(6th) "Richter's friendship with Prokofiev dated back to their student years, and Prokofiev entrusted him with the premieres of the Sixth and Seventh Sonatas and wrote the Ninth Sonata for him". (7th) "a superb achievement" "a big wartime work... that can easily sound sentimental if played with less elegance than this, and a brilliant final toccata in 7/8 rhythm [Gramophone] (8th) "(the recording) is the Prokofiev 8th Sonata which encompasses breadth and depth in a way none can match"[Penguin Guide3*]"

Daniel Pollack first garnered the music world's attention when he became a prize-winner in the First International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition held in Moscow in 1958. This disc is worth it just to be able to read Pollack's essay called "Moscow Recollections" in which he details the trials and tribulations he had during this competition. You see the person he was in direct competition with was another American - Van Cliburn. To read about Pollack's account of learning five Russian pieces for the first round competition, instead of one out of five (because he had language problems and did not get a proper translation of the contest rules) or to read about his having to learn the Tchaikovsky First from memory in five days, is a fascinating read about music. Pollack made his debut with the New York Philharmonic at the age of nine, performing the Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School where he studied with Rosina Lhevinne, herself a gold medal graduate of the Moscow Conservatory. He continued his graduate studies at the Hochshule fir Musik in Vienna and in Siena, Italy. He was also selected as one of 12 pianists internationally to participate in a special Beethoven Master Class with the late Wilhelm Kempff in Positano, Italy. Pollack has held several visiting faculty positions including at Juilliard, Columbia and Yale's School of Music. Today he is on the faculty of the University of Southern California.

Much heralded as the auspicious beginning of a new--and now defunct--recording contract with RCA, Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony's Romeo & Juliet remains a stunningly good Prokofiev disc. This particular arrangement (compiled by the conductor) follows the sequence of the ballet, providing more narrative continuity than Prokofiev's three suites. Thomas' vibrant and insightful conducting, employing some highly effective and idiosyncratic rubato in many passages, powerfully enhances the drama's ebb and flow. The Balcony scene fairly flows with passion, while light and breezy pacing enlivens the Folk Dance and the Young Juliet. The intense drive of Romeo's Revenge (augmented by bass drum and tambourine at the climax) also rivets the attention.

Underlying all of this is the exceptionally high-caliber playing of the San Francisco Symphony, with its bracing energy, virtuosity, and rhythmic vitality. RCA's warmly spacious, wide-dynamic recording makes a powerful impression (even if it cannot match Telarc's recent SACD version for spatial realism). Considering that Thomas' arrangement contains virtually all the main thematic material from the ballet (minus Prokofiev's many repetitions), for many listeners this hugely enjoyable disc will be the one Romeo & Juliet to have and hold. [6/10/2004]

--Victor Carr Jr, ClassicsToday.com

Following the recent re-issues of Prokofiev orchestral works, Chandos now releases the superb Neeme Jarvi and Scottish National Orchestra recordings of Prokofiev's seven symphonies. Prokofiev has had few ambassadors as committed as Jarvi, and they are now available at 24-bit/96kHz on Chandos Classics. "No one is more warmly dramatic in Prokofiev than Jarvi, making his issues consistently recommendable." (The Guardian.) "These Chandos recordings from the mid-1980s are of the highest quality." (Penguin Guide) This 4-CD set is available at the price of 3 CDs.

The Prodigal Son was Prokofiev's last project for the impresario Sergey Diaghilev, who died the year after the ballet was first staged, and in it the composer made his first venture into a musical world dominated not by rhythm but by melody. Järvi and the Scottish National Orchestra here perform the fascinating score complete, adding the Divertimento, the Andante which Prokofiev orchestrated from the central slow movement of his Piano Sonata No.4, Op.29, and the relatively unknown Symphonic Song. Of the original release The Canberra Times wrote, 'The playing throughout is first class, Järvi has a fine feeling for the special qualities of the music, and the engineering is excellent. This is a most attractive disc of the lesser-known music of Prokofiev, which also offers much listening pleasure'. American Record Guide commented, 'Once again, Chandos provides their usual reverberant and vibrant sound. In all its facets, this innovative and distinguished release continues their Prokofiev winning streak'.

PROKOFIEV: Divertissement / Symphony-Concerto in E minor / S

This re-issue brings together the Violin Concertos of Prokofiev, along with Violin Sonata No.1, performed by Lydia Mordkovitch under Neeme Jarvi. 'Jarvi is an outstanding collaborator. His feeling for this composer's music is well established, and he brings out details that other conductors are content to overlook. Ms Mordkovitch has a powerful musical voice and a committed approach. I have returned to this recording with increasing fascination and would recommend it highly.' American Record Guide

Neeme Jarvi conducts Christopher Palmer's version, preserving the film music to Ivan the Terrible. This re-issue offers this praised recording at Classics price. 'Christopher Palmer strikes again! It is undoubtedly one of the great film scores, and Jarvi more than does it justice with the help of impassioned singing and playing from all concerned.' CD Review

As a package, their claims are strong, both artistically and in terms of recording quality, awarded three stars by Penguin Guide. The Guardian wrote, "No one is more warmly dramatic in Prokofiev than Jarvi, making his issues consistently recommendable." As part of our on-going re-issue of Neeme Jarvi's famous Prokofiev Chandos now re-releases The Piano Concertos performed by Boris Berman and Horacio Gutiérrez with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. This has proved to be a very popular set in the past, and is now priced at one full price CD. Other Prokofiev releases available: CHAN 10500(4) X: Complete Symphonies CHAN 10484 X: Peter and Wolf CHAN 10482 X: Alexander Nevsky CHAN 10485 X: Semyon Kotko

Classical Music

On the original release of this disc Classic CD wrote, 'this CD is welcome as an introduction, not only to The Gambler but to the even rarer Semyon Kotko'. The Calgary Herald noted, 'At last we have an incisive modern recording of the Four Portraits, a substantial reworking of music from Prokofiev's opera The Gambler... the Semyon Kotko Suite is striking in its abundant lyricism'. Exhilarating and inventive, Prokofiev's Four Portraits enshrine the best of the opera. Memorable melodies and rich orchestration abound in both these rarely heard suites which will appeal to anyone interested in Prokofiev's lesser-known works. The recordings now return to make a welcome addition to the Chandos Classics label

PROKOFIEV Piano Sonatas (complete). Sarcasms • Anne-Marie McDermott (pn) • BRIDGE 9298 (3 CDs: 183:40)


Anne-Marie McDermott is one of our great under-the-radar pianists. Although she’s appeared widely in an unusually varied repertoire (from Bach to Wuorinen, via Chausson and Beach), she’s never had the kind of press splash enjoyed by Kissin or Lang Lang. Nor has she been rewarded with the kind of long-term label support that Hyperion has given such contemporaries as Hamelin and Hough. In fact, this Prokofiev cycle was originally recorded in 1999 and 2003 for Arabesque, which never even issued the third CD. But McDermott stands up well against those with more prestige: everything I’ve heard from her up until now—most recently, her spiffy Gershwin (32:1) and her Beach/Smith CD (reviewed by Michael Cameron in 32:5)—has been excellent, and this Prokofiev collection is, if anything, better still.


What’s most striking, I suppose, is the variety of utterance. Even some of the best Prokofiev pianists (say, Valentine Lisitsa or Yaakov Kaman) can homogenize the surfaces in their pursuit of visceral excitement and overall effect. But, in part because of her magnificent touch, in part because of her unfailing interpretive intelligence, McDermott makes sure that the full range of Prokofiev’s discursive practice comes through, from the impressionistic dreaminess that opens the first movement of the Eighth, to the slightly manic wit that threatens the second movement of the Sixth, to the glower of the Fourth’s Adagio, to the quicksilver madcap of the Third, and to the tight motoric drive of the third of the Sarcasms.


Granted, while her technique is solid (no strain in the finale of the Seventh) and while her sound, where necessary, is bold, she doesn’t have the bone-crunching intensity of Argerich or the sheer concentration of Richter. But she more than compensates in her treatment of details, in her rhythmic resilience, in her scrupulous dynamics, and most of all in her exceptional sensitivity to the music’s narrative progress (the peaceful end of the Ninth, usually so perfunctory, seems a hard-won resolution in McDermott’s hands). Her darting account of the first movement of the Second—with its disorienting shifts in direction—makes even Gary Graffman’s famous recording seem slightly facile. This is, quite simply, playing of the highest order.


Want a sense of the scope of her imagination? Try some of the less popular music first: her kaleidoscopic account of the Fifth (revised version) or, even better, her richly dialogical performance of the usually pale Ninth, where her biting performance of the second movement contrasts especially dramatically with her subtly troubled reading of the Andante tranquillo. Neither of these sonatas is usually considered to represent Prokofiev at his most inspired, for good reason; but in McDermott’s committed performances, they seem nearly as vital as the more popular Second.


Those wanting to build up a mix-and-match collection of this repertoire can choose from the long discography of individual sonatas set down by Argerich, Gilels, Horowitz, Krainev, Leschenko, and Richter, to name but a few of the front-runners. If you’re looking for a package deal, though, this cycle takes its place with the Raekallio and the Chiu as the best ever recorded, well above the relatively plain recordings by Sandor, Nissman, and Boris Berman. The excellent engineering only makes the release that much more attractive. Strongest recommendation.


FANFARE: Peter J. Rabinowitz

Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet Ballet (Excerpts) & Lieutenant K

Following the success of Prokofiev Milestones Vol. 1, SOMM Recordings is pleased to announce the release of the second volume of Prokofiev Milestones featuring the Slovenian violinist Lana Trotovsek and Spanish pianist Maria Canyigueral. For Russian composers born in the last decades of the nineteenth-century, the October Revolution of 1917 was cataclysmic. Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953) was born in Ukraine, known at that time as 'Little Russia,' and he sought exile in the United States in 1918. By 1924, he had appeared as soloist in his first three piano concertos in London. But the pull of his homeland remained strong, and in the mid 1930s he decided to return. The initial works that Prokofiev produced in the Soviet Union-the film score for Lieutenant Kije, the children's tale Peter and the Wolf, and the ballet Romeo and Juliet-enjoyed wide public success. It was against this backdrop that Prokofiev began work on his First Violin Sonata, Op. 80, one of his most serious works with a singular depth of expression. The second sonata on this release was commissioned by the Soviet Committee of Arts Affairs. The Sonata for Solo Violin, Op. 115 is a remarkably approachable work in neo-classical style. It wasn't publicly performed until six years after Prokofiev's death due to a decree in 1948 condemning the 'formalism' of much contemporary Soviet music. This recording also includes four transcriptions. During his first visit to America in 1918, Prokofiev composed a short suite for solo piano, Tales of an Old Grandmother. The second tale, an evocative piece with a nostalgic character, was later transcribed by the�Russian-born violinist, Nathan Milstein. While in California, Prokofiev composed a set of songs without words, Five Melodies for soprano vocalise and piano. Five years later, in 1925, he arranged the pieces for violin and piano. After his return to the Soviet Union, and following the success of Romeo and Juliet, Prokofiev produced another highly successful ballet, Cinderella. Five pieces from the ballet were transcribed by the Soviet violinist Mikhail Fichtenholz for recital repertoire. In 1939, Jascha Heifetz published his transcription of the March from Prokofiev's 1921 opera, The Love of Three Oranges, which won praise from the composer himself. Prokofiev's instrument was the piano. This fact makes his lasting contributions to the violin repertoire, and his deep understanding of the inherent nature of the instrument, all the more remarkable. Of Vol 1: "a real coup for die-hard fans of my grandfather" Gabriel Prokofiev "This is an intriguing start to a series by imaginative and sensitive musicians."� "... both Boris Bizjak (flute) and Lana Trotovsek (violin) advocate for their respective versions with great affection and sympathy for the style. The well-balanced contribution of pianist Maria Canyigueral allows both flute and violin to take flight over a broad palette of timbres." Gramophone�(Maria Frolova-Walker) "Sterling performances. Certainly, Prokofiev is in good hands." Textura

The idea of arranging movements from Prokofiev' popular ballet Romeo and Juliet for brass band and percussion is not as strange as it may first seem, since Russia boasts a great brass band tradition.