the entirety of a piece in equilibrium, never weighted too much in one direction or the other.

They're his "mood-busting counterbalances". They roam...they lurk...they jolt...they're discord. But never are they less than comforting. To me this his signature move and it's what gives his music a timeless, distinctive sound. It keeps me on my toes, if nothing else!
 

[Mirror Image]

That's an interesting take but to me what you're describing sounds more like Schnittke, or Pettersson, than Prokofiev. Prokofiev isn't exactly wired that way (plus during the war Stalin wasn't the ball-buster he was previously, and later became, so I wouldn't say that factors in, here). 

To me the Vivace works great, and it's right in line with Prokofiev's musical language: it's used as a type of musical mood-buster (in the form of razor-wire, here, offset against the gloom, but it can turn up as the lyrical as well, offset against whatever) which often is surgically placed pretty much wherever in the music. But the effect is never arbitrary. The intent seems to be to keep the entirety of a piece in equilibrium, never weighted too much in one direction or the other.

They're his "mood-busting counterbalances". They roam...they lurk...they jolt...they're discord. But never are they less than comforting. To me this his signature move and it gives his music a timeless, distinctive sound. It keeps me on my toes, if nothing else!

An interesting take on Prokofiev. I would say I wouldn't want Prokofiev any other way. He doesn't really subscribe to the same kind of methodologies as Shostakovich, Weinberg, and Schnittke. He comes from a completely different side of the street altogether. The almost unpredictable nature of these signature turn-of-phrases are all a part of his style. In many ways, his music is like a jack-in-the-box. On one hand, it's sturdy and made of good materials, so it's not 'going anywhere' or will break anytime soon, but, on the other hand, the musical proceedings (the unpredictability when turning the crank) are so often a surprise and take listeners in unexpected directions that it keeps you on your toes indeed.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

An interesting take on Prokofiev. I would say I wouldn't want Prokofiev any other way. He doesn't really subscribe to the same kind of methodologies as Shostakovich, Weinberg, and Schnittke. He comes from a completely different side of the street altogether. The almost unpredictable nature of these signature turn-of-phrases are all a part of his style. In many ways, his music is like a jack-in-the-box. On one hand, it's sturdy and made of good materials, so it's not 'going anywhere' or will break anytime soon, but, on the other hand, the musical proceedings (the unpredictability when turning the crank) are so often a surprise and take listeners in unexpected directions that it keeps you on your toes indeed.

100% agreement!

[TheGSMoeller]

Alexander Nevsky is a great choice, Greg. Is the Dutoit/Montreal still your favorite performance?

Still love Dutoit/Montreal, but wouldn't want to part ways with Gergiev/Kirov and Termikanov/St Petersburg right now.

[Mirror Image]

Still love Dutoit/Montreal, but wouldn't want to part ways with Gergiev/Kirov and Termikanov/St Petersburg right now.

Gergiev/Kirov and Previn/LSO remain my personal benchmarks.

[vandermolen]

I prefer Temirkanov's version of the original score to the Cantata put together by Prokofiev. I also consider that 'Ivan the Terrible' (although never constructed into an independent work by Prokofiev) is a far greater work:
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[Scion7]

He doesn't really subscribe to the same kind of methodologies as ... Schnittke.

Thank GOD!  There's only so much room for tow-motor noise in this world.   

[TheGSMoeller]

I prefer Temirkanov's version of the original score to the Cantata put together by Prokofiev. I also consider that 'Ivan the Terrible' (although never constructed into an independent work by Prokofiev) is a far greater work:
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Ivan the Terrible is fantastic, I agree. Polyansky/Russian State SO have a great 2-disc performance of the incidental music.

[vandermolen]

Ivan the Terrible is fantastic, I agree. Polyansky/Russian State SO have a great 2-disc performance of the incidental music.

I think that I have every recording of 'Ivan the Terrible' in its different versions and that is a very fine one as is Muti's premiere recording with its melodramatic narration:
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[TheGSMoeller]

I think that I have every recording of 'Ivan the Terrible' in its different versions and that is a very fine one as is Muti's premiere recording with its melodramatic narration:
[asin]B000005GUY[/asin]

Ohhhh, I don't think I've heard that version. I may need get my hands on that one. Thanks!!

[Mirror Image]

Has anyone heard the Victoria Postnikova/Rozhdestvensky PC cycle on the Moscow Studio Archives label? I'm finishing up their performance of Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16 right now and quite impressed by it. As good as my other favorite: Krainev/Kitajenko on Teldec.

[lescamil]

I just gave a listen to Postnikova's first movement of the second concerto and it had some of the oddest phrasing I have heard. Doesn't quite have the full bodied approach it requires, either, at least to my pianist sensibilities. If anything, I admired the way Rozhdestvensky brought out certain lines in the orchestra, such as the clarinet tremolandi in the orchestral interludes.

[Mirror Image]

Postnikova did have some odd phrasing here and there, but that's what I enjoyed about it. It goes outside the more standard notions I have of the work and puts everything into a different perspective. Agreed about Rozhdestvensky. The guy knows his Prokofiev that's for sure.

[Karl Henning]

Grooving afresh to the Sonata for violin solo, Op.115.

[TheGSMoeller]

Grooving afresh to the Sonata for violin solo, Op.115.

Stay groovy, my friend.

[vandermolen]

Ohhhh, I don't think I've heard that version. I may need get my hands on that one. Thanks!!

You can pick it up for under £3.00 on Amazon UK:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Prokofiev-Ivan-Terrible-Muti/dp/B000005GUY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1469741738&sr=8-2&keywords=Prokofiev+Muti

[TheGSMoeller]

Since we've been on the discussion of Nevsky lately, I was wondering if anyone has heard the Nevsky recording By Strobel/Berlin Radio SO? This performance uses the complete film score with its original orchestrations, whereas Yuri Temirkanov/St Petersburg used a version that was orchestrated by David Brohm that resembled the orchestration of the cantata.
I would say if you're a fan of the music (and honestly who isn't?  ) then you should seek it out, even if for a listen or two. It's very different in its tone and scale when compared to the cantata, very thin and smaller sounding, but it's still the great melodies and colorful musical depictions that Prokofiev created for Eisenstein's film.  I was a little jarred when I first listened, but this was the composer's original vision for the music, and it's quite thrilling to hear. The recording quality is clear, and very close up giving it an intimate feeling.

[Karl Henning]

I've been falling in love all over again with Стальной скок (Le pas d'acier).

[ritter]

I've been falling in love all over again with Стальной скок (Le pas d'acier).

Understandable! I just got to know this ballet some months ago, and was very impressed!!