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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Prokofiev: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 6
This new release features the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Sakari Oramo performing Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6. These two symphonies, composed in 1944 and 1947, are very different in mood, but stylistically closely related. The Fifth was written amid the chaos of the Second World War and seeks to find a positive solution; but in the Sixth, completed soon after war, the mood is darker. Both feature Prokofiev’s melodic writing at its best. Sakari Oramo, following his tenure as Chief Conductor of the CBSO, served as chief conductor of the Finnish RSO from 2003 to 2012. As of autumn 2013 he will be the chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. With the Finnish RSO, he has won considerable critical acclaim from recordings of 20th-century and contemporary Finnish repertoire. “Aided by a clean and unfussy recorded acoustic, Oramo and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra bring out the work's remarkable colours and character. In the second movement one senses the Symphony's deliberate hesitations, and those moments where certainties are undermined by a curdled harmony or a baleful brass fanfare.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2012 *** “Oramo invests the expansive opening andante [of the Fifth] and intense, emotional adagio with rare power and authority...[He] guides us through its devastated landscape with clarity and compassion.” The Observer, 16th September 2012 | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 & The Year 1941
Written in 1944, Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony is one of his greatest and most complete symphonic statements. At its première he himself called it “a symphony of the grandeur of the human spirit”. The first movement couples considerable strength with unexpected yet highly characteristic twists of melody. After a violent scherzo followed by a slow movement of sustained lyricism, with a fiercely dramatic middle section, the finale blazes with barely suppressed passion. The Year 1941 is another wartime work, a symphonic suite written in response to the German invasion of the Soviet Union. 24-bit, 96 kHz Stereo and Surround recordings “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 on blu-ray.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2013 ***** | | Naxos - NBD0031 (Blu-ray audio) Normally: $15.25 Special: $12.20 |
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| |  | Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 & The Year 1941
Written in 1944, Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony is one of his greatest and most complete symphonic statements. At its première he himself called it “a symphony of the grandeur of the human spirit”. The first movement couples considerable strength with unexpected yet highly characteristic twists of melody. After a violent scherzo followed by a slow movement of sustained lyricism, with a fiercely dramatic middle section, the finale blazes with barely suppressed passion. The Year 1941 is another wartime work, a symphonic suite written in response to the German invasion of the Soviet Union. This is the first volume of a complete cycle of the Prokofiev Symphonies with the OSESP and Marin Alsop, the orchestra’s newly appointed Principal Conductor. “the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra and its conductor Marin Alsop held my attention as never before...The Fifth Symphony comes up trumps in a dramatic yet highly polished performance...I was particularly impressed by how Alsop brings out the first movement's characteristic power with a purposefulness that prevents it from seeming merely ponderous...Altogether, this first volume of Prokofiev is an outstanding achievement.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2012 ***** “I don't know if Alsop thinks this is great music, but she conducts as if it is...[Her] first movement has plenty of sweep...Of drama there is no shortage either...there's a sincerity here that keeps the music from seeming merely overbearing...this is one of the most gorgeously engineered orchestra CDs to come my way in some time...Even if you have several Prokofiev Fifths, you need to make room for this one.” International Record Review, June 2012 “The performance of the symphony is one of considerable power, more expansive than some but conceived with a judicious balance between emotional weight and structural cohesion...the São Paulo has a great deal to offer in terms of energy, atmosphere, humanity and also technical accomplishment in those passages (notably in the finale) where Prokofiev taxed an orchestra’s togetherness.” The Telegraph, 13th July 2012 “Alsop, the Sao Paolo Symphony’s new principal conductor, directs a perfectly serviceable account, advertising a disciplined but slightly colourless ensemble.” Financial Times, 27th July 2012 *** “this is the best recording of [The Year 1941] that I have heard...Alsop’s performance should go some way towards bringing it to the public’s attention. She injects the first movement with sufficient drama and the second movement - my favorite of the three - is poignant and touching. The orchestra sounds world class both here and in the symphony.” MusicWeb International, August 2012  BBC Music Magazine
Orchestral Choice - July 2012 |
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| |  | Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto
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| |  | Prokofiev: Symphonies Nos 5 & 7 & Sinfonia Concertante
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) was, along with Dmitri Shostakovich, the greatest Russian composer of the Soviet Period. Unlike his compatriot, Prokofiev left revolutionary Russia in 1918, not returning until 1935. All of the works in this set were written during the final years of the composer's life. Indeed, the Sinfonia Concertante and Seventh Symphony were his final two compositions. The Fifth Symphony was composed during the War and first performed, with Prokofiev conducting, in 1945. It was an instant success and has become one of the composer's most popular works. “Ha-Na Chang gives a mesmerising performance of the Symphony-Concerto. Robert Irving's 1957 account of the Cinderella Suite hardly betrays its age, and Rattle's 1992 recording of Symphony No. 5 remains highly competitive” BBC Music Magazine, April 2011 **** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Prokofiev - Symphonies Nos. 1 & 5
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This and the other two 2-CD sets - 4800830 and 4800837 - represent all of Ansermet's Prokofiev recordings for Decca (with the exception of a mono recording of the March and Scherzo from The Love for Three Oranges). Both the Paris Conservatoire and the Suisse Romande versions of the 'Classical' Symphony are included. | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5
‘He seemed to have the knack of delving deep into the psychology of individual members of the orchestra, and of extracting from them playing of an almost transcendental nature.’ Misha Donat 1969 Turin recording.
PICTURE FORMAT: 4:3
LENGTH: 77 Mins
SOUND: LPCM MONO
SUBTITLES: N/A
“Celibidache makes the most of Prokofiev's balletic moments, and has a keen sense of pacing and balance in Strauss. The sound could be more opulent, both from the orchestra, and as recorded.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2007 *** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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“A Prokofiev Fifth as vibrant, intelligent and meticulously prepared as you'd expect from this partnership." And they found the Scythian Suite no less worthy of praise: “Rattle's coupling is a pretty stunning Scythian Suite, combining foundation-threatening pagan spectacle and heart-stopping beauty in ideal equilibrium” Gramophone Magazine | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Erich Leinsdorf - Prokofiev
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