Prokofiev Suite

Throughout his career, Sergei Prokofiev wrote a large number of works for the stage – some of them highly successful, others less so. Whichever the case, Prokofiev would rarely miss the opportunity of recycling the score in one way or another – staying more or less close to the original in an orchestral suite or using it as material for a completely new work, such as the Third and Fourth symphonies (based on the ballet The Prodigal Son and the opera The Fiery Angel, respectively.) The present disc combines suites created from Prokofiev’s very first opera (The Gambler, 1915–17) and his very last ballet (The Stone Flower, 1948–53). Based on a short novel by Dostoyevsky, The Gambler doesn’t have separate numbers that can easily be detached.

Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition; Zoltan Kodaly: Harry Janos Suite;
Sergei Prokofiev - Lieutenant Kije, Symphonic Suite, Op. 60 – Cleveland Orchestra; George Szell
Classical | 1 CD | EAC Rip | 372 MB, 3% recovery | FLAC+LOG+Cue | Complete scans | RS links
Publisher: Sony Classical | Recorded: 1963/69 | Published: 1991

Editorial Reviews - Amazon.com Essential recording
How do you describe perfection? George Szell's legacy in Cleveland emphasized the great classical and Romantic symphonic repertoire, with relatively few forays into more modern music. But no orchestra ever played these 20th-century masterpieces with more glitter and precision, and the Prokofiev/Kodaly works, when first issued together on LP, immediately became the standard by which all other performances are measured. In fact they still are, and at budget price, not only do they cost less than they did when they were first recorded, you get a spectacular ‘Pictures’ thrown in as a bonus… –David Hurwitz

Aside from having been published consecutively, there isn't much to link Prokofiev's Waltz Suite, Op. 110, with his Symphony No. 6, Op. 111. The waltzes are delightful, charming, elegiac, a little bit creepy, but always ingratiating. The Symphony No. 6 is powerful, lyrical, tragic, very scary, and always monumental. The only thing they really have in common is Prokofiev's skill as an orchestrator and his powerful idenity as a composer. In this 1994 recording by Theodore Kuchar and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, both works are fully characterized and completely compelling. The waltzes are fey and affectionate with dancing rhythms and enchanting melodies. The symphony is massive and frightening with achingly beautiful themes and deeply tragic structures.

Prokofiev arranged excerpts from his ballet Cinderella for solo piano as three separate suites: the Three Pieces Op. 95, Ten Pieces Op. 97, and Six Pieces Op. 102. Here Olli Mustonen fashions his own extended suite that starts with Op. 95 intact, continues with Op. 97 reordered minus one piece, and concludes with three of the Op. 102 selections. In the main, Mustonen’s amazingly worked-out pianism toes the fine line between brilliant individuality and irritating self-absorption. In Op. 97, for instance, the pianist brings remarkable crispness and élan to the frolicking triplet figurations throughout Fairy Spring and the Grasshoppers and Dragon Flies, and rubs our noses in the Autumn Fairy’s dissonant accents. At times, however, interpretive tics transform the music’s rhythmic profile and thematic resourcefulness into mannered mush. The Op. 95 Pavane is a case in point.

REFERENCE RECORDINGS® is very pleased to release this beautiful musical program of three works from the early to mid­-20th century, which we hope will provide some joy, especially to those who love Jewish music, history, and folklore.