RECORDING OF THE MONTH
Sergei PROKOFIEV (1891-1953)
The Year 1941, Op. 90 (Symphonic Suite) (1941) [15:01]
Symphony No 5 in B flat major, Op. 100 (1944) [44:47]
São Paulo Symphony Orchestra/Marin Alsop
rec. 26-31 August, 2011, Sala São Paulo, Brazil DDD
NAXOS 8.573029 [59:48]
The São Paulo Symphony Orchestra - Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado
de São Paulo (OSESP) - was founded in 1954. Previous Principal Conductors
have included John Neschling (1997-2008), with whom the orchestra made a number
of well-received recordings, and Yan Pascal Tortelier (2009-2011). In 2011
the orchestra achieved something of a coup by appointing the high-profile
American, Marin Alsop as principal conductor from March 2012, a post she will
combine with her similar role at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. The OSESP
and Ms Alsop have chosen to inaugurate their relationship on CD with a cycle
of Prokofiev symphonies, of which this is the first instalment. Collectors
may also be interested to note that the
orchestra’s website indicates that they will be also recording for
Naxos a complete cycle of the Villa-Lobos symphonies under the Brazilian conductor,
Isaac Karabtchevsky (volume 1 8.573043 (6 and 7) just issued). This Prokofiev
CD is released to coincide with a European tour, which included a successful
British debut at the BBC Proms (review).
The Fifth, one of Prokofiev’s most important compositions, is a good
place to begin such a cycle but if the Fifth is well known its companion on
this CD most certainly isn’t. It’s intelligent programming not
only to couple a familiar and an unfamiliar piece but also to place together
two wartime works written at very different points in the Russian experience
of World War II. In 1941 the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union had just begun
- and Prokofiev had been evacuated to the relative safety of the Caucasus
- but by the time he came to compose his Fifth symphony the tide of war had
turned in favour of the Allies.
The Year 1941 was written between July and November of that year. It’s
in three movements, ‘In the Struggle’, ‘In the Night’
and ‘For the Brotherhood of Man’. The work was not well received
when it was first heard in 1943 and, apparently, it’s never been published.
Naxos don’t claim this as a première recording but I doubt it’s
been recorded - or played - very often; I’d never heard it before. I
wouldn’t say it’s top-drawer Prokofiev but it’s worth hearing,
especially the central section, much of which is in the composer’s lyrical
vein.
Unlike The Year 1941 the Fifth Symphony was well received from the
outset. One of its early champions was Serge Koussevitzky, who gave the US
première of the piece in November 1945 and who made a very fine recording
of it - perhaps the work’s first recording - for Victor in February
the following year. Koussevitzky gave Prokofiev direct support - the Fourth
symphony was one of the works commissioned for the Boston Symphony’s
50th anniversary in 1930 and he was later invited to conduct the
orchestra. Prokofiev also benefited from the conductor’s more general
support for Soviet composers during the war about which Michael Steinberg
has related a charming story. Koussevitzky arranged for several shipments
of manuscript paper to be sent from the USA to the Soviet Union. When he received
the score of the Fifth to prepare for the US première he discovered
that it had been written out on some of that very paper!
In a note in the booklet for the Koussevitzky recording Prokofiev is quoted
as saying the following about the Fifth. “I wished to glorify man as
free and happy, his mighty strength, his noble spirit. I would not say that
I searched for this theme. It was born in me and required expression.”
So, the symphony clearly was intended to express lofty ideals. I’d say
that Marin Alsop’s performance pretty much measures up to the expectations
that such a statement arouses.
In the first movement she brings out the power and the lyricism in Prokofiev’s
writing. The playing she gets from the OSESP is very good; in particular the
bass end of the orchestra is powerful, as it needs to be, without overpowering
the textures. The extended climax near the end (11:07 - 12:47) is imposing;
here, as elsewhere, the percussion section is well reported by the recording.
The pithy, mobile scherzo is played with bite. The bridge passage to the trio
is played more slowly that I can recall hearing - perhaps just a fraction
too slowly - while the trio itself, which would not be out of place
in Romeo and Juliet, is elegantly phrased. The malevolent, sneering
return to the scherzo material is taken deliberately, as it should be, but
once Alsop and her players get back to the scherzo it’s taken at a real
lick.
In his notes Keith Anderson says that the slow movement is “a movement
of sustained lyricism, with a fiercely dramatic middle section”. Yes,
it is lyrical but I think there’s also a darkness, even a feeling of
tragedy, which harks back to the closing moments of Romeo and Juliet.
In the central section (from 5:00 onwards) Alsop imparts the necessary gravitas
as well as drama to the slow march, building it to a potent climax (7:20 -
7:50). After Prokofiev has returned to the material of the opening Alsop and
her players deliver the gently luminous closing pages expertly. The generally
high spirited finale, with its often brittle orchestration, is done with spirit
and élan. There are plenty of good recordings of this important symphony
in the catalogue but this newcomer ranks among the best I’ve heard.
The recordings were made in the orchestra’s home, the Sala São
Paulo. This 1500-seater hall is, I believe, a converted railway station. The
engineers have produced a very good recording with plenty of presence and
clarity. The booklet notes are adequate. Marin Alsop’s Prokofiev cycle
has been launched auspiciously and I look forward to future issues.
John Quinn
An auspicious launch of Marin Alsop’s Prokofiev symphony cycle in São
Paulo.
see also review by Leslie Wright
Masterwork Index: Prokofiev
symphonies