|
Post by karlhenning on Mar 2, 2014 20:37:47 GMT -5
My other listening obsession these past couple of weeks has been revisiting the Prokofiev symphonies, and the exquisite ballet L'enfant prodigue.
I am sure I cannot be the only Prokofiev enthusiast here. Can I?
Cheers, ~Karl
|
|
|
Post by tom1960 on Mar 2, 2014 20:57:57 GMT -5
He-he. Ok Karl, I'll play along. While I wouldn't consider myself any sort of expert on the music of Prokofiev, this recording is one of my favs. I'm sure you already own it!
|
|
|
Post by karlhenning on Mar 3, 2014 8:39:51 GMT -5
One of the first boxes I picked up (how long ago it seems!) was a 5-CD affair of Doráti conducting a variety of 20th-c. pieces. (In fact, one reason I learnt of that box, I was looking for Gunther Schuller's Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee . . . and Doráti's is a rare recording of it.) And your Prokofiev disc is in that box . . . hm, it's a while since I listened to it . . . I should rectify that . . . .
Cheers, ~Karl
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Mar 3, 2014 12:17:51 GMT -5
It's interesting that you bring up Prokofiev. I was discussing music this weekend with someone who is an avid Classical Music afficianado and they were noting that Prokofiev is the epitome of classical music humor.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Mar 3, 2014 19:55:47 GMT -5
War and Peace
Sergey Prokofiev. Opera in thirteen scenes. 1942.
Libretto by the composer and Mira Mendelson, after the novel by Tolstoy.
First complete staged performance at the Bolshoy Theatre, Moscow, on 15th December 1959. At the estate of Count Rostov, Prince Andrey Bolkonsky, a widower, realises, in the beauty of the evening and the innocent beauty of the Count's daughter Natasha, that life still promises happiness. Natasha meets Prince Andrey at a ball in St Petersburg, to his happiness, but his father insists that he spend a year abroad and the behaviour of Andrey's father is intimidating. Natasha, meanwhile, is the object of affection of Prince Anatol, brother-in-law of Pierre Bezhukov, who plans to elope with her. The plot is divulged and foiled at the last minute, allowing Pierre to tell Natasha of his own feelings for her, were he free. The second part of the opera concerns war rather than peace, with the battle of Borodino. Pierre is an observer, but Andrey is wounded. Moscow is destroyed, in pursuit of the scorched earth policy that defeated Napoleon. Andrey, evacuated with the other wounded, dies in the presence of Natasha, who has found him again. Pierre has been taken prisoner by the French, but is rescued, as the opera draws to its patriotic close.
Prokofiev's opera, conditioned by the war-time circumstances in which it was written, is of epic proportions, calling for a large cast and spectacular effects. There is a concert suite from the work, including music from the ball scenes, the tranquil beauty of a May night, a snow-storm, battle and victory.
|
|
|
Post by karlhenning on Mar 4, 2014 7:41:08 GMT -5
Thanks for the reminder! I have the opera both in the Mariinsky/Gergiev audio recording (to which I may have listened once), and on DVD (which I have watched, once) . . . it is a magnificent work which I keep meaning to get to know better (get to know better, so that I can offer more intelligent comment ). And face it: Prokofiev & Tolstoy (like Tchaikovsky & Pushkin before) is a killer cultural combination!
It is one of Prokofiev's tragedies, that he never saw this staged complete (and IIRC, even the partial staging he saw, was not a public performance . . . I need to dust off a book or two), so it was essentially a project to which he devoted a significant chunk of his life, but never enjoyed its fruit, as it were, himself. But the result is (and I use the word advisedly) spectacular.
Cheers, ~Karl
|
|
|
Post by karlhenning on Mar 4, 2014 7:42:27 GMT -5
(Of course, I am also staggered at the thought that the whole opera is a single vid on YouTube . . . .)
Cheers, ~Karl
|
|
|
Post by karlhenning on Mar 4, 2014 7:46:06 GMT -5
Jim, if I were to name a single Prokofiev piece which, if you do not yet know it, you should run not walk &c., that piece is the f minor Violin Sonata, Op.80:
Cheers, ~Karl
|
|