Prokofiev - On Guard for Peace, Queen of Spades | Chandos CHAN10519

Prokofiev - On Guard for Peace, Queen of Spades

£14.49

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Label: Chandos

Cat No: CHAN10519

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Release Date: 27th April 2009

Contents

Artists

Irina Tchistjakova (mezzo-soprano)
Niall Docherty (boy alto)
Royal Scottish National Orchestra Junior Chorus
Royal Scottish National Orchestra Chorus
Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Conductor

Neeme Jarvi

Works

Prokofiev, Sergei

On Guard for Peace, op.124
The Queen of Spades: Suite of Symphonic Fragments (arr. M Berkeley)

Artists

Irina Tchistjakova (mezzo-soprano)
Niall Docherty (boy alto)
Royal Scottish National Orchestra Junior Chorus
Royal Scottish National Orchestra Chorus
Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Conductor

Neeme Jarvi

About

Neeme Järvi is universally applauded for his Prokofiev recordings. Here he conducts the first recording of Symphonic Fragments from The Queen of Spades, as arranged and elaborated by Michael Berkeley, coupled with the seldom performed oratorio On Guard for Peace.  

In 1936, Prokofiev was commissioned to write the score for Mikhail Romm’s film 'The Queen of Spades'. Stalin’s directives put an end to the project and the film was never realised; consequently Prokofiev’s score was left unheard and, in the case of some numbers, unorchestrated.  In 2007 / 2008 Michael Berkeley was commissioned to complete the score for a ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, titled 'Rushes' and performed in 2008. This arrangement gave Prokofiev’s music viable dramatic shape, though independent of the original film plot. The Symphonic Fragments recorded here return to and elaborate further upon the surviving film music material to create an extended suite for the concert hall.
 
Berkeley describes his work as follows: ‘I think the best phrase is that I have “arranged and elaborated” what Prokofiev wrote. It has a wonderful energy and rhythm. Yes, of course it has a film-music feel, but it also has this obsessive quality.’

It is coupled here with Prokofiev’s final politically motivated work, and the last of his choral compositions, the stirring oratorio 'On Guard for Peace'.

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