Search - Prokofiev, Rostropovich :: Symphony Concerto in E Minor Op 125

Authorative Recordings

D. A Wend | Buffalo Grove, IL USA | 05/23/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is an extraordinary disc of Sergei Prokofiev's music for cello played by the musician who directly influenced all of the music recorded here: Mstislav Rostropovich. The main work is the Symphony-Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 125, a work that does not get performed very often much less recorded. It reused the themes of the Cello Concerto Op. 58 but expanded the music. The Symphony is a marvelous piece for the cello and shows off the instrument so that this becomes a concerto within a symphony. The final movement is a theme and variations that ends with a thrilling coda where the cello, blithely singing away, is brought back to earth by several strokes on a side drum in the final bars.



The Cello Concertino, Op. 132 is a delightfully melodious work written in a simple language seems aimed toward young people. At 19 minutes, the Concertino is as long as many concertos but the name is meant to reflect the intimate concept behind the music. The Concertino was written during Prokofiev's last year. The Cello Sonata, written in 1949 for Mstislav Rostropovich, is based on the same structure as the Violin Sonata with a slow opening movement followed by a Scherzo and completed with a finale using a sonata form. The work was first performed by Rostropovich and Sviatoslav Richter in 1950, and they are the performers in this recording from 1951.



The Symphony-Concerto and Concertino are marvelously played by the State Symphony Orchestra of the USSR conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky. The sound (from 1960 and 1964) is good but not what we are used to with digital recordings. The Sonata has some moments of distortion but the recording is good and of historical importance coming from Prokofiev's lifetime. If you are deeply interested on Prokofiev's cello music and his collaboration with Rostropovich, this is a must have disc.

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