Prokofiev - On Guard for Peace & The Queen of Spades - Chandos: CHAN10519 - CD or download

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…superb performances of lesser-known Prokofiev works. Neeme Järvi understands the drama of Prokofiev's music, as is evident in his celebrated cycle of the symphonies, and here he conducts by... — BBC Music Magazine, August 2009, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 27th Apr 2009
Catalogue No: CHAN10519
Label: Chandos
Length: 65 minutes

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Prokofiev: The Queen of Spades Suite

Work length32:19

$8.00

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Neeme Järvi, Royal Scottish National Orchestra

I. Introduction and Allegro

Track length9:42

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II. Adagio

Track length4:53

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III. Scherzo

Track length2:19

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IV. Finale

Track length11:26

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IV. Epilogue - Dumka

Track length3:59

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Prokofiev: On Guard for Peace, Op. 124

Work length33:36

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Neeme Järvi, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Irina Tchistjakova, Niall Docherty, Royal Scottish National Orchestra Junior Chorus, Royal Scottish National Orchestra Chorus, Timothy Dean, Christopher Bell

I. Scarce has the Earth recovered

Track length2:25

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II. Those who are ten today

Track length2:00

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III. Stalingrad - City of Glory

Track length2:35

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IV. Let enduring peace on Earth be the heroes' reward

Track length2:25

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V. We do not want war

Track length2:31

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VI. Dove of Peace

Track length2:25

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VII. Lullaby

Track length6:30

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VIII. At the Festival of Peace

Track length4:34

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IX. Radio conversation

Track length2:34

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X. The whole world is ready for war against war

Track length5:37

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Neeme Järvi is universally applauded for his Prokofiev recordings. Here he conducts the first recording of Symphonic Fragments from The Queen of Spades, as arranged and elaborated by Michael Berkeley, coupled with the seldom performed oratorio On Guard for Peace.

In 1936 Prokofiev was commissioned to write the score for Mikhail Romm’s film The Queen of Spades. Stalin’s directives put an end to the project and the film was never realised; consequently Prokofiev’s score was left unheard, and in the case of some numbers un-orchestrated. In 2007/2008 Michael Berkeley was commissioned to complete the score for a ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, titled Rushes and performed in 2008. This arrangement gave Prokofiev’s music viable dramatic shape, though independent of the original film plot. The Symphonic Fragments recorded here return to and elaborate further upon the surviving film music material to create an extended suite for the concert hall.

Berkeley describes his work as follows: ‘I think the best phrase is that I have “arranged and elaborated” what Prokofiev wrote. It has a wonderful energy and rhythm. Yes, of course it has a film-music feel, but it also has this obsessive quality.’

It is coupled here with Prokofiev’s final politically motivated work, and the last of his choral compositions, the stirring oratorio On Guard for Peace.

Reviews

August 2009

…superb performances of lesser-known Prokofiev works. Neeme Järvi understands the drama of Prokofiev's music, as is evident in his celebrated cycle of the symphonies, and here he conducts by some margin the most convincing account of Prokofiev's final choral work, On Guard for Peace.

2010

On Guard for Peace is a product of the darkest days of Stalinist repression and hence complicit with what David Fanning termed 'mass ideological brainwashing'. Under a cloud post-1948, Vocal Prokofiev 868 his first wife interned and his income drastically cut, Prokofiev had no choice but to supply the sort of cantata the regime required, having gone out of his way to nail down an ideologically foolproof text. There are cute kids, emblematic doves and big tunes. Recurring references to the supervisory role of the Leader and Teacher are both explicit and chilling.
Neeme Järvi has a background in the old Soviet bloc and a long track record in conducting Prokofiev's music for Chandos. His approach is urgent and forthright. Bold sound makes his Scottish forces sound as if they too might hail from St Petersburg and the swimming-pool resonance swallows up the flaws. Soloist Irina Tchistjakova, a youngish mezzo of slightly alarming old-school vibrancy, also narrates.
The unexpected pairing is a Royal Ballet commission perpetrated by Michael Berkeley, chiefly from material Prokofiev had intended to underscore a projected Mikhail Romm film of The Queen of Spades. Berkeley's treatment seems diffuse, probably because the best bits had already been recycled by Prokofiev himself, notably in the slow movement of the Fifth Symphony.
Prokofiev fanciers will wonder why an actual ballet score such as On the Dnieper (similarly plotted) or a finished orchestral piece like the Russian Overture could not have been pressed into service instead.

17th July 2009

Both works get powerhouse performances from Neeme Järvi.

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