Prokofiev: Symphonies Nos. 1­2 &Dreams, Op. 6Audio CDNaxos

Buy now from Amazon

Current Issue

Next Issue

Listen to AudioSamples

Subscribers,Enter the

Fanfare ArchiveSubscribers,Renew YourSubscription

OnlineSubscribe to

FanfareMagazine &

Fanfare ArchiveSpecial Offers:

Web­onlyaccess to the

Fanfare Archive$9.99/1 month,$39.99/1 year

Marin Alsop: PROKOFIEVSymphonies Nos. 1 and 2... onNAXOSClassical Reviews ­ Composers & WorksFriday, 10 April 2015

PROKOFIEV Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2. Dreams op. 6 • Marin Alsop,cond; São Paulo SO • NAXOS 8.573353 (56:54)

Since 2012, the arrival of MarinAlsop as principal conductor in SãoPaulo has brought a spotlight onwhat many consider SouthAmerica’s best orchestra. She hasyet to bring out the most inspiredplaying from them—that honorbelongs to the late Frank Shipwayin a magnificent recording ofStrauss’s Alpine Symphony (BIS).But as this beautifully recordedinstallment in their ongoingProkofiev symphony cycle shows,it’s a happy musical partnership.

Alsop’s conception of the elegantly“Classical” Symphony No. 1, whichhas always reminded me not somuch of Haydn and Mozart as ofBizet’s buoyant Symphony in C, isa bit understated. There’s no attempt, as with Bernstein, say, to dazzle us, tounderline the humor, or to race along in virtuosic display. I wouldn’t want to dowithout those qualities, but this reading is more than pleasant. I particularly likedthe recording’s close perspective, which is right at the conductor’s elbow.

Next comes one of the disc’s selling points, Dreams , a nine­minute “symphonictableau” from 1910, when Prokofiev, not yet 20, was under the harmonically hazyinfluence of Scriabin. The low, rumbling opening will make you think more ofRachmaninoff’s Isle of the Dead , but both older composers specialized in surges ofcoloristic orchestral effects leading to quasi­erotic (or not so quasi) climaxes.Dreams is a rarity but not a hidden masterpiece. As an example of how fluentlyProkofiev could adopt any style he chose, it’s attractive.

The tough nut on the program is Symphony No. 2, written in Paris duringProkofiev’s two­decade stint abroad before he returned to the Soviet Unionpermanently. The year was 1924, and a disappointing stay in America had shiftedto more success in France, thanks to commissions from Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.Prokofiev was nettled that, ever since the huge success of Stravinsky’s Rite ofSpring , he himself wasn’t acknowledged as an uncompromising Modernist, so hededicated nine months to composing “music of iron and steel.” The public wasn’thappy with his Second Symphony, however, and neither was the composer, saying(disingenuously) that he got no more out of the music than the audience.

The work is in two movements—modeled, strangely enough, on Beethoven’s op.111 Piano Sonata—with screaming trumpets making a brazen statement right offthe bat but settling into a theme and variations in the long second movement thatare only intermittently daring or wild. There is much eloquence and beauty in it, and

search...

Not ToBe Missed!

Home Departments Classical Reviews Our Advertisers About Fanfare Contact Us

Advertise Here

Alsop has the measure of the score. She’s not afraid to deliver the full migraine

headache approach in the first movement, and in the quieter variations of the

second movement she conducts with poised serenity. The mood is actually

romantic some of the time; at other times we are in the spooky world of Bernard

Herrmann’s Hitchcock film scores.

I’d be happier if Alsop’s “Classical” Symphony wasn’t so middle of the road, but

she’s competing with the best—Rozhdestvensky on Melodiya and Gergiev on

Philips—in the surprisingly engaging Second Symphony, which shouldn’t be judged

by its Doberman pinscher reputation. Huntley Dent

Last Updated ( Friday, 10 April 2015 )

< Prev Next >

[ Back ]