Prokofiev symphonies

[Barbirollians]

I am very happy with the Melodiya Rozhdestvensky records that JLW and others recommended .

[Conchis]

Have just finished listening (again) to the Gergiev/LSO cycle. Very impressed and I don't have the issues with the sound that some people seem to have. This set doesn't seem to be that highly rated but I can't understand why. Politically-driven prejudice against Gergiev, perhaps?

[Alison]

Have just finished listening (again) to the Gergiev/LSO cycle. Very impressed and I don't have the issues with the sound that some people seem to have. This set doesn't seem to be that highly rated but I can't understand why. Politically-driven prejudice against Gergiev, perhaps?

I totally agree with you. Absolutely first class playing on that set.

[Alison]

Hiya Dave,

I make it a rule that virtually everything conducted by Previn is worth of attention. I have the same rule for Abbado, Haitink and Chailly.

Delighted with your now modified list of conductors of conductors, Stanners!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I didn't know Previn had done number 5 with the LA orchestra as well. Is that any good?
I rather like the Prokofiev he did with the LSO, though perhaps that's just due to some familiarity. Thanks for pointing it out.

tbh, Dave, I hadn't noticed your link to the LSO/Previn and found the LAPO version when looking to see if it was at all available. I don't know the LAPO version - before yesterday, I didn't know it even existed. Previn's later re-recordings tended to get a bad press in comparison with his earlier versions: justifiably with regard to his Walton #1 and Rachmaninoff #2 remakes. But even these, played "blind", have virtues and insights of their own, I think - and it's unfair to expect a performer to do the same thing when revisiting repertoire (he'd probably then get flak for "repeating himself"!) His LSO Prokofiev #5 was excellent; that in itself suggests that the later version should be worth hearing.

[Richard Barrett]

I totally agree with you. Absolutely first class playing on that set.

I agree. Although the energy of Järvi's Third is unique I think.

[BBMmk2]

Hiya Dave,

I make it a rule that virtually everything conducted by Previn is worth of attention. I have the same rule for Abbado, Haitink and Chailly.

A very good policy to have, methinks :)

[Petrushka]

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!

I, too, was present at that Prom and likewise did not know the Prokofiev 3 much at all. As you say, a blistering performance.

[Petrushka]

I did go to a sensational account of the Fifth with the LPO in the mid nineties. And there was the Glyndebourne Love of Three Oranges. But yes you are right in the main.

There's also a Piano Concerto No 5 with Ashkenazy and the Violin Concerto No 1 with Oistrakh in live performances from 1977 and 1972 respectively both given with the Concertgebouw and in the Radio Recordings box.

Haitink also gave a performance of one of the Romeo and Juliet suites with the Concertgebouw that I took off the Dutch Radio 4 website but can't find the date at the minute. In addition there is a mention of a 1986 performance of Alexander Nevsky with Jard van Nes in Simon Mundy's biography of Haitink.

No symphonies though.

[jayne lee wilson]

Hiya Dave,

I make it a rule that virtually everything conducted by Previn is worth of attention. I have the same rule for Abbado, Haitink and Chailly.

Rather an odd rule for a reviewer, perhaps...?

As for poor old, locally-ignored young upstart Kirill Karabits, bowing and scraping away with his obscure seaside band.... I hereby nominate him for the "FoR3 Prokofiev Symphonies Thread Full Many a Flower" award...

***
As for Previn in Los Angeles - it's worth browsing the Gramophone archive for that one... yes, Prokofiev 1 and 5 were very enthusiastically received by The Great Layton and others, but as for 6 and 7... he found them "oddly flat" "lacking tension" quite simply a musical "disappointment", despite state-of-the-art sonics. He even warned listeners that the sheer power and beauty of sound could make these performances seem very impressive at first (in a hifi demo room, say) only to disappoint when lived with and considered. Such details really mattered then. Records were fewer (not many Prokofiev 6ths!), and the more precious. Big decisions!

[Barbirollians]

There is also of course a sensational Prokofiev 5 from Rozhdestvensky from the Proms that was on BBC Legends - hair stand on end stuff .

[Stanfordian]

Rather an odd rule for a reviewer, perhaps...?

As for poor old, locally-ignored young upstart Kirill Karabits, bowing and scraping away with his obscure seaside band.... I hereby nominate him for the "FoR3 Prokofiev Symphonies Thread Full Many a Flower" award...

***
As for Previn in Los Angeles - it's worth browsing the Gramophone archive for that one... yes, Prokofiev 1 and 5 were very enthusiastically received by The Great Layton and others, but as for 6 and 7... he found them "oddly flat" "lacking tension" quite simply a musical "disappointment", despite state-of-the-art sonics. He even warned listeners that the sheer power and beauty of sound could make these performances seem very impressive at first (in a hifi demo room, say) only to disappoint when lived with and considered. Such details really mattered then. Records were fewer (not many Prokofiev 6ths!), and the more precious. Big decisions!

Hiya Jayne,

I note another little snipe. On this board I am a contributor like everyone else; no different. I have personal favourites conductors and they include Previn, Abbado, Haitink and Chailly and experience has shown me their recordings are especially worthy of attention.

[Beef Oven!]

Hiya Jayne,

I note another little snipe. On this board I am a contributor like everyone else; no different. I have personal favourites conductors and they include Previn, Abbado, Haitink and Chailly and experience has shown me their recordings are especially worthy of attention.

Snipes aside, I think you're on the money about Previn. I don't think I've ever heard a bad performance by him. He just seems to know what he's doing, and backs it up by doing it so well!!

His American in Paris on EMI is my favourite of all AIPs, and I think it's one of the greatest recordings of anything, ever (I don't think many people will agree with me on this).

[Roslynmuse]

His American in Paris on EMI is my favourite of all AIPs, and I think it's one of the greatest recordings of anything, ever (I don't think many people will agree with me on this).

I wore my LP out through playing it so much! (And I'm not a great Gershwin fan.) And the opening clarinet solo in Rhapsody in Blue with Gervase de Peyer - fabulous!

[Barbirollians]

Many of those EMI/LSO/Previn records of the 1970s are classics - Rachmaninov 2 perhaps the most obvious, Tchaikovsky ballets , Turangalila etc - and let's not forget other crackers like his RCA Walton 1 and Shostakovich 5 . Also I think a quite exceptional conductor in concertos .