Seckerson on Prokofiev

[Bryn]

Just managed to order the last "Used - Very Good" Symphonies 1 & 5 (LSO, MTT) at amazon.uk for £7.26 including p&p. Let's hope it gets fulfilled. The Schippers Alexander Nevsky is on QOBUZ. They also have the Jurowski 3rd Symphony. The others mentioned, I already have. A good selection, I thought. They also have the Jurowski 3rd Symphony.

[By the way, I note that Jurowski's Prokofiev 5th Symphony and Ode to the End of the War is currently on offer on QOBUZ. The 96/24 can be had for £2.88 (the CD rate for £1.92). The surround mix can, however, only be found on the SACD. However, neither work finds its finest recording here, I feel. I muc prefer Rozhdestvensky in the Ode, for instance.]

[antongould]

Thought it was a very good discussion .... I have the Von Karajan Berliners 1 & 5 which I think is superb .... listening to it now in fact ....

[edashtav]

An interesting and personal selection.

[kuligin]

I did not enjoy it very much, too much mutual agreement about Argerich, Vengerov, Schippers and Previn, and not much about Prokofiev.

No piano sonatas or opera I know it is meant to be a”personal” selection, but I just found it too gushing

[edashtav]

I did not enjoy it very much, too much mutual agreement about Argerich, Vengerov, Schippers and Previn, and not much about Prokofiev.

No piano sonatas or opera I know it is meant to be a”personal” selection, but I just found it too gushing

Five choices cannot cover all genres, kuligin, and opera was covered in ennobled or potted fashion by Jurowski's interpretation of the 3rd (Fiery Angel) Symphony.

[Bryn]

Five choices cannot cover all genres, kuligin, and opera was covered in ennobled or potted fashion by Jurowski's interpretation of the 3rd (Fiery Angel) Symphony.

And, indeed, that opera was discussed, albeit briefly.

[mathias broucek]

Personally I would put the piano sonatas above his symphonies, concertos, operas and ballets....

[jayne lee wilson]

No Gergiev or Bournemouth/Karabits in there?
Symphonic gamechangers for me...

[vinteuil]

.

... too gushing

.
Edward Seckerson.

.

[HighlandDougie]

.


.
Edward Seckerson.

.

He just can't resist name-dropping, although we were at least spared Lenny anecdotes (as well as Vengerov/Rostropovich being referred to as Maxie and Misty). Interesting choices of works - wouldn't have been mine but good to hear them anyway.

[Boilk]

I did not enjoy it very much, too much mutual agreement about Argerich, Vengerov, Schippers and Previn, and not much about Prokofiev.

No piano sonatas or opera I know it is meant to be a”personal” selection, but I just found it too gushing

As Seckerson announced each successive choice I thought increasingly "The next one has got to be a piano sonata", but alas no chamber music got a look in.

[MickyD]

He just can't resist name-dropping, although we were at least spared Lenny anecdotes (as well as Vengerov/Rostropovich being referred to as Maxie and Misty). Interesting choices of works - wouldn't have been mine but good to hear them anyway.

Indeed he can't resist. Vengerov - "who I met and have known since he was 20". No relevance to the musical qualities of the recordings whatsoever, but he obviously feels we should know.

[Master Jacques]

Whatever one thinks of ES's style, he is at least a consummate broadcaster, which makes a nice change.

Like some other posters here, I found his choices very cleverly contrived to represent as hit as many targets as anyone possibly could with five bullets: the 3rd Symphony (drawing in the Fiery Angel operatic connection) and 2nd Piano Concerto (hinting at the pianistic riches of the sonata cycle) were especially astute. Nobody could ignore the great cantatas - the only vocal music on display here - and as Prokofiev is the greatest of all three-act ballet composers after Tchaikovsky, missing them out entirely would be madness.

(Easier to choose just five ballets, if you ask me - I don't want to consider life without Cinderella, The Stone Flower or The Prodigal Son either!) but full marks to ES for a canny and helpful selection for newcomers to this multi-faceted composer.

[HighlandDougie]

Whatever one thinks of ES's style, he is at least a consummate broadcaster, which makes a nice change.

Like some other posters here, I found his choices very cleverly contrived to represent as hit as many targets as anyone possibly could with five bullets: the 3rd Symphony (drawing in the Fiery Angel operatic connection) and 2nd Piano Concerto (hinting at the pianistic riches of the sonata cycle) were especially astute. Nobody could ignore the great cantatas - the only vocal music on display here - and as Prokofiev is the greatest of all three-act ballet composers after Tchaikovsky, missing them out entirely would be madness.

(Easier to choose just five ballets, if you ask me - I don't want to consider life without Cinderella, The Stone Flower or The Prodigal Son either!) but full marks to ES for a canny and helpful selection for newcomers to this multi-faceted composer.

3rd Piano Concerto, not the 2nd, in the Argerich/BPO/Abbado recording. I've just been re-listening to the Jurowski 3rd Symphony, which I downloaded a couple of years ago, and I am very much with ES (and, yes, apologies for my churlish post as he is a very good broadcaster - no "errs, ums" etc with him) in his enthusiasm for it. Hearing it through new ears sprang to mind.

[Master Jacques]

3rd Piano Concerto, not the 2nd, in the Argerich/BPO/Abbado recording. I've just been re-listening to the Jurowski 3rd Symphony, which I downloaded a couple of years ago, and I am very much with ES (and, yes, apologies for my churlish post as he is a very good broadcaster - no "errs, ums" etc with him) in his enthusiasm for it. Hearing it through new ears sprang to mind.

Thank you for correcting my silly slip. Having enjoyed the 3rd symphony, I wonder if you know the opera? There is an excellent DVD of it (Mariinsky, good cast and Gergiev eventually gets into the swing) which I heartily recommend to the curious - it is a riveting and disturbing work:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Prokofiev-Galina-Gorchakova-Sergei-Leiferkus/dp/B00I32AMPU