Sergei PROKOFIEV (1891-1953)
Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 25 “Classical Symphony” [13:49]
Symphony No. 5 in B flat major, Op. 100 [41:59]
Sydney Symphony/Vladimir Ashkenazy
rec. 31 October, 2 November 2009, Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House,
Sydney. DDD CD/SACD Stereo
EXTON EXCL-00042 [55:57]
Although only fairly recently taking up the reins of the Sydney Symphony,
Vladimir Ashkenazy has already made a host of recordings with his new partners.
He was appointed Principal Conductor in 2009 and has wasted no time in committing
to disc the kind of repertoire which we would normally associate with Ashkenazy-the-conductor.
Rachmaninov and Elgar abound in the Sydney/Ashkenazy discography, and this
latest disc on the Japanese label Exton adds to the partnership’s Prokofiev
series.
Prokofiev’s First and Fifth are one of the most familiar of pairings
in the Prokofiev discography. They easily eclipse the rest of Prokofiev’s
fascinating symphonic cycle in terms of popular appeal and seem a logical
place to begin a cycle, if that is what this is to become. The ebullient First,
named the ‘Classical’ for its Haydnesque proportions and throwback-harmonic
language is here played with terrific precision and beauty of sound; the wind
solos are very fine, particularly in the autumnal lilt of the conclusion of
the second movement (figure 39[2:59]) where the chattering oboe and singing
strings are very finely balanced. Elsewhere, though, this is a performance
which values clean lines and precise balance at the expense of character and
while the playing is more consistently beautiful than the London Symphony
Orchestra’s under Valery Gergiev (Philips 4757655), Gergiev captures
better the mischievous charm of this symphony and its playful updating of
a long-distant sound world. Exton’s recorded sound is nicely bassy but
somewhat muffled and the stereo mix is rather narrowly focused. This may not
be a problem on the SACD layer, though, which I was unable to sample.
The Fifth is one of Prokofiev’s greatest and in some ways most misunderstood
works. There’s a vein of madness coursing through this music which only
comes to fruition in the Symphony’s finale. Its descent into mechanical
madness was completely missed by the Soviet authorities at the work’s
1945 premiere, who, at a time when the Great Patriotic War was swinging so
decisively in their favour, seem to have taken the Symphony’s heroic
bluster at face value. Some conductors continue to read the music straight
down the line to this day and on this evidence Vladimir Ashkenazy seems to
be one of them. His reading underplays the more sinister elements; indeed,
the final movement’s cataclysmic conclusion seems an abrupt gear-change
rather than the logical upshot of what has preceded. The Sydney Symphony again
play with a cleanliness and beauty, though their weaknesses are brought out
a little more here, particularly in some doddery trumpet playing. Ashkenazy
follows convention by completely disregarding the printed metronome indications
(can the Adagio ever have been played as fast as is requested in the
score?), though he goes perhaps too far by almost doubling the first movement’s
opening tempo.
Ultimately, this performance of the Fifth Symphony is rather unmemorable,
particularly when compared with Herbert von Karajan’s magisterial 1968
recording of the Fifth (DG Galleria 4372532), surely one of the greatest things
the diminutive Austrian maestro ever did.
Andrew Morris
Good, clean, but ultimately unmemorable performances rendered in less than
ideal sound