Prokofiev symphonies

[BBMmk2]

noone has responded to your query, brassbandmaestro! Rudolf Barshai recorded the 5th Symphony (coupled with 1st) for Collins Classics with the Philharmonia in September 1989 at the Henry Wood Hall. It is one of my favourite recordings - for him the heart of the work is the 3rd, Adagio, movement where at the climax he requires the use of two tamtams - remember I used to correspond here as the gongman! He conducted it at the Proms the following year with the BBC Phil which I attended. I have no idea if the recording is still commercially available as a CD but it is available as a download: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_...+prokofiev+5th

What a pity Barshai didnt do a cycle of Prokovief's symphonies! Be as well to purchase that download! Thank you Laurie!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

What a pity Barshai didnt do a cycle of Prokovief's symphonies!

(and Shepherd Neame Bishops Finger to boot!)

[teamsaint]

There have been several threads around this subject, and I'm still hoping for a really strong recommendation for #3.
I just have the Walter Weller/ LSO.

anybody got performances they particularly recommend in this?

[pastoralguy]

There have been several threads around this subject, and I'm still hoping for a really strong recommendation for #3.
I just have the Walter Weller/ LSO.

anybody got performances they particularly recommend in this?

How about the (R)SNO under Neemi Jarvi? The cycle garnered a number of awards on its initial release.

[teamsaint]

How about the (R)SNO under Neemi Jarvi? The cycle garnered a number of awards on its initial release.

Sound a good shout PG.
I'll give that a spin.

[jayne lee wilson]

There have been several threads around this subject, and I'm still hoping for a really strong recommendation for #3.
I just have the Walter Weller/ LSO.

anybody got performances they particularly recommend in this?

All the better for not simply trying to batter us into submission...Karabits attempting a cooler, more detailed & symphonic performance in excellent sound (24/96 or CD)...7th is lovely too. But then the whole cycle is top-of-the-tree (I've heard all save 1&2, but they reviewed well, so...).
Very positive review in G. 6/2014 (David Gutman).

[richardfinegold]

Never really cared for any of them except 1 & 5 Had Slava's cycle which didn't change my mind.

[rauschwerk]

There have been several threads around this subject, and I'm still hoping for a really strong recommendation for #3.
I just have the Walter Weller/ LSO.

anybody got performances they particularly recommend in this?

Muti is absolutely first rate but long unavailable, I fear.

[cloughie]

How about the (R)SNO under Neemi Jarvi? The cycle garnered a number of awards on its initial release.

Jarvi, Leinsdorf or Gergiev

[Dave2002]

An oldie, but http://www.amazon.com/Prokofiev-Symp.../dp/B000025XND

There's also a version of Previn doing no 1, but there are surely any number of decent versions of that.

He also did number 6 -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Symphony-6-Scythian-Suite-Prokofiev/dp/B00000E3NB/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1454889448&sr=1-1&keywords=prokofiev+6+previn

[rauschwerk]

Jarvi, Leinsdorf or Gergiev

I got to know 6 through Leinsdorf's version, but returning to it after long acquaintance with Jarvi I find it pretty inhibited emotionally. Gergiev (no 6 was a BaL winner) is ok but really not well recorded.

[Actual pro]

All the better for not simply trying to batter us into submission...Karabits attempting a cooler, more detailed & symphonic performance in excellent sound (24/96 or CD)...7th is lovely too. But then the whole cycle is top-of-the-tree (I've heard all save 1&2, but they reviewed well, so...).
Very positive review in G. 6/2014 (David Gutman).

Thank you !

[HighlandDougie]

All the better for not simply trying to batter us into submission...Karabits attempting a cooler, more detailed & symphonic performance in excellent sound (24/96 or CD)...7th is lovely too.

I enthused about the Karabits when it first appeared. Jayne's, "batter us into submission", comment is apposite, as recordings of this work (oops, I seem to have no fewer then 12 of them) like Rozhdestvensky or the first Kitaenko do rather adopt that approach in the first and final movements. Effective, yes, but not very subtle. Of the three Italian conductors (Abbado, Chailly x 2, Muti), Muti probably achieves the best balance between bludgeon and something more balletic but is, as Rauschwerk has said, not easy and quite expensive to obtain. I much like Kondrashin and the Concertgebouw but it is almost as expensive these days as the Muti (I wish someone would re-release in Europe the series of live recordings which appeared on Philips - still obtainable in Japan where KK is much revered). Of the more recent versions, Alsop is OK but not much more (I don't get the impression that her heart is quite in it, music-wise) but the James Gaffigan is well worth hearing, although it is recorded very much in a concert hall acoustic, unlike, say, Rozhdestvensky). Then there are Jarvi, Martinon (the CD transfer is light years better, sound-wise, then the Turnabout LP) and the very good Weller, as well as Ozawa (great playing from the BPO but not in Muti's league, interpretation-wise). None of this helps TS with a choice so maybe it's back to Karabits -or Rozhdestvensky if you like the Vladimir Putin approach (that Russian brass!). Or, for not much more than the price of a single full-price CD, there is the later Kitaenko (it's a bit slow for my tastes but it's well-recorded and well-played and the set includes a wonderful performance of the 6th symphony) - see http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...f_=dm_rogue_cd

[rauschwerk]

Muti probably achieves the best balance between bludgeon and something more balletic but is, as Rauschwerk has said, not easy and quite expensive to obtain.

It can now be had as a Presto CD (lossless download also) http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Philips/4329922 currently 20% off.

[Pulcinella]

I was at this Prom, which I remember as a blistering performance of Prokofiev 3, which I did not know at the time.
I had gone primarily for the Shostakovich Violin Concerto.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/emrq9r

Hard to believe it was back in 2010!