Prokofiev: Violin Concertos
Our Price: $57.06
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $56.17 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Composer: Sergei ProkofievConductor: Claudio Abbado
Edition: Music CD
Format: Import
CD Release Date: 1999-01-05
Music Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Soundtracks:
- Con No.1 in D, Op.19: 1. Andantino - Andante Assai
- Con No.1 in D, Op.19: 2. Scherzo: Vivacissimo
- Con No.1 in D, Op.19: 3. Moderato - Allegro Moderato - Moderato - Piu Tranquillo
- Con No.2 in g, Op.63: 1. Allegro Moderato
- Con No.2 in g, Op.63: 2. Andante Assai - Allegretto - Andante Assai
- Con No.2 in g, Op.63: 3. Allegro, Ben Marcato
- Ov On Hebrew Themes, Op.34b - Stefan Vladar
- March in B flat, Op.99 - The COE/Claudio Abbado
Music reviews of Prokofiev: Violin Concertos
Music Review: UNDEMANDING PROKOFIEV
Rating: 5 Stars
It would be interesting to know how many people who had been allowed out of the Soviet Union returned there through their own free will as Prokofiev did. There were certainly romantic dupes at the time regarding Stalin's monstrous regime, and they included not only Olaf Stapledon (who had no political nous at all) but also Bernard Shaw who should certainly have known better. However this class of wishful thinker was mainly foreign, not Russian. Prokofiev does not seem to have been particularly ideological or political, and he may simply have been homesick for Russia. His first violin concerto was premiered during his absence in Paris, and his second actually in Madrid on a concert tour from home. Both had first been conceived as smaller works, expanding under the composer's hand into full-scale concertos. The overture on Hebrew themes originated from a spell in America, and its orchestral version, together with the short march that rounds off this disc, dates from after the composer's return to his motherland.
Prokofiev complained that he had not been given encouragement to show his lyric gift, and that it therefore developed slowly. Everything has to be someone else's fault, I suppose. I like and admire Prokofiev's lyric style hugely, but if it had been of the order of Schubert's or Brahms's or Tchaikovsky's or Borodin's it would not have taken much coaxing out, nor would several bushels have been able to hide it. Nevertheless it is striking, it seems to me underivative too, and you can hear it at its best in the slow movement of the second concerto for one instance -- genuine melody without lushness. As late as 1923 the first concerto was encountering stuffy and conservative reactions from people one would have thought better of, such as Bronislav Huberman. It did not provoke any scenes as Stravinsky's Rite of Spring had done in 1911, but not only was this twelve years later, Prokofiev's concerto is nowhere near as provocative a composition and all manner of new movements in music were afoot that leave it sounding fairly traditional. It may be that Huberman and co did not tolerate anything but outright conservatism, as purveyed by Myaskovsky, from Russian composers. Certainly when Koussevitsky attempted to set up a foundation for these he encountered disparagement of Prokofiev not just in quarters where it was to be expected such as Rachmaninov and Medtner but even from Scriabin who thought himself radical enough to bring the world to an end through his unexampled musical visions. Nevertheless there is about Prokofiev a special tone that you can hear strongly in the central scherzo of the first concerto. I positively bless the liner-note writers for not using the overworked and inappropriate term 'irony' for this tone, but the expression 'astringency' gets it very well. It is distinctive, it is lively, it is bracing, and enthusiasts for this composer like it wherever we hear it, especially when it is offset by the shy lyricism that he was so defensive about.
Shlomo Mintz is an artist we don't get to hear often enough. In my collection he is represented by his excellent disc of the Mendelssohn violin sonatas, and that's been it until now. From what I can gather he does some conducting and some chamber work, but I don't come across much of either. However he's not 50 yet, so there may be hope. His playing here is exemplary, an absolute object-lesson in proficiency, quality, sensitivity to the style required and life and vigour. The balance with the orchestra seems very good to me, neither artificially far forward nor unnaturally reticent, but it's worth advising prospective buyers that the dynamic range of the recording is wide. You may feel at the quiet start of the first concerto that the volume needs boosting, only to think better of that when the brass cuts loose in the scherzo, and you will probably have to do a little management throughout for best results. Abbado's orchestra in the concertos is the mighty Chicago Symphony, and in the smaller works it is the so-called Chamber Orchestra of Europe (some chamber!), as in Abbado's fascinating set of Schubert's opera Fierrabras, which I take this opportunity of recommending to all. The concerto recordings were done in 1983, the others in 1988 if I've got that right. There are profiles of soloist and conductor, and also of the latter orchestra. For some reason there are two liner-notes, but both are sound if not startling.
How well do you like Prokofiev? I take to his music naturally, as I do to Stravinsky's and not to that of Shostakovich. The contents of this disc show the composer at his most attractive and at his most characteristic. If the disc doesn't suit you, it may simply be that the composer in general doesn't. As a piece of interpretation and presentation of the composer I would have difficulty in imagining better, and I hope it gives as much pleasure to many as it does to me.
General CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in General CDs
Andrew Johnston - One VoiceRelease date: 2008-11-18; Music CD
Best price: $8.18
Price in other shops:
Ludwig Van Beethoven (composer), Various Orchestras - Complete WorksRelease date: 2009-01-20; Music CD
Best price: $71.95
Price in other shops:
Andrea Bocelli - IncantoRelease date: 2008-11-04; Music CD
Best price: $5.95
Price in other shops:
Amore Infinito: Songs inspired by the Poetry of John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla)Release date: 2009-03-10; Music CD
Best price: $9.49
Price in other shops:
Chris Botti - ItaliaRelease date: 2007-09-25; Music CD
Best price: $8.42
Price in other shops:
Andrea Bocelli - The Best of Andrea Bocelli: VivereBOCELLI,ANDREA; Release date: 2007-10-30; Music CD
Best price: $8.59
Price in other shops:
The Priests - The PriestsRelease date: 2008-11-18; Music CD
Best price: $7.74
Price in other shops:
Il Divo - The PromiseRelease date: 2008-11-18; Music CD
Best price: $4.68
Price in other shops:
Paul Potts - PassioneRelease date: 2009-05-05; Music CD
Best price: $7.83
Price in other shops:
Paul Potts - One ChanceRelease date: 2007-09-18; Music CD
Best price: $5.28
Price in other shops: