Although British music-lovers have been lucky enough over the years to hear Prokofiev’s music interpreted by Rostropovich, Rozhdestvensky, Temirkanov and Gergiev — conductors who knew the Soviet Union inside-out — we have apparently got the composer all wrong. With this new 11-concert series, Vladimir Jurowski, the London Philharmonic’s artistic director, says that he wants to liberate Prokofiev from “the black-and-white over-simplified view that tends to be held — especially in Britain”. To that end, the festival avoids well-known masterpieces such as Romeo and Juliet, Peter and the Wolf and the Third Piano Concerto. Instead, it offers audiences the chance to reappraise (or hear for the first time) some rarer Prokofiev.
That may lead to a less “over- simplified” view. But on the evidence of this opening concert it might not win Prokofiev more admirers. It was a pity that Jurowski himself wasn’t available to champion the Seventh Symphony and the Cello Concerto in E minor. Perhaps he could have made them sound more cogent and compelling than they did under Alexander Vedernikov’s direction. But I doubt it. Vedernikov, current maestro of the Bolshoi, is an astute interpreter — rather like Rozhdestvensky in his sparse, quixotic gestures. Under his direction the LPO’s performances were crisp and efficient. And although the cellist Danjulo Ishizaka will never rival Rostropovich for character, he too produced a fluent performance in a concerto with many tricky corners.
No, the reasons why 85 minutes of music seemed to last five hours lay in the notes themselves. When Shostakovich was uninspired, he dazzled with technique and pastiche. When Prokofiev was uninspired, his music chugs like a cold engine. He himself recognised the Cello Concerto’s deficiencies — comprehensively reworking it into the fine Symphony- Concerto that Rostropovich played so intensely. But he was dying when the Seventh Symphony was premiered. If it sounds like an exhausted rehashing of old clichés, that is because it is.
At least we were allowed to hear the jolly Lieutenant Kijé suite, albeit tamely played. I went home and stuck on a CD of Romeo and Juliet — just to remind myself that on the right day Prokofiev could write amazing music.
Source.
That may lead to a less “over- simplified” view. But on the evidence of this opening concert it might not win Prokofiev more admirers. It was a pity that Jurowski himself wasn’t available to champion the Seventh Symphony and the Cello Concerto in E minor. Perhaps he could have made them sound more cogent and compelling than they did under Alexander Vedernikov’s direction. But I doubt it. Vedernikov, current maestro of the Bolshoi, is an astute interpreter — rather like Rozhdestvensky in his sparse, quixotic gestures. Under his direction the LPO’s performances were crisp and efficient. And although the cellist Danjulo Ishizaka will never rival Rostropovich for character, he too produced a fluent performance in a concerto with many tricky corners.
No, the reasons why 85 minutes of music seemed to last five hours lay in the notes themselves. When Shostakovich was uninspired, he dazzled with technique and pastiche. When Prokofiev was uninspired, his music chugs like a cold engine. He himself recognised the Cello Concerto’s deficiencies — comprehensively reworking it into the fine Symphony- Concerto that Rostropovich played so intensely. But he was dying when the Seventh Symphony was premiered. If it sounds like an exhausted rehashing of old clichés, that is because it is.
At least we were allowed to hear the jolly Lieutenant Kijé suite, albeit tamely played. I went home and stuck on a CD of Romeo and Juliet — just to remind myself that on the right day Prokofiev could write amazing music.
Source.
BBCSO/Vedernikov at the Barbican, EC2
Richard MORRISON, The Times, January 16, 2012
