Prokofiev: Le Pas d'Acier; L'enfant prodigue

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
Aside from Prokofiev’s three major ballets (Romeo & Juliet, Cinderella, and Stone Flower), he also wrote four shorter ballets that are only rarely heard, especially as a whole and not in suite form. cpo’s little edition dedicated to these works features performances by the Prokofiev specialist Michail Jurowski and the WDR Symphony Orchestra of Cologne. This CD brings together two dance works composed at about the same time but depicting very different subject matter: Le Pas d’Acier (The Steel Step) from 1928 and L’Enfant prodigue (The Prodigal Son) from 1929, with the latter work representing Prokofiev’s final project with Sergei Diaghilev. The Steel Step concerns Soviet Russia, the collapse of the old, corrupt world, and the enthusiasm of the revolutionaries for industry and machines: modern times have dawned. In contrast, the score of the biblical story of the prodigal son is lyrical and intimate and radiates with tenderly shaded colors.

Album Description

Aside from Prokofiev's three major ballets (Romeo & Juliet, Cinderella, and Stone Flower), he also wrote four shorter ballets that are only rarely heard, especially as a whole and not in suite form. cpo's little edition dedicated to these works features performances by the Prokofiev specialist Michail Jurowski and the WDR Symphony Orchestra of Cologne. This CD brings together two dance works composed at about the same time but depicting very different subject matter: Le Pas d'Acier (The Steel Step) from 1928 and L'Enfant prodigue (The Prodigal Son) from 1929, with the latter work representing Prokofiev's final project with Sergei Diaghilev. The Steel Step concerns Soviet Russia, the collapse of the old, corrupt world, and the enthusiasm of the revolutionaries for industry and machines: modern times have dawned. In contrast, the score of the biblical story of the prodigal son is lyrical and intimate and radiates with tenderly shaded colors.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent, if Often Overlooked, Prokofiev.......2006-02-22

Le Pas d'Acier is a jewel of a ballet. It is full of energy and perfectly captures a Constructivist optimism for a mechanical and communist future (although in Russia this viewpoint was in its last years at the time Le Pas d'Acier was written). Although part of its appeal to me is in its Constructivist-inspired theme (I have a great affinity for the early Soviet avant-garde), I am sure that it would prove interesting any listener.

I found L'enfant Prodigue somewhat less interesting--pleasant enough to listen to, but it really need Balanchine's choreography to be a moving work.

Track Listings:

Track Listings

Portrait of the Blues

Jazz in Film

The Young Ones [Original recording remastered] [Soundtrack] [Import]

Private Dancer

Recorded Live [Live]

Mozart: Violin Concertos 3 & 4 / Eine kleine Nachtmusik / Walter

Spyboy

Porz Gwenn

Remember Right Now

Local Anasthetic [Import]

Music That You Wanna Hear [Import]

A Mother's Heart

Rockin' the Boat