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

[cloughie]

Why would I want to buy them again? I 'pre-ordered' the set just prior to its UK release to replace my fire-damaged EMI LP set I'm sure one could find a dodgy Russian download site to get them from.

They’ll no doubt turn up dreckly!

[BBMmk2]

Andrew, I think was getting in the way, here. He was, like how some Nritish critics saying, how can foreign orchestras, etc, play British music? You need to be a British outfit to play British music, which s a fallacy. This is what Andrew was, basically, saying.

[Barbirollians]

Andrew, I think was getting in the way, here. He was, like how some Nritish critics saying, how can foreign orchestras, etc, play British music? You need to be a British outfit to play British music, which s a fallacy. This is what Andrew was, basically, saying.

Andrew McGregor gets in the way every week - the only difference is the extent to which he does.

[Alison]

The searing intensity of the Leningrad PO trumpets in the DSCH 7 BAL was mentioned in passing as a matter of historical interest, but AMcG didn't make Russian brass sound a totem of HiPP-ness as he did today, attempting to steer MF-W towards a Russian version when it didn't seem to be an issue for him in for DSCH 7.

[Maclintick]

Andrew, I think was getting in the way, here. He was, like how some Nritish critics saying, how can foreign orchestras, etc, play British music? You need to be a British outfit to play British music, which s a fallacy. This is what Andrew was, basically, saying.

It's an interesting question. Can only the Czech Phil play Dvorak, or the VPO Johann Strauss ? For some the answer might be in the affirmative, but Prokofiev, who was widely-travelled in the West & returned to the USSR in the late autumn of 1934 having been denounced along with Stravinsky as a "bourgeois cosmopolitan" by the Soviet authorities, would have been very familiar with the sonorities of European & American orchestras, unlike DSCH, who spent most of his life in the USSR.

[Dave2002]

Obviously I was diverted away from this thread which deals with Prokofiev's 5th symphony to another one, which refers to a particular recording, timpani solos, recording/reproduction quality, and a few other issues in the RR review last Saturday. I recall first hearing Prokofiev's 5th on an EMI LP - which I think must have been the Melodiya collaboration with Gennady Rozhdestvensky. This seems now to be generally unavailable. I wasn't sure that I liked it when I first heard it, though the friend who introduced me to it at the time was very enthusiastic, and we listened to it a few times. Does anyone now have an opinion on how that older version shapes up compared with some of the newer ones?

I was impressed with the Litton recommendation and will make every effort to listen to it. The BAL was informative, though clearly did not cover all the available or previously available recordings. I will dig out my Neeme Järvi version which gave a reasonable impression in the review. I remember trying to work my way through Järvi's recordings years ago, by borrowng them from a local library, but I must have given up before reaching the 5th. Maybe the 5th really is the most interesting of this composers's symphonies - though I do and have enjoyed Previn's recordings of the 6th and 7th.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

Andrew McGregor gets in the way every week - the only difference is the extent to which he does.

Was that an exasperated sigh from MFW at one point? I ended up admiring her restraint!

[mikealdren]

Obviously I was diverted away from this thread which deals with Prokofiev's 5th symphony to another one, which refers to a particular recording, timpani solos, recording/reproduction quality, and a few other issues in the RR review last Saturday. I recall first hearing Prokofiev's 5th on an EMI LP - which I think must have been the Melodiya collaboration with Gennady Rozhdestvensky. This seems now to be generally unavailable. I wasn't sure that I liked it when I first heard it, though the friend who introduced me to it at the time was very enthusiastic, and we listened to it a few times. Does anyone now have an opinion on how that older version shapes up compared with some of the newer ones?

I too learned it from that LP, I still have it but haven't listened to it since CDs arrived, must give it a spin.

[Bryn]

Obviously I was diverted away from this thread which deals with Prokofiev's 5th symphony to another one, which refers to a particular recording, timpani solos, recording/reproduction quality, and a few other issues in the RR review last Saturday. I recall first hearing Prokofiev's 5th on an EMI LP - which I think must have been the Melodiya collaboration with Gennady Rozhdestvensky. This seems now to be generally unavailable. I wasn't sure that I liked it when I first heard it, though the friend who introduced me to it at the time was very enthusiastic, and we listened to it a few times. Does anyone now have an opinion on how that older version shapes up compared with some of the newer ones?

I was impressed with the Litton recommendation and will make every effort to listen to it. The BAL was informative, though clearly did not cover all the available or previously available recordings. I will dig out my Neeme Järvi version which gave a reasonable impression in the review. I remember trying to work my way through Järvi's recordings years ago, by borrowng them from a local library, but I must have given up before reaching the 5th. Maybe the 5th really is the most interesting of this composers's symphonies - though I do and have enjoyed Previn's recordings of the 6th and 7th.

I tried sending you a PM about this but your inbox is full, so you had better act quickly if you want it: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Symphonies-.../dp/B004FSJPG8

[Dave2002]

I tried sending you a PM about this but your inbox is full, so you had better act quickly if you want it: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Symphonies-.../dp/B004FSJPG8

Thanks - I'll deal with the mailbox issue later - probably tonight. I'd be interested if Rozhdestvensky's version comes round again at a much more modest price - I'm not spending £250 in it!

Have you got that recording - do you think it's any good? Maybe it's been eclipsed by much more modern versions.

I was also interested in the comment in the Bal about Simonov's version - which really did sound like one of the reviewer's favourites. Maybe that can be found in some archive or other.

Here is part of it on YT - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3DFfZpm96Q The recording/YT sound here is pretty bad - but that's not always an issue.

[Bryn]

Thanks - I'll deal with the mailbox issue later - probably tonight. I'd be interested if Rozhdestvensky's version comes round again at a much more modest price - I'm not spending £250 in it!

Have you got that recording - do you think it's any good? Maybe it's been eclipsed by much more modern versions.

I was also interested in the comment in the Bal about Simonov's version - which really did sound like one of the reviewer's favourites. Maybe that can be found in some archive or other.

Here is part of it on YT - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3DFfZpm96Q The recording/YT sound here is pretty bad - but that's not always an issue.

When I tried to send you a PM, and also for some time after I posted the message here, there was a set on amazon.co.uk for less than £30. That's the one I was suggesting acting quickly upon. I very much admire the Rozhdestvensky set, even more so in this CD set than I did on the EMI LP set. The symphony is one of very few works that have appeared on BBC Music Magazine cover discs more than once.

[Dave2002]

When I tried to send you a PM, and also for some time after I posted the message here, there was a set on amazon.co.uk for less than £30. That's the one I was suggesting acting quickly upon. I very much admire the Rozhdestvensky set, even more so in this CD set than I did on the EMI LP set. The symphony is one of very few works that have appeared on BBC Music Magazine cover discs more than once.

Thanks again.

I found that Simonov's version is available as a download from Presto - though the sound quality is still not great - https://www.prestomusic.com/classica...t-major-op-100
Something about it must have caught the reviewer's attention - though I'm not quite sure what exactly.

[ostuni]

I thought I remembered that the Simonov recording was how MF-W first met the piece.

Has anyone mentioned Temirkanov/Leningrad PO? So far, I've just listened to the first 2 movements, and am impressed. Genuine Russian brass, and clarinet, sonorities, but with decent modern sound (unlike Simonov). In contrast, Jurowski's Russian Nat Orch doesn’t sound characteristically Russian. The coupling on the Temirkanov, the Classical Symphony, was MF-W's choice on BaL a few years ago. I suspect she may have discounted his 5th because the 1st movement's Coda is a bit overblown - but it doesn’t worry me overmuch…

[Barbirollians]

A bit off topic but that is a savage review by MFW of Paavo Jarvi’sTchaikovsky 6.

[jayne lee wilson]

A bit off topic but that is a savage review by MFW of Paavo Jarvi’sTchaikovsky 6.

That misrepresents it badly. As I said in #61 above:

"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 begins by saying that it is "undoubtedly a painstaking labour of love. Every detail has been thought through and and is expressed with clarity". Her reservations are about its asceticism, lacking the emotional impact of Petrenko or Currentzis. But what close listening it all evinces.

I dunno, what is it with FoR3 and the Gramophone? I give up.....time for bed & painkillers...