Prokofiev: Ivan the Terrible

Sergey Prokofiev (Composer), Neeme Järvi (Conductor), Philharmonia Chamber Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Philharmonia Chamber Orchestra
• Conductor: Neeme Järvi
• Composer: Sergey Prokofiev
• Audio CD (August 25, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Chandos
• ASIN: B002EYBNRY
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #388,131 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available.
Genre: Classical Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 25-AUG-2009

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Can't stomach the tempi..., June 27, 2010

By 

J. Takis (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Prokofiev: Ivan the Terrible (Audio CD)

First, a few kind words. This is a well-recorded, competently performed album. The source material is very strong, of course -- Prokofiev's "Ivan The Terrible" is a powerhouse of a score in any incarnation. Christopher Palmer's restructuring of the material as a "concert scenario" is mostly an improvement, in my opinion, over the "oratorio-with-narration" form. I largely approve of his choices of what to trim, what to expand, and how to sequence it. I do wish the extended final coda heard in many recordings of the Stasevich arrangement had been retained, but that's a relatively minor complaint.

A more serious problem for me is the tempi. The album as a whole seems out of balance. I can sort of stomach the breakneck "Overture" ... but the deathly slow pace of "Murder in the Cathedral" is just excruciating. It sounds like it's at least HALF the original tempo, transforming an inexorable, doom-laden piece into something plodding and ineffectual. This is a key cue, the dramatic climax of the score -- to restore it at full-length to the concert adaptation is a VERY good idea, and had the potential to really elevate this recording. But to miss the mark so badly in execution drags down my rating of the total package into "dislike" territory. I've had issues with Jarvi's tempi before (his reading of Prokofiev's the "Stone Flower" in suite form, for example, seems sluggish to my ears), but this just killed it for me.

So if you're looking for a good concert version of Prokofiev's "Ivan" sans narrator, I regret that I can't recommend this one. Instead, I heartily endorse Slatkin's tremendous recording with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, which used to be available on Vox as a 2-CD set including the "Alexander Nevsky" cantada and the "Lt. Kije" suite. For the full, restored film score, I'm partial to the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra version conducted by Fedoseyev, available on Nimbus.