BaL 8.01.22 - Prokofiev: Symphony No 5 in B-flat major

[jayne lee wilson]

Noting earlier comments re the BBCs apparent preference for reviewers who do not contribute to Gramophone, I see that the current edition has a review of Tchaikovsky's Pathétique by none other than Marina Frotola-Walker!

Oh, the Gramophone casts its net wide nowadays for music and writers.......all that matters is quality.

Marina Frolova-Walker's (note spelling) review of the P-Jarvi T6 is a model of all that careful detailed reviewing should be....above all, trying to convey the character of the recording before her as clearly as possible.

No easy judgements, fastidiously balanced, elegant, precise and evocative. She can really write, and I hope she'll do more for Gramophone...

[Wolfram]

Oh, the Gramophone casts its net wide nowadays for music and writers.......all that matters is quality.

Marina Frolova-Walker's (note spelling) review of the P-Jarvi T6 is a model of all that careful detailed reviewing should be....above all, trying to convey the character of the recording before her as clearly as possible.

No easy judgements, fastidiously balanced, elegant, precise and evocative. She can really write, and I hope she'll do more for Gramophone...

I was really pleased to see Marina Frolova-Walker's name at the foot of two reviews in this month's Gramophone. Let us hope that she becomes a regular. I have complete respect for her views and like JLW above really like her writing style. Let's also hope she isn't pigeonholed to just Russian repertoire.

[Serial_Apologist]

I was really pleased to see Marina Frolova-Walker's name at the foot of two reviews in this month's Gramophone. Let us hope that she becomes a regular. I have complete respect for her views and like JLW above really like her writing style. Let's also hope she isn't pigeonholed to just Russian repertoire.

Or to Messager, for that matter!

[CallMePaul]

[QUOTE=jayne lee wilson;871164]Oh, the Gramophone casts its net wide nowadays for music and writers.......all that matters is quality.

Marina Frolova-Walker's (note spelling) now amended. Thanks for this Jane - I was writing from memory hence the error!

[Goon525]

Oh, the Gramophone casts its net wide nowadays for music and writers.......all that matters is quality.

Marina Frolova-Walker's (note spelling) review of the P-Jarvi T6 is a model of all that careful detailed reviewing should be....above all, trying to convey the character of the recording before her as clearly as possible.

No easy judgements, fastidiously balanced, elegant, precise and evocative. She can really write, and I hope she'll do more for Gramophone...

Her name is now included in the list of reviewers on page 3 of the current G. That implies that she’s a permanent member of the team - often new reviewers contribute for a few months before they get added to that list.

[jayne lee wilson]

So back to Karabits in the Prokofiev 5th now..... better every time I hear it..... more later.... (medical appts permitting....tomorrow looks a bit grim...)...

[Serial_Apologist]

So back to Karabits in the Prokofiev 5th now..... better every time I hear it..... more later.... (medical appts permitting....tomorrow looks a bit grim...)...

Besta luck jayne - dunno how you manage to keep your spirits up.

[BBMmk2]

So back to Karabits in the Prokofiev 5th now..... better every time I hear it..... more later.... (medical appts permitting....tomorrow looks a bit grim...)...

Looking forward to hearing your opinion!

[jayne lee wilson]

Each time I return to the superbly-well-recorded Bournemouth SO/Karabits (Onyx CD), the better it sounds.

He brings out the quirkiness, humour and intimacy in (i), ensuring it isn't just about leading towards or away from massive climaxes, drawing out the contrasts instead. The BSO may not have the individualistic brilliance of Rattle’s CBSO, but there’s a lovely natural flow and flexibility here, so you feel a sense of “rightness” from the first few bars. All of which doesn't prevent the coda from being quite spectacular enough, thankyou! (But you can always hear everything....)

The scherzo goes wonderfully well; subtle, deft, effortlessly quicksilver in changes of mood and texture; you can drive this movement harder but - I never heard it better done. (And the Puffer Train is a Real Hoot).
In the adagio, the openness, even starkness of the orchestral textures draws out the contrast between restraint and tragic outbursts. Karabits varies the tempi widely across the central climaxes and their faded aftermath, so their urgency and necessity is the more vividly conveyed: this had to be said. Often, I'm reluctant to move on without considerable pause-to-reflect.

So the adagio’s impact is deeply felt, and lingers; then comes the finale - the great escape…?
Karabits is very relaxed in the first half of this; but wait; just listen in to the crystalline purity of those divided strings in the intro; they never sounded more beautiful.
Balance is again the keyword. It seems so genial ( or tongue-in-cheek) through the first half of the movement that, when the craziness is finally unleashed it comes as the surprising - yet inevitable - culmination it should be.
Karabits turns the screw tighter as the coda approaches, and it doesn't disappoint, sharply etched and edged, but very balanced in its crashes and splashes of colour and power: that steely mechanical edge glinting impersonally in the midst of assumed or superficial triumph….

Like the more vividly characterised Rattle, this is a 5th to live with. I guess we’re well past the idea of having just one recording of - well, pretty much any major symphony now - but the Karabits Prokofiev 5th is another recording (especially given its very dynamic, wide open, no-detail-missed yet tonally alluring sound), which will reveal the more, reward the more, the longer one spends in its company.
(Which is true of the whole Karabits Cycle).

****
So for me at least there is a clear top three so far - Rattle (sheer cocksure interpretive & orchestral confidence, colour and individuality), Karabits (the objective view), LSO/Gergiev** (driven & demonic). In no particular order!

(But….. maybe I should revisit Rozh after all…)….
(**There is a later Mariinsky live recording of the 5th (c/w Matsuev in Cto.3) on the Mariinsky label's own Gergiev series (musically & sonically very uneven - the Stravinsky was often better); haven't revisited this in a while though...)...

[BBMmk2]

Each time I return to the superbly-well-recorded Bournemouth SO/Karabits (Onyx CD), the better it sounds.

He brings out the quirkiness, humour and intimacy in (i), ensuring it isn't just about leading towards or away from massive climaxes, drawing out the contrasts instead. The BSO may not have the individualistic brilliance of Rattle’s CBSO, but there’s a lovely natural flow and flexibility here, so you feel a sense of “rightness” from the first few bars. All of which doesn't prevent the coda from being quite spectacular enough, thankyou! (But you can always hear everything....)

The scherzo goes wonderfully well; subtle, deft, effortlessly quicksilver in changes of mood and texture; you can drive this movement harder but - I never heard it better done. (And the Puffer Train is a Real Hoot).
In the adagio, the openness, even starkness of the orchestral textures draws out the contrast between restraint and tragic outbursts. Karabits varies the tempi widely across the central climaxes and their faded aftermath, so their urgency and necessity is the more vividly conveyed: this had to be said. Often, I'm reluctant to move on without considerable pause-to-reflect.

So the adagio’s impact is deeply felt, and lingers; then comes the finale - the great escape…?
Karabits is very relaxed in the first half of this; but wait; just listen in to the crystalline purity of those divided strings in the intro; they never sounded more beautiful.
Balance is again the keyword. It seems so genial ( or tongue-in-cheek) through the first half of the movement that, when the craziness is finally unleashed it comes as the surprising - yet inevitable - culmination it should be.
Karabits turns the screw tighter as the coda approaches, and it doesn't disappoint, sharply etched and edged, but very balanced in its crashes and splashes of colour and power: that steely mechanical edge glinting impersonally in the midst of assumed or superficial triumph….

Like the more vividly characterised Rattle, this is a 5th to live with. I guess we’re well past the idea of having just one recording of - well, pretty much any major symphony now - but the Karabits Prokofiev 5th is another recording (especially given its very dynamic, wide open, no-detail-missed yet tonally alluring sound), which will reveal the more, reward the more, the longer one spends in its company.
(Which is true of the whole Karabits Cycle).

****
So for me at least there is a clear top three so far - Rattle (sheer cocksure interpretive & orchestral confidence, colour and individuality), Karabits (the objective view), LSO/Gergiev** (driven & demonic). In no particular order!

(But….. maybe I should revisit Rozh after all…)….
(**There is a later Mariinsky live recording of the 5th (c/w Matsuev in Cto.3) on the Mariinsky label's own Gergiev series (musically & sonically very uneven - the Stravinsky was often better); haven't revisited this in a while though...)...

Thank you very much for that contribution! Most enlightening, as always!

I once saw Rozhdestvensky & the BBCSO, doing Prok5 at The Dome, Brighton. Fabulous!

I’ll be adding those three you mentioned!

[Goon525]

Well a surprising winner, though the sound of it is terrific. How many minutes before someone complains that MFW didn’t consider this or that version? I think she knows what she’s talking about, and dropped a clue as to omissions - which is overcooking the big first movement coda.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

A convincing if unexpected decision.

[Alison]

A rather frustrating BaL for me. I know the twofer battle has been fought and lost but this would have been an ideal in the old format.

The mix up with the Karajan extract at the beginning merely added to my displeasure.

A reminder that we had a good Andrew Litton thread some years ago.

[Goon525]

A rather frustrating BaL for me. I know the twofer battle has been fought and lost but this would have been an ideal in the old format.

The mix up with the Karajan extract at the beginning merely added to my displeasure.

A reminder that we had a good Andrew Litton thread some years ago.

What mix up? I was listening quite closely.

[BBMmk2]

Glad Andrew Litton, has come up trumps!