Myth in Music

Prometheus (Artist), Argerich (Artist), Abbado (Artist), Bpo (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 4, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00000296U
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #560,892 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Prometheus in every age, on every block and instrument, April 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Myth in Music (Audio CD)

This is a misconceived CD with the obvious focus on Prometheus through the ages. This of course implies that Beethoven and Nono would share somehow similar views or inhabit some common conceptual space, when nothing could be further from the truth. But Abbado has been a devoted Nono colleage conducting much of his music during his lifetime, when Abbado was hardly known in the early Seventies. Here Abbado has assembled a formidable cast for the excerpts from "Prometeo", Suzanne Otto is a wonderful singer of new works. This was the first recording of Nono's" Prometeo" which still has documentary value in that the only other recording is by Matzmacher who although less informed than Abbado still brings a precision and clarity where it is needed. Scriabin I don't know, his concepts of spirituality finds a use someplace, but I prefer just listening. Argerich is always a compelling performer no matter what she touches.

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars If you decide you must have it, get the DVD, October 26, 2006

By 

Christopher Culver - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Myth in Music (Audio CD)

PROMETHEUS: Musical Variations on a Myth brings together four compositions inspired by the well-known story of the Greek figure who stole fire from the gods to give to Man, and was eternally punished. Claudio Abbado leads the Berliner Philharmoniker. It's available both on CD and, outside the U.S., on a DVD offered by ArtHaus music (it's region 0 so you can import it). I won't comment on the Beethoven or Liszt since I listen only to 20th-century and beyond repertoire. I shall limit my remarks to the Skriabin and Nono.

Skriabin's "Promethee, Poeme du Feu" (1910), the composer's fourth symphony, is fairly unremarkable as pure sound. Its bland tonality looks back to the 19th century more than to the future, and of course no purely instrumental work is capable of telling a story but instead evokes arbitrary interpretations, so the programmatic basis isn't recognizable. However, one major innovation is present: the colour keyboard. Scriabin assigned each note of the chromatic scale to a colour, and then had a keyboard made that would activate coloured lights during the performance. It's a pity this didn't catch on, of subsequent uses I know only Sofia Gubaidulina's "Alleluia" which has a colour organ. Scriabin's light show is highly intriguing, but of course you won't get it from the CD, which makes the DVD much more attractive if you are interested in this collection.

The "Prometeo" work here by Luigi Nono is from a 1992 suite made from his opera of eight years before. It's a nine-minute setting of Hoelderin's "Schicksalslied", containing the telling line "we are destined to find no resting place". Such an approach is typical of the late Nono, a phase the opera inaugrated. Here he was mainly interested in vast expanses of pure timbre, and the female voices over low brass float along, occasionally joining in a Ligeti-like wall of sound, at other time striking in their detachment from one another. Contrary to the Scriabin, this piece is best heard from the CD, since the DVD contains some ridiculous camera effects that are meant to highlight the ethereal nature of the piece but instead just look stupid. In any event, we get here only a nine-minute extract, Nono fans should seek out the whole opera, released on EMI.

Lovers of Beethoven and Liszt will have to look at other reviews to decide whether this collection is interesting for them. I'd say that the DVD is worth getting for Scriabin fans instead of the CD, but all in all nothing makes this collection especially attractive to fans of modern repertoire.

7 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A bizarre mating of sound and fury, January 14, 2005

By 

Larry VanDeSande - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Myth in Music (Audio CD)

Here is one of the oddest musical concoctions I've seen in a long time. This CD merges Beethoven ballet with Lizst drama with Scriabin's mysticism with a 20th Century score, all under the name of Prometheus.

For anyone not up to snuff on mythology, Prometheus is the rebel that took from the gods and gave to us mortals. For this Zeus doomed him to be chained to a mountainside for eternity where vultures would come each day and eat his guts. It's not hard to visualize this ritual in certain selections on this CD!

Technically speaking, Abbado does a nice job leading the Berlin Philhramonic in bleeding chunks from Beehotven's "The Creatures of Prometheus", Lizst's symphonic poem "Prometheus", Scriabin's symphony "Prometheus, Poem of Fire", Op. 60 with Martha Argerich, and 24 minutes of selections from Luigi Nono's "Il prometeo" a tragedy for vocal soloists, speakers, chorus and orchestra.

Most listeners probably know the first four composers but may not be familiar with Nono, who lived from 1924-90. He was a 20th century modernist associated with Stockhausen, Boulez, Berio and Ligeti. I found a Web site dedicated to the composition on this CD that said he "belongs to that handful of composers that provoked a landslide in the music of the...past century that has remained unparalleled up to now."

Translation: he belongs to the group of composers no one records, listens to or takes seriously any longer. The composition carried out herein, "Il prometeo", is said to be his best work. For me, that's kind of like saying which state has the "best" public mental health system, since even the best one is only half as good as it should be.

Maybe the Nono title best describes this whole CD: a tragedy. The Prometheus legend is powerful, sure, but a CD of music spanning 200 years dedicated to it? This ain't exactly like putting the "1812 Overture", "Wellington's Victory" and "Battle of the Huns" on the same battle music CD.

This is for adventurers only. Others should dabble with care and try to listen to the Nono before you put out your money. If you don't you may be unhappily surprised later.