Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky / Abbado

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Alexander Nevsky is one of the great film scores, and a beautifully restored edition of the film with a new digitally recorded soundtrack, is now available. Eisenstein's movie was a landmark in the history of the cinema--something like half of it consists of nothing but the great "battle on the ice," and the helmets of the invading crusaders gave George Lucas some ideas for the Storm Trooper costumes in Star Wars. The cantata that Prokofiev fashioned from the complete score has all of the good tunes, but none of action-motivated repetition, and this is its best performance. Combined with the two suites, it makes a stunning Prokofiev disc. --David Hurwitz

Tracks:

Alexander Nevsky, Op.78: I. Russia Under The Mongol Yoke
Alexander Nevsky, Op.78: II. Song About Alexander Nevsky
Alexander Nevsky, Op.78: III. The Crusaders In Pskov
Alexander Nevsky, Op.78: IV. Arise, Ye Russian People
Alexander Nevsky, Op.78: V. The Battle On The Ice
Alexander Nevsky, Op.78: VI. The Field Of The Dead
Alexander Nevsky, Op.78: VII. Alexander's Entry Into Pskov
Skythische Suite, Op.20: I. The Adoration of Veless and Ala
Skythische Suite, Op.20: II. The Enemy God And The Dance Of The Spirits Of Darkness
Skythische Suite, Op.20: III. Night
Skythische Suite, Op.20: IV. The Glorious Departure Of Lolly And The Sun's Procession
Leutnant Kije, Op.60: I. Kije 's Birth
Leutnant Kije, Op.60: II. Romance
Leutnant Kije, Op.60: III. Kije 's Wedding
Leutnant Kije, Op.60: IV. Troika
Leutnant Kije, Op.60: V. Kije 's Burial

Amazon.com

Alexander Nevsky is one of the great film scores, and a beautifully restored edition of the film with a new digitally recorded soundtrack, is now available. Eisenstein's movie was a landmark in the history of the cinema--something like half of it consists of nothing but the great "battle on the ice," and the helmets of the invading crusaders gave George Lucas some ideas for the Storm Trooper costumes in Star Wars. The cantata that Prokofiev fashioned from the complete score has all of the good tunes, but none of action-motivated repetition, and this is its best performance. Combined with the two suites, it makes a stunning Prokofiev disc. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

The Best Film Score Ever!~.......2007-03-09

Nevsky with Abbado is a stirring and moveing piece. This is the best version I've heard! Kije and the the rampaging Scythians are also first rate.

The recording to own.......2006-07-16

This is a must for any fan of tbe music
of Prokofiev. The cantat from the film
"Alexander Nevsky" is well perfomed by the
London Symphony Orchestra who is well suited
for the task. The cantata reaches a sublime point
when the solo for solo for mezzo-soprano sung by Elena
Obratsova. Also in this recording we hear Prokifiev's
Scythian Suite, as performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
under maestro Abbado. Also here is the suite from the
film score: "Lieutenant Kije". Here a prominent solo part
in different moments in the Suite is performed
by trumpeter: Adolph Herseth. The music was recorded beetween
1978 and 1980, indeed a five star classic.

A must disk for Prokofiev lovers/collectors.......2004-10-04

Claudio Abbado' is definitely one of the greatest Prokofiev conductor of all time. His recording of the Peter and the Wolf in collaboration with Sting really gives a nice, delightful touch, as well as the Classical Symphony, often given a bit loose, heavy performances by even the most eminent maestros such as Karajan.

In this album too, Abbado gives a defining performance on the more serious, dark, and thrilling music by Prokofiev. In the Alexander Nevsky Suite, based on a 13th century Russian hero who led his troops to defeat Teutonic invaders, the climatic battle on ice is especially a thrill. The chorus sings "Peregrinus expectavi" with ice cold fright and as dark as siege, and high paced tempo really drives the audience. And in the Scythian Suite, the equally savage Dance of the Dark Spirits is as powerful under Abbado as it should be.

On the other hand, the more brighter Lieutenant Kije Suite restore the charm the maestro gave when he did Peter and the Wolf.

Try it out and I'm more than positive that you'll really get blown away.

Yet another star in Abbado's "Russian crown".......2004-07-19

Maestro Abbado had done it again. From the bone-chilling bite of the strings (depicting the Russian winter) that open Alexander Nevsky across the Frozen Lake, the LSO under Abbado maintains a dramatic reading of the score. The LSC lacks nothing in the way of Russian idiom and Elena Obraztsova necessarily gives an authentic performance. Her voice is suitably dark. Personally, however, I prefer Anna Reynolds' more haunting lament under Previn...only because Reynolds sounds like a younger woman and to me this is more convincing (and tragic, given the "robbery" of war). Previn also has the added bonus of being recorded in EMI's double-forte Classics series, which also has the complete "Ivan the Terrible" (with brilliant soloists including a more youthful and vocally secure Irina Arkhipova) and Rachmaninov's "The Bells". Nonetheless, I give this recording it's due as a great rendition of what I consider to be Prokofiev's most accessible vocal work.

The Scythian Suite begins to delve into what I like less about Prokofiev but what, nonetheless, is his more radical and novel side. My comments are therefore curtailed to say this: I have heard far more impenetrable compositions so it's clearly not beyond appreciation (even from someone like me who dislikes dissonance/atonality). Moreover, Abbado's conducting doesn't convey any notion of sheer chaos, so for those who can better appreciate it, this will likely be a good reading (I'm given to believe more than "good" but given my admitted lack of objectivity on the matter, I wouldn't want to indulge my own ignorance).

Lieutenant Kije on the other hand is a lovely little work. Anyone who remembers the soundtrack from "The Gladiator" will recognise the inspiration for some of the film's music (together with Wagner's Gotterdammerung incidentally). Again Maestro Abbado conducts with true feeling and warmth, convincingly conveying the drama.

This disc forms an worthy part of any introduction to Prokofiev.

A breathtaking reading........2003-01-22

At first glance, Soviet music sung by a British Chorus and a Russian Mezzo, played by a British and an American orchestra, conducted by a German trained Italian seems too diverse to succeed, but this recording is not only a success, it's a great success.

Of the recordings on this disk, Alexander Nevsky and Lieutenant Kije both started life as score's for films by Sergei Eisenstein and Alexander Faintsimmer respectively and both were later re-cast into the orchestral works contained on this CD. This is where the similarity ends. A great sense of fun pervades the music through Kije and is carried off with great aplomb by Abbado and his players. I still can't decide if I like this recording or Reiner's more, but both are equally good, so it's really a win - win situation, whatever your final choice.

Nevsky however is a very different piece, at the time when it was being written both Prokofiev and the film's director Eisenstein were seriously out of favour with Stalin, Khrennikov and the sham critics of the time, a poor reception for this film could well have seen both of them deported to a Siberian Gulag like so many millions of others and this sense of brooding fear and paranoia pervades the work, but they got lucky, Stalin liked the work and their fortunes revived because of it. Looking back to Nevsky's campaign of 1242, the piece also succeeds in capturing the atmosphere of the Soviet Union in 1938 and looks forward to the horrors that were to come in the years of war that followed. Yet despite this, it is a work of tremendous power and beauty, I have yet to hear the famous "Battle on Ice" performed with more power or "The Field of the Dead" sung so movingly. Elena Obratzova rises to the occasion magnificently. Let no one tell you that Jarvi or Previn's recordings are preferable to this one.

Customer Reviews:

An eye-opening Prokofiev survey (try to buy it used).......2006-03-26

I can't see paying full price for a two-CD compensdium, even one as lavish as this package, when all the itmes are samples for promoting Universal's catalog (expect a good representation by Ashkenazy, Rostropovich, Previn, and Gergiev). But the selection is good enough and often rare eough to warrant a buy if the price is low.

As I listened straight through, I was surprised at how unacquainted I actually was with the wide extent of Prokofiev's style. From the very early "Dreams," which could be mistaken for Glazunov through the unfamiliar operas (Betrothal in a Monastery Garden, Semyon Kotko) to the final, sadly diminished works like the Seventh Sym. and the cello concerto, the composer covered every major Russian style of the century. I didn't find any new masterful performances--not that a short excerpt is a good enough trial--but everything here is well performced. Any listener should find something unexpected and intriguing in this two-and-a-half-hour traversal.

Average customer rating:

Wonderful introduction to a 20th century romantic
Beautiful and enjoyable
The Maazel is the reason I bought it!

Panorama: Sergey Prokofiev
Serge Prokofiev , Claudio Abbado , Lorin Maazel , Mstislav Rostropovich , Elena Obraztsova , Berliner Philharmoniker , Chamber Orchestra of Europe , Chicago Symphony Orchestra , Cleveland Orchestra , London Symphony Orchestra , Martha Argerich , Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter , and Shlomo Mintz
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B00004W3IW
Release Date: 2000-10-17

Tracks:

Classic Symphony: Allegro - Chamber Orchestra Of Europe
Classic Symphony: Larghetto - Chamber Orchestra Of Europe
Classic Symphony: Gavotta. Non troppo allegro - Chamber Orchestra Of Europe
Classic Symphony: Finale. Molto vivace - Chamber Orchestra Of Europe
Violin Concerto No. 1: Andantino - Andante assai - Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Violin Concerto No. 1: Scherzo - Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Violin Concerto No. 1: Moderato - Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Romeo And Juliet: Suites No. 1 And 2: Folk Dance - Allegro giocoso - National Symphony Orchestra
Romeo And Juliet: Suites No. 1 And 2: Scene. Allegretto - National Symphony Orchestra
Romeo And Juliet: Suites No. 1 And 2: Madrigal. Andante tenero - Andante assai - National Symphony Orchestra
Romeo And Juliet: Suites No. 1 And 2: Menuet. Assai moderato - National Symphony Orchestra
Romeo And Juliet: Suites No. 1 And 2: Masks - Andante marciale - National Symphony Orchestra
Romeo And Juliet: Suites No. 1 And 2: Romeo And Juliet - National Symphony Orchestra
Romeo And Juliet: Suites No. 1 And 2: Death Of Tybalt - National Symphony Orchestra
Romeo And Juliet: Suites No. 1 And 2: Romeo At Juliet's Grave - National Symphony Orchestra
Alexander Nevsky: The Field Of The Dead - London Symphony Orchestra

Tracks:

Piano Concertos No. 3: Andante - Allegro - Martha Argerich
Piano Concertos No. 3: Thema. Andantino - Martha Argerich
Piano Concertos No. 3: Allegro ma non troppo - Martha Argerich
Visions Fugitives: Allegretto - Sviatoslav Richter
Visions Fugitives: Con eleganza - Sviatoslav Richter
Visions Fugitives: Allegretto tranquillo - Sviatoslav Richter
Symphony No. 5: Andante - Cleveland Orchestra
Symphony No. 5: Allegro marcato - Cleveland Orchestra
Symphony No. 5: Adagio - Cleveland Orchestra
Symphony No. 5: Allegro giocoso - Cleveland Orchestra

Amazon.com

From the outset of his career, Claudio Abbado has always been an exemplary Prokofievian, and his marvelously poised, quick-witted account of the Classical Symphony with the stunning Chamber Orchestra of Europe makes an exhilarating curtain-raiser here. He also tenders the most sympathetic support imaginable to Shlomo Mintz and Martha Argerich in the First Violin Concerto and Third Piano Concerto, respectively (the latter a justly renowned venture dating from 1967). Pungent characterization is the order of the day in Rostropovich's unflatteringly engineered Romeo and Juliet selection with the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D.C. (we get the whole of the First Suite and "Romeo at Juliet's Grave" from the Second--you'll search in vain, by the way, for "Montagues and Capulets," surely the most popular number of all). In the case of the epic Fifth Symphony, DG has unexpectedly plundered the Decca vaults to grant a silver-disc debut to Lorin Maazel's weightily intense 1978 recording with the Cleveland Orchestra--too ruthlessly efficient to be entirely convincing, but superbly played and recorded. A useful Prokofiev twofer. --Andrew Achenbach

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful introduction to a 20th century romantic.......2004-08-08

Prokofiev was one of the most difficult of all composers for me to come to, understand and enjoy. I read much about him, learning that he was a 20th century romantic and not a modernist, as some conductors approach him. You hear much of that romance in this set, which is a marvelous introduction to this multidimensional composer.

Claudio Abbado is not universally loved but was good enough in Europe to get the Berlin Philharmonic job after Herbert von Karajan died. His musical pedigree includes a generous portion of Prokofiev. He is well represented on this set, first with an upbeat version of the "Classical" Symphony No. 1, then as accompanist to Shlomo Mintz in the Violin Concerto No. 1 -- a very dreamy modern concerto -- and leading the Chicago Sympphony in the closing solo from "Alexander Nevsky" score.

I don't have much respect for Abbado's destractors and would say they are all off-base in his Prokofiev, especially the selections included in this CD. If you enjoy his work here, consider getting his CD of the full "Alexander Nevsky" which is mated with a dynamic "Scythian Suite" and a good reading of Prokofiev's most popular selection, the "Lt. Kije Suite".

Abbado isn't the only reason to buy this set. It contains the young Martha Argerich's famous version of the spiky Piano Concerto No. 3 (again abetted by Abbado), some very romantic selections from "Romeo and Juliet" led by Rostropovich, a few piano pieces by Sviatoslav Richter and a largely unknown version of the Symphony No. 5 led by Lorin Maazel.

I looked in every book I own and on every database I could find for a critical review of the Maazel-Cleveland Orchestra redering of the 5th Symphony, which is Prokofiev's best in that genre.

I couldn't find a review and was forced to make up my mind on this sans outside influence. I don't exactly know how I feel about it, although I liked it more than other versions I'd heard. It seems to be an interesting symphony with a wonderful second movement, one that lends credence to arguments that Prokofiev was more European than Russian. It is certainly a much better performance than the dreadful version conducted by Levine, which I also owned.

All told, this collection is exactly what it proposes: a Prokofiev Panorama. Everything on it is adequate to good, some great, and most in sparkling digital sound. It gives a 5 by 5 impression of Prokofiev as a romantic Russian influenced by European musical ideas. It casts aside any notion that he was a Soviet composer in league with Khachaturian and clearly differentiates him from his period countryman, Shostakovich. It is a good place to begin a more detailed examination of this 20th century composer.

Beautiful and enjoyable.......2002-03-22

After hearing Prokofiev's "Classical Symphony" in a concert, I decided I had to buy a recording. This is the best one I've heard. All the pieces on this CD are beautifully played, and the performers put a playful air in them when necessary (especially in the Classical Symphony). Shlomo Mintz is absolutely wonderful in the Violin Concerto, as is Martha Argerich in Piano Concerto No. 3. The suite from Romeo and Juliet is superb as well, lyrical and playful. This is a CD I recommend for everybody, even for people who don't usually like classical music.

The Maazel is the reason I bought it!.......2001-02-28

The rest of the issue is fabulous, but the Maazel recording of the fifth symphony is simply definitive. Wonderful playing and a sympathy for romanticism in the conducting brings out every last bit of pathos in the third and fourth movements. And that's what you want, right? Pathos? I mean, we're listening to a Soviet composer. So - over the expressive Rostrapovich, the impressively technical Szell, and the expository Tilson-Thomas - this is the one to have. The one that blends all these attributes together, revealing Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony as one of the finest in the genre. Buy it now.

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Prokofiev: Greatest Hits

Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Modern & 20th Century | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B0007WQHX0
Release Date: 2005-04-12

Tracks:

March - London Symphony Orchestra
Birth Of Kije - Adolph Herseth
Romance - Adolph Herseth
Wedding Of Kije - Adolph Herseth
Troika - Adolph Herseth
Death Of Kije - Adolph Herseth
Montagues And Capulets - Edo De Waart
The Battle On Ice - London Symphony Chorus
Andante-Allegro - Vladimir Ashkenazy
Allegro - Berlin Philharmonic
Larghetto - Berlin Philharmonic
Gavotta (Non Troppo Allegro) - Berlin Philharmonic
Finale (Vivace) - Berlin Philharmonic
Concluding Processional Music - Vienna Philharmonic

Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky; Lieutenant Kijé

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Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky; Lieutenant Kijé

Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00000E3GK
Release Date: 1990-10-25

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WOW!
Wow!

Lease Breakers

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0000029RJ
Release Date: 1996-11-12

Tracks:

Also sprach Zarathustra: Introduction (Sunrise)
Carmina Burana: 'O Fortuna'
Die Walkure: 'Ride Of The Valkyries'
William Tell Overture: Finale (Excerpt)
Manzoni Requeim: 'Dies irae, dies illa'
Toccata (And Fugue) In D Minor
Pictures At An Exhibition: 'The Great Gate Of Kiev'
The Rite Of Spring: 'Sacrifical Dance'
Alexander Nevsky Cantata: 'Battle On The Ice' (Excerpt)
Symphony No. 8 In C Minor: Finale. Feierlich, nicht schnell (Opening)
Requiem: 'Tuba mirum'
1812 Overture: Finale. Largo - Allegro vivace
Glagolitic Mass: Intrada. Moderato
Ein Heldenleben: Battle Scene
Symphony No. 4 In F Minor, Op. 36: Finale. Allegro con fuoco (Excerpt)
Symphony No. 5 In D Minor, Op. 47: Allegro non troppo

Customer Reviews:

WOW!.......2003-10-21

Get it, just click the mouse and get it. All but one or two of the performances are exceptional. And those are still excellent. Each cut will make you want to go and buy the entire piece. Get it. What are you waiting for?

Wow!.......1999-04-15

This CD is great! Each recording is of exceptional quality - don't be fooled by the low price. This is definitely NOT background music. Jarring at times. Good for someone who's sick of the sappy-sweet sort of classical music. The selection from Carmina burana is excellent- it's my favorite part of the work. The use of synthesizers is very dramatic. I think they fit in well with the work's theme and help the excitement build even more. Everything on here's great! :)

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