Prokofiev: Symphony No. 3 / Scythian Suite / Autumn
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SERGEI PROKOFIEV
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 3 / Scythian Suite / Autumn
São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop
[ Naxos / CD ]
Release Date: Monday 1 June 2015
This item is currently out of stock. We expect to be able to supply it to you within 2 - 4 weeks from when you place your order.
This fourth volume in Marin Alsop's acclaimed Prokofiev symphonic cycle features two of his most viscerally exciting works. Using material salvaged from his opera The Fiery Angel, the Third Symphony was hailed by Serge Koussevitzky at its 1929 première as 'the best symphony since Tchaikovsky's Sixth'. Originally commissioned as a ballet by Sergey Dyagilev but rejected as un-danceable, the Scythian Suite has become a popular orchestral showpiece, while Prokofiev retained a lifelong fondness for his dark-hued early symphonic sketch Autumn.
Judging by the response to the previous volumes of this fruitful partnership with Marin Alsop and the excellent São Paulo Symphony Orchestra this new release will have no problems in becoming a market leader. The First and Second Symphonies disc (8573353) was an Allmusic.com 'Editor's Choice' for its "first-rate performance", and the Fifth Symphony was described as "an outstanding achievement" by BBC Music Magazine, which also regarded the Fourth Symphony (8.573186) as "compelling". The Blu-ray releases have also been widely acclaimed, with NBD0031 made Audiophile Audition 'Best Disc of the Year' in 2012, and prompting BBC Music Magazine to write, "this exceptional account of Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony is partnered by a revelatory performance of The Year 1941, while the recording bursts out of the speakers."
"Even die-hard fans will admit that Prokofiev's seven [symphonies] aren't always magnificent and Marin Alsop's elegant lucidity provides only a partial solution to the problem…she gets unfailingly good string playing, often more sensitively nuanced than that of her rivals, but her Sao Paulo team does tend to 'normalise' the invention, smoothing away rough edges in a manner that not everyone will find idiomatic…still, Alsop's reading works on its own terms, and if she makes the music sound as much like Roussel as Stravinsky one can perhaps discern why Serge Diaghilev chose to reject [the Scythian Suite] as insufficiently Russian." (Gramophone)
"Marin Alsop and her São Paulo Symphony Orchestra have been a catch for the budget label Naxos...Alsop's lack of sentimentality is a good thing, but this performance would have had more colour had she lingered over its corners a little more." (Guardian)
"Alsop has the measure of the symphony's structure, dramatic pacing and emotional content, drawing a bright sound from the São Paulo players, goading them into firm rhythmic propulsion and drawing out rich strands of string sound seasoned with the acerbic harmonies and instrumental clashes that lend the symphony such a powerful impulse." (Daily Telegraph)
Tracks:
Symphony No. 4 in C major, Op. 112 (revised version)
The Prodigal Son, Op. 46
