The Invigorating And Life-affirming Symphonies Of Sergei Prokofiev
I've been listening to a superlative four- CD set on Philips records of the seven symphonies of the great Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev (1891 -1953 ), conducted by the ubiquitous Ossetian conductor Valerry Gergiev , one of the foremost conductors the composer's music , with the London Symphony orchestra , of which he is currently chief conductor .
Prokofiev's symphonies are a highly diverse , inventive and consistently exciting group , written from his brash youth when he was a rising compositional talent to his troubled later years when he was seriously disabled by physical disabilities , such as a brain concussion , heart attacks and strokes , and composing was a trial for him . In addition to his symphonies , he produced a substantial catalogue colorful and energetic music in all genres ; solo piano works, concertos for piano, violin and cello , chamber music , songs , operas, ballet scores, film scores , miscellaneous orchestral works , cantatas and other choral works etc .
Few composers have created music of greater extpressive variety ; Prokofiev's music can be savagely dissonant or full of tender lyricism , sophisticated or folksy . There is also a great deal of wit and humor in it , playful, whimsical , ironic , or sarcastic . He is also capable of moments of tragedy and foreboding . But Prokofief's music is basically basically life-affirming and optimistic , in contrast to the dark and disturbing music of his younger contemporary Shostakovich .
The most frequently-performed of the Prokofiev symphonies are the first and fifth , and they have unfortunately overshadowed the other five in popularity , but they are holding their own in the orchestral repertoire . The first , written around the time of the Russian Revolution in 1917 , is a brief and cheerful symphony, less than 15 minutes long but in four movements known as the "Classical Symphony ". It is meant as a tribute to the sparkling, witty and elegant symphonies of Haydn and Mozart , but contains piquant harmonies you would not have expected in the 18th century . The third movement is a gavotte rather than the usual minuet .
The rarely-performed second is vastly different . It was written in the 20s, when Prokofiev was living in Paris, and in contact with other trendy avant-garde composer of the day . It contains onlyt two movement, the first in sonata from and the second a theme and variations .This work is ear-splittingly dissonant and violent ; its harmonies are so extreme it makes Stravinsky's Rite of Spring sound like Mozart ! You will probably be startled and astonished when you first hear it, as I was many years ago, but I grew to love it with repeated hearings . Prokofiev described it as a " symphony of :Iron and Steel""
The third symphony is also extremely dissonant and violent , but is based on music from Prokofiev's creepy and nightmarish opera "The Fiery Angel ", which I discussed some time ago, but was not performed until shortly after the composers death in 1953 . Unable to find an opera company willing to produce the opera , Prokofiev adapted some of the music into a four movement symphony . It captures the dark, sinister and menacing atmosphere of the weird and terrifying opera . It helps to have heard or seen the opera .
The fourth , which is unfortunately also rarely heard , and adapts music from the composer's ballet score "The Prodigal Son," based on the familiar Biblical story , which was choreographed by the famous dancer Leonid Massine . This is a more sober and gentle work , and exists in two versions, the original , and a revied one written some years larter , and which is somewhat longer . The original version is more bitingly ironic, and the later one much more lyrical and expansive . It's wonderfully melodious , and the gentle slow movement contains one of the most beautiful melodies I ever heard from any composer .
Prokofiev concentrated on other musical genres for some years until shortly before the end of the Second World War in 1945 , when he was inspired to write his powerful and heroic fifth symphony , perhaps the most popular of the seven . When the unimaginably horrific , bloody and destructive war was nearing its end, the composer was filled with optimism and declared that his new symphony was "Tribute to the greatness of mankind and the Human Spirit ".. There is mixture of brooding menace and manic energy in this four movement work . When the composer conducted the premiere in Moscow in 1945 , cannons announcing the end of the war were audible to the audience ! The end of the symphony is so hyper it will make your hair stand up on end !
The three-movement sixth is a rather dark and introverted work which was intended by the composer as a lament for the unimaginable suffering and misery caused by WW2 . It is filled with grief, but not despair , and is fiulled with angular rhthms and acrid harmonies . The finale is again rather hyper, and attempts to be more cheerful , but townards the end, there is a passage of foreboding quoting music from the earlier movements. It's almost like the musical equivalent of a panic attack . Then, the music resumes its previous lively pace and ends in what could be either humor or terror . It's difficult to tell.
The last Prokofiev symphony is predominantly gentle and even wistful . Prokofiev was seriously disabled by strokes, heart trouble and othjers ailments caused when he had a sudden heart attack in the 40s , fell down the stairs and sustained a cerebral concussion . His health was never the same , and his doctors wanted him to refrain from composing because they feared that it woiuld adversely affect his health .
Also in four movements , the seventh has some beautiful lyrical themes , and Prokofiev wrote two endings to the finale , one whoich ends quietly and the other boisterously . Some prefer the quiet ending , but the choice is up to the conductor .
There is an enormous range of recordings of these wonderful symphonies by many different eminent as less well-known , and a number of collections of all seven by one conductor and orchestra , including the recently issued Gergiev/Philips set . Among the conductors who have recorded all seven are the compser's close friend and colaborator Mstislav Rostropovich , Seiji Ozawa, Gennady Rozhdestvensky , Walter Weller, Jean Martinon , and Neeme Jarvi .
There are also individual recordings by Eugene Ormandy , Leonard Bernstein , Herbert Von Karajan, Leonard Slatkin , Serge Koussevitzky , Leopold Stokowski, and other renowned maestros . Check arkivmusic.com .