Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1 in D Major, Op. 25 (Classical); Symphony No. 5 in B Flat Major, Op. 100
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CD Details
Composer: Sergei ProkofievConductor: James Levine
Orchestra: Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Edition: Music CD
Format: Import
CD Release Date: 1995-11-14
Music Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Soundtracks:
- Sym No.1 in D, Op.25 'Classical': 1. Allegro
- Sym No.1 in D, Op.25 'Classical': 2. Larghetto
- Sym No.1 in D, Op.25 'Classical': 3. Gavotta: Non troppo allegro
- Sym No.1 in D, Op.25 'Classical': 4. Finale: Molto vivace
- Sym No.5 in B flat, Op.100: 1. Andante
- Sym No.5 in B flat, Op.100: 2. Allegro marcato
- Sym No.5 in B flat, Op.100: 3. Adagio
- Sym No.5 in B flat, Op.100: 4. Allegro giocoso
Music reviews of Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1 in D Major, Op. 25 (Classical); Symphony No. 5 in B Flat Major, Op. 100
Music Review: Smoothered in Beautiful Sound
Rating: 3 Stars
This version of the First and Fifth symphonies of Prokofiev finds lots of competition in the catalogue. Therefore this CD HAS to be different! I've heard these pieces often in concert and they never sounded like this recording. Here we have the Chicago Symphony Orchestra - I've heard them many times in various venues from Chicago to London. James Levine's renditions are different by dint of their sound, but little else. He seems to think that Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky should sound the same. Sorry, this is among the most "manufactured" sounding recordings I've ever heard. What might have been never happens.
Levine takes the same tempi as Toscanini does in the outer movements of the First. But he doesn't find the sprightly, jocular nature of the inner movements so easy to cultivate. Yet with all the heaviness caused by an over-reverberant accoustic as well as the prominent tympani and bass section, there is still a nice mercurial quality to parts of Levine's reading. It has a bounce in the first movement, for example, that other conductors don't easily find.
The many sardonic moments of the Fifth are passed over for a kind of "ideal mix". This is completely unlike, say, Timirkanov and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic who makes the Fifth a wild parody of a symphony in lots of places by giving the orchestra it's head in a "nails on the chalkboard" sort of way. He did this in performance as well. In a complete reversal of this sentiment, Levine treats the Fifth as though it were Parsifal - rich and lugubrious. Interestingly he does achieve a long line in the architecture of the first movement, thus his choice of tempo.
The anticedent for this approach is von Karajan who is far more succesful mingling Germanic sound with Russian sentiment in his performing of both pieces with the Berlin Philharmonic 25 years earlier. He knows where the irony in the piece can be found. Obviously Levine knows this too and if you heard him do the Fifth in concert I think it would be a totally different experience from this CD. Hearing the entire Levine recording at once left me feeling as though I'd eaten one too many a bon bon. Sometimes over engineering has its place, but here it doesn't. Rostropovich suffers the same fate with the Orchestre National d'France. Scratch another attempt.
The trick to making the Fifth work, no matter what overall idea a conductor may have for it, be it beauty or awkwardness, is to keep all the different strands (and there are a lot of them) cleanly defined and not covered up by one another. An example of an instrument that is simply not heard in Levine's version is the piano. It doubles many other instruments and is there only for color. Thus it's not meant to be buried under all the other choirs of the orchestra. For my dollar the person who reveals everything best of all is Dimitri Mitropoulos with the Bayerishes Rundfunks Orchestra found on Orfeo. That is a performance that has an occasional off moment in ensemble, but it is a one time only live recording from 1954 and is from a long lost period when the producer/engineer did not rule the roost. With that said, sitting down with the score will reward the listener with all that is missing in the Levine CD. Mitropoulos uncovers every nuance there is to be found in a work that is often just played for effect.
Koussevitsky in 1945 - 47 shouldn't be forgotten here. That recording on RCA/BMG has not only a wonderful First and Fifth but also ballet music from "Romeo and Juliet". The sound is of course a bit too old to be considered along side the others mentioned above. But Koussevitsky doesn't mess around with the scores. Nothing is overdone. And let's not forget that the conductor is a contemporary of the composer.
If you've got more than one of these pairings, and you want to hear a Tutonic approach second to none, then Levine is it. The sheen of the orchestra is ALWAYS beautiful. Yet, had Prokofiev wanted his symphonies to sound the same as Brahms he wouldn't have the players doing such wild gyrations in terms of rhythm and registration. I don't think beauty is the point here. Try the Mitropoulos. It will reward ten fold what the digital world has to offer.
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