Search - Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Mravinsky :: Symphony 6 / Petrushka

Serious music about time spent in war, masterfully presented

Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 08/30/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This 1958 recording, based on a Moscow radio broadcast, presents Yevgeny Mravinsky's view of what most critics call Prokofiev's best symphony, the tragic Symphony No. 6 in E flat major.



Written after World War II, Prokofiev followed the optimism and humanity of his popular Symphony No. 5 with this message about time and lives lost to worldwide war and the optimisim of days to come.



The first movement (allegro moderato) starts out in major key doldrums, exploding into a minor key brass statement to outline the serious subject matter ahead. It is followed by a 13-minute largo that continues to present serious ideas about our lives in the postwar period through a lens of the destruction in Europe. The finale (vivace) is brighter and optimistic while still continuing the serious ideas presented earlier.



I continue to find Mravinsky to be the best person for this kind of music. His expertise in Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich is equally brilliant in Prokofiev and his strong arm conducting is tempered with reserve and resolve that allows Prokofiev's humanistic message come through.



While this version may no longer be available this performance can still be found on other labels. It is clearly preferable to today's best-sounding performance, the one led by Neemi Jarvi. Mravinsky proves here, one more time, what an indispensable master he is of 20th century Russian and Soviet music.



This recording, still considered the best translation of this music by many senior critics, has shown up in many packages over the years on Russian Disk, Praga and other labels. The sound is good for its period, with clearly enunciated sections of the orchestral on parade including the depth of the lower brass. Only in quieter moments of the largo does some of the sound picture disappear.



The disk is accompanied by an alternately direct and trenchant performance of Stravinksy's "Petrouchka" recorded in the 1940s that sounds like it was recorded 20 years later. These scenes of common Russian life spring to life under Mravinsky's direction. He leads the original score in this well-filled CD.



The two pages of English notes in this issue say more about the music being presented -- and its role in the world at the time of its premier -- than is the norm these days in full price CDs. The notes (author not cited) also discuss Mravinsky's role in premiering the Prokofiev as well as the foundations of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra.



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