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Free on Fridays - Prokofiev: Academy Concert Orchestra/Ignat Solzhenitsyn, Duke’s Hall, Royal Academy of Music, London, 21.11.2008 (BBr)

Sergei Prokofiev: Symphony No.6 in Eb minor, op.111 (1947)


The RAM’s Free on Fridays series has been delighting concert goers for nearly ten years and I’ve heard some fine performances in that time. Today was something rather special.

Apart from the 1^st and 5^th Prokofiev’s Symphonies don’t fare too well in the concert halls of this country – recordings are a different matter – so it was good to see this monumental work listed for inclusion in the current series, and, perhaps, lunchtime is the right time to listen to this music for it is emotionally and physically draining, both for the listener as well as the performer.

In three large movements, this Symphony is seen as an elegy for the fallen in war and, although well received at its première, it was denounced as “formalist” by the Stalin regime. It’s easy to see why it would enrage the State apparatus – it’s very heavily scored, is exceptionally dissonant, isn’t uplifting and doesn’t show a positive attitude – even though each of the movements end in the major. Solzhenitsyn had the measure of the music and directed a superb performance from the young players.

The first movement begins uncompromisingly with a descending idea for muted trombones and tuba, a call to attention in a way, but this is immediately dispelled by a theme for muted violins. A second theme is an almost winsome idea for the woodwind. It’s what happens in the development section which must have offended. Like Shostakovich’s 8^th, this is complicated stuff, some of the most dramatic and obdurate music Prokofiev ever wrote and the drama and tension is screwed up to fever pitch, the orchestra brutalizing the music in no uncertain terms. The slow movement is dark and begins and ends with the most harsh music. The finale starts with an almost Mozartean gait but we’re soon plunged back into the argument. At the end, the woodwind recall earlier music and without any warning the music is unceremoniously snuffed out.

Solzhenitsyn saw the work as a whole and treated it as one big span. There was drama and tension a–plenty in the first movement, as he moved from the subdued music of the exposition to the stressful argument of the development. This was handled with great attention to detail, the huge sound made by the orchestra was never allowed to get out of hand, and each strand was carefully brought out as the music grew ever more complex. The slow movement saw some beautiful playing and the finale was never allowed to race away, as it so easily could because of the supposed lightened textures and music.

There was excellent playing from every department of the orchestra, the strings full–bodied, rich and sonorous, the wind and brass forthright and, although their parts are small, they are telling, the harp, piano and percussion made pointed contributions. The star, in many ways, of the whole show was timpanist Daniel Bradley whose positive contribution underpinned the whole structure.

I must say that this was one of the most satisfying Free on Fridays concerts I’ve attended. To get such music making for free is one of the boons of having such fine music schools in London.

Bob Briggs


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