Prokofiev, Sergei (1891-1953)

[Bryn]

Right, so how many blatant examples of Prokofiev's recycling of material can you cite?

[teamsaint]

Right, so how many blatant examples of Prokofiev's recycling of material can you cite?

What, acknowledged by the recycler, or not ?
Isn’t recycling a good thing anyway ?

[Joseph K]

Right, so how many blatant examples of Prokofiev's recycling of material can you cite?

Beats me, but what are people's favourite pieces/recordings of this composer's work?

[teamsaint]

Beats me, but what are people's favourite pieces/recordings of this composer's work?

Symphony #3. Would love to hear it performed live, but concerts featuring any symphonies except the 5th ( and 1st I guess) are thin on the ground.

[pastoralguy]

Beats me, but what are people's favourite pieces/recordings of this composer's work?

My first conscious introduction to classical music was watching André Previn’s Music Night in 1977. On the programme that night was the Lieutenant Kijé Suite and Martha Argerich playing the Third Piano Concerto. Heady stuff for a 14 year old!

These programmes were later released on separate dvds so I was able to re-live them. Argerich was just as sensational as I remember her, both visually and musically. And so the first classical Lp I ever bought was her and Abbado playing the same work with Die Berliner Philharmoniker. I must have listened to that Lp and later on, CD hundreds of times and it’s never disappointed me.

I also bought a compilation of ‘Prokofiev’s Greatest Hits’ which had the ‘Classical Symphony’, ‘Peter and the Wolf’, Lieutenant Kijé’ and the March from ‘Three Oranges’. CBS with Bernstein and The New York Philharmonic. Happy days.

[Bryn]

What, acknowledged by the recycler, or not ?
Isn’t recycling a good thing anyway ?

Oh, I'm not making a negative criticism. In at least some cases the recycling was from big ceremonial pieces which failed to please Koba. No more clues. Except, back in the 1980s, Radio 3 presented a series of three concerts of Prokofiev works that took the recycling to an extreme. Those three examples barely scratched the surface. Prokofiev did not let his pieces d'occasion's content go to waste (nor the odd symphonic movement, come to that).

[RichardB]

Symphony #3

An excellent choice if I may say so! - closely followed by nos. 2 and 6.

[Bryn]

An excellent choice if I may say so! - closely followed by nos. 2 and 6.

2 is amazing. He had a bit of a thing about Beethoven's final piano sonata, both by form and opus number.

[teamsaint]

An excellent choice if I may say so! - closely followed by nos. 2 and 6.

Chris Rouse liked #2 . Well I assume he liked it……

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._3_(Rouse)

[teamsaint]

Oh, I'm not making a negative criticism. In at least some cases the recycling was from big ceremonial pieces which failed to please Koba. No more clues. Except, back in the 1980s, Radio 3 presented a series of three concerts of Prokofiev works that took the recycling to an extreme. Those three examples barely scratched the surface. Prokofiev did not let his pieces d'occasion's content go to waste (nor the odd symphonic movement, come to that).

Of course () there is the shared theme in Myaskowsky Symphony #23 and Prokofiev’s second string quartet…not sure who the borrower was though….

[Simon B]

Symphony #3. Would love to hear it performed live, but concerts featuring any symphonies except the 5th ( and 1st I guess) are thin on the ground.

While perfs of Symphony #3 are indeed thin on the ground, there are 4 opportunities to hear it live in 2023:

LSO in London on Thu 30/3 and Wed 5/4

RLPO in Liverpool on Thu 8/6 and Sun 11/6

A thrilling work when played with sufficient demonic edge. (Which apropos the thread's OP is very much an example of Prokofiev recycling - see The Fiery Angel)

[teamsaint]

While perfs of Symphony #3 are indeed thin on the ground, there are 4 opportunities to hear it live in 2023:

LSO in London on Thu 30/3 and Wed 5/4

RLPO in Liverpool on Thu 8/6 and Sun 11/6

A thrilling work when played with sufficient demonic edge. (Which apropos the thread title is very much an example of Prokofiev recycling - see The Fiery Angel)

Thanks Simon.
I have to confess I am much less diligent at checking listings than before covid, one way or another, though I have been to La Boheme and Bellowhead in the last couple of weeks.

[Pulcinella]

Symphony #3. Would love to hear it performed live, but concerts featuring any symphonies except the 5th ( and 1st I guess) are thin on the ground.

Heard live at a Prom.
I'd really gone to hear DSCH Violin concerto 1, but was just as bowled over by the symphony.

From the Proms archive:

Prom 40
00:00 Sun 15 Aug 2010 Royal Albert Hall

Programme
Modest Mussorgsky
A Night on the Bare Mountain (orch. Rimsky-Korsakov)
Dmitry Shostakovich
Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor
Eugène Ysaÿe
Violin Sonata No. 2, ‘Jacques Thibaud’ – No 1, ‘Obsession’
Alexander Scriabin
Rêverie, Op 24
Sergei Prokofiev
Symphony No 3 in C minor
Performers
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Vladimir Jurowski
conductor
Julia Fischer
violin

But I think it was in the evening, not at 00:00!

[Pulcinella]

Right, so how many blatant examples of Prokofiev's recycling of material can you cite?

Prokofiev used the music from his ballet The prodigal son (first performed in 1929) to form the basis of the two versions of his Symphony No. 4, composed in 1929 and 1947, respectively.

[Joseph K]

Thanks for the suggestions, folks.