Customer Reviews

Prokofiev Plays Prokofiev

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The line of great composer-pianists began with Mozart, included Beethoven and Chopin, and ended with Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev. We are fortunate indeed that these last two left behind recordings of their own works. This CD brings together Prokofiev's complete recordings.

The composer recorded his most popular Piano Concerto, the Third in 1932. The performance, despite dated sound, remains extraordinary. Despite his reputation as a percussive pianist, Prokofiev brings more color and attention to phrasing here than most pianists would today. He was obviously an extraordinary technician, despite a few very minor finger slips. Contrary to the comments of the Amazon reviewer, Piero Coppola was no company hack. He was a respected conductor who specialized in opera and concertos, rather like Alfred Wallenstein and Josef Krips, who were Arthur Rubinstein's chosen accompanists two decades later. Considering that tape editing was not yet possible, and that Prokofiev's Third Concerto was not exactly the repertoire staple it is today, the London Symphony Orchestra provides a satisfactory accompaniment. Purists might quibble with the liberal use of string portamento, but the composer--who was not known for his tact--evidently had no objection.

The solo works (particularly Suggestion diabolique) demonstrate Prokofiev's exuberance, command of tone color, and ability to shift gears, pianistically.

Mark Obert-Thorn has done an excellent job restoring the original 78-RPM recordings. The sound is full and not overly filtered. This CD is not to be missed.

"Prokofiev Plays Prokofiev" on the Naxos label collects all of the recordings made by the great Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev onto one disc. Unlike Rachmaninoff who made many recordings of his own works as well as works by other composers, Prokofiev made very few recordings. Because of this, the "Prokofiev Plays Prokofiev" disc offers a rare glimpse into the composer's talents as a pianist/performer.
Included on this disc is a one-of-a-kind performance of Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto recorded in 1932 at the famed Abbey Road Studios (this is exactly 30 years before the Beatles made Abbey Road a household name). On this recording, Prokofiev shows off his effortless chops as a pianist while the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Piero Coppola provides a strong backdrop to the composer's up-front-and-center piano.
Filling out the disc are solo piano recordings made by Prokofiev in Paris in 1935. Here, he gives authentic renditions of his "Suggestion Diabolique" as well as stellar excerpts from his 20-part "Visions Fugitives", the Gavotte movement from his famous "Classical Symphony" (Symphony No.1), the closing movement of his Fourth Piano Sonata and other shorter piano pieces.
Getting to hear Prokofiev play his own music brings a definitve sense of authenticity to the music. You get to hear the composer perform the music as they originally intended it to be executed. While he is not as powerful of a pianist as Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev does display a dynamic and flawless technique on these historic recordings. The audio restoration and digital remastering is amazing bringing clarity and depth to the original recordings without much surface noise or imperfections that are common with old 78 RPM records. The enclosed liner notes while somewhat brief, offering an excellent insight not only to the music but to the actual recordings themselves.
With this said, "Prokofiev Plays Prokofiev" is definitely a must-have for the die-hard Prokofiev fan. It's a genuine treat to hear the genius at work and with its price tag of under eight dollars, this disc is an absolute steal.

There is certainly a range of opinions among the reviewers here as to the merits of these composer-played performances. So here are a few dissenting remarks of my own. I have to take issue with Amazon editorialist Leslie Gerber's characterization of Piero Coppola as a "hack" conductor. In addition to his work here in Prokofiev's 3rd Piano Concerto, Coppola left many very distinguished 78 rpm recordings: one of the earliest and best accounts of Bizet's "Carmen," a great reading of the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony, and many pathbreaking accounts of Debussy, Ravel, Roussel, etc.

As the typically well-written and informative review here by Hank Drake indicates, Piero Coppola was also grandfather of the famed film director Francis Ford Coppola. It's interesting to note that the latter's "Godfather" films are essentially grand operas of pride and revenge (especially III, where the climactic final scenes are actually set in an opera house during a performance of Mascagni's similarly-themed "Cavalleria Rusticana"). Piero's son Carmine Coppola was a film composer (e.g., a small part of the otherwise Rota-composed Godfather films, and a very Satie-esque, Gymnopedie-like film score for "The Black Stallion"). It's also worth noting that the Prokofiev 3rd can be heard as a prize-winning peformance in the delightful film "The Competition," starring Richard Dreyfuss and Amy Irving (the Prokofiev excerpts heard in the film were played by pianist Daniel Pollack).

I'm afraid I can't agree with Mr. Drake's characterization of this 3rd Concerto's performance as "definitive." There are just too many equally valid ways to perform a great work, none of which should be called the "one and only." Even when I feel that a reading is as close to definitive as possible (say, Richter's recording of the Prokofiev 5th Concerto), I am more inclined to say "best I've heard" or "finest known to me" or something along those lines, simply because I haven't heard them ALL.

The 3rd Piano Concerto has had no shortage of fine recordings. In fact, I was amazed to discover that the Philips CD series "Great Pianists of the 20th Century" contains no fewer than FIVE of them: Argerich, Gavrilov, Janis, Kapell and Katchen. Of those, I prefer the Kapell (with Dorati; Kapell also left a great "live" recording with Stokowski on M&A, but the sound is poor). Yes, I think this Prokofiev/Coppola account is a GREAT one, and I am happy to own it along with those two by William Kapell, the quirky version by Samson Francois (with Andre Cluytens on EMI), the fine collaboration of Alexander Uninsky with Willem von Otterloo (Epic LP), and a brilliant "live" account from Nikita Magaloff with conductor Lovro von Matacic (Disques Montaigne).

Prokofiev is especially remarkable here in the short solo pieces like "Visions fugitives," and his accounts are among my very favorites, along with those by Richter, Neuhaus and Katz.

Incidentally, Prokofiev also made a 1938 recording, this time as a CONDUCTOR, of badly-played selections from his own "Romeo & Juliet" with the Moscow Philharmonic (available on a Parnassus CD). Judging from that evidence, I won't hesitate to say that Prokofiev was DEFINITELY better as a composer/pianist than he was as a composer/conductor!

Is this Prokofiev 3rd Concerto a "definitive" recording? No, I don't believe there is such a thing. Is it a VERY GREAT recording that's a "must-hear?" Absolutely!

Highly recommended.

Jeff Lipscomb

This is an excellent issue, enabling us to hear Prokoviev's own take on his music. He combines both dynamic excitement with lyricism, and the effect is at once powerful and relaxed. Excellent transfers. Once again a real winner for Naxos ...

I have had and loved these recordings on LPs, so I was glad for a chance to buy them for a bargain-price. The transfers made by Mark Obert-Thorn are good, though I won't claim that they surpass the sound quality of old LPs, except for eliminating a great deal of surface noise.
I cannot decide, whether this 3rd Concerto's performance is "definitive" or not. For the first, I am not a completist and haven't heard many performances mentioned by Mr.Lipscomb in this forum. As for other fine performances of Prokofiev's Op. 26, I would probably turn to Jorge Bolet's version of Genesis GCD 104: Bolet was especially well-suited for Prokofiev's music, and I fail to explain why this excellent recording of Prokofiev's 2nd and 3rd Concertos is not accessible on any better known label. For the second, I am not very fond of Prokofiev's 3rd Concerto: I think that the main reason that this piece is grown so popular is that its musical language is oversimplified compared to, say, Prokofiev's 2nd or 5th Concertos. But I definitely (my excuses for this term) agree that Prokofiev's performance of his 3rd Concerto is fine and shows his piano style at its best. I think that Coppola provides a good accompaniment and don't see any reasons to look down on him.
I agree that Prokofiev's short solo pieces are the jewel of this collection. Most of them are not virtuosic (except for the "Suggestion Diabolique" and Etude, Op. 52) and really short (only the Andante assai from Op. 29 lasts 6'08'' - but this is a sonata fragment and not a separate piece). These "mimoletnosti" (Visions fugitives) or "Skazki staroj babushki" (Contes de la vielle Grand-mere) are very idiosyncratic, very Russian music. The funny titles of these pieces are not a parlour game. A typically "Russian" attitude to music implies that a performer knows or at least is able to guess, what the piece is about: his intituitions may be very vague - I am not speaking of a literary programme. Prokofiev of course knew what these 'visions' or 'fairy-tales' were about. But what is more important, he knew how to show their musical structure and how to prove that a 20-second sequence is a complete and self-sufficient piece. His playing is completely devoid of outside matters. He is playing as a composer, and not as concert star who is tempted by 'diabolic suggestions' like 'let's add a fine legato her, let's emphasize the left hand, let's play some little tricks with the pedal etc.'. That is why Prokofiev's performance of these pieces sounds more convincing to me, than, say, the performance of a far greater pianist, Vladimir Sofronitsky (I am not sure, but probably the composer himself would have recognized this assessment - Sofronitsky and Prokofiev were both rooted in Scriabin's piano circle). Sofronitsky's version of "Visiones fugitives" and "Contes de la vielle Grand-m." may be found on MEL CD 1000747 (=Russian piano school, Vol. 2). Buy this CD-set, if you can: Sofronitsky plays all 4 fairy tales Op. 31 and some other Prokofiev's pieces which are not on this CD. But Prokofiev's Prokofiev is better.
An curious detail: Mark Obert-Thorn writes in the producer's note that he included several items omitted from a recent EMI 'Composers in Person' series CD, namely both tales Op. 31, the Sonatina Pastorale and some other music. A silly choice from the editors of the EMI CD: these tracks are among the best on this NAXOS CD - one more reason to get it, not the EMI version.
If I were to choose just two best items on this CD, I would rather choose Mimoletnostj No. 14 'Dolente' (track 11) and the fairy tale Op. 31. No. 3 (track 17)- the Andante assai from Sonata No. 4 is in the same veine as the fairy tale Op. 31. No. 3, but the fairy tale is more concise, transparent and direct.
Summary: buy this CD for the solo piano music of Prokofiev - better performances do not exist.

Prokofiev is already known as one of the greatest composer of his time, and one of the most versatile; but he proves that his piano and interpretive skills are second to none. I hate to compare people because it's petty, but I much prefer the elfish lightness of Prokofiev's reflexes to the "power" of Rachmaninoff.

What a phenomenal pianist Prokofiev was! The most difficult 1st movement is played in incredible speed (4 second faster than William Kapell!). Piano sounds a little muffled at times, but sensitive brilliance of his playing still comes through if you set your amplifier in direct mode. He plays 9 Vision fugitives, Suggestion diabolique, Etude and other 7 piano pieces with amazing intricacy and composer's own insight. A revelatory historical document of composer's own interpretation!

I have to disagree with the editorial comment regarding to Prokofiev's playing of the 3rd Concerto is unsurpassed by Argerich. I don't know if Prokofiev was not playing at his best in this recording, but it sounds like he didn't have much control over his 3rd Concerto. In some virtuostic parts of the concerto, he slowed down tremendously, and that actually killed the continuity of the piece. Other times, he speeded up like crazy. I can sense that the orchestra had a hard time keeping up with him. I don't know if it's the recording, but the orchestra sounded very passive. In some critical parts where the woodwind is suppose to stand, you can't hear much.
If you want to listen to excellent performances of this concerto, listen to Argerich (Abbado conducting Berlin Philharmonic)or Ashkenazy. The best performance I found is played by John Browning (Erich Leinsdorf conducting Boston Symphony), which I definately recommend (that is, if you can find one! The one I found is in LP!)The way Browning played is absolutely amazing. His control of the piece and the rhythm is unbelievable.
Nevertheless, it is still nice to listen to composers performing their own works. I mean in many cases, they are not good at their own music because some music they wrote are beyond their ability. If you are a Prokofiev fan, I would recommend this CD to you. After you listen to it, you'll understand why Rachmaninoff is better known as a pianist than Prokofiev!