Customer Reviews

Prokofiev: War & Peace

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This is the 5th War and Peace I've ever bought on CD's and this is going to be the definitive one for me for a long time. The other 4 will be on sale soon!

When I bought the Gergiev set some years ago I thought THAT was going to be the best set ever but Chandos has outdone all of them again.

This recording beats Gergiev on quality of recording, sheer emotion, ensemble playing (unbelievable for a hand-picked summer youth orchestra Spoleto is!), choral singing and real understanding of this very lenghthy opera.

Gergiev tries to give us some of the hysteria the opera doesn't have by overheating some scenes where Hickox gives the right emotions in Prokofiev's orchestral writing. He also never forgets to let us listen to the wonderfull use of wind and wood instruments Prokofiev uses throughout this opera. Clarinet, oboe and piccollo are just as rightly 'produced' as are the weight and power of mass scenes.

So, the opera in this presentation clearly becomes a sometimes intimate drama rather than a oratorio showcase as with Gergiev.

Under the sheer size of the mass scenes and the subject (Napoleon's War against Russia) lie just the same human problems as in all opera: love, hate, relations and opportunities. And that's what you get in this great performance thanks to the very committed playing of this festival orchestra and the great singing.

Don't let the length intimidate you; there's really never a dull moment in this wonderful work. The big moments are thrilling-the choral epigraph, Kutuzov's aria, Moscow burning, the snowstorm, the choral finale-and Prokofiev links these all together with some of the sweetest lyricism this side of the Iron Curtain. Let's get the important questions out of the way first.

Is the cover artwork worthy of the epic within? One of Chandos' most beautiful, yet masculine covers.

Are the sublime sounds of the bass drum and gong caught admirably? Oh yes.

Being a live recording, can one hear coughing? Only when Moscow is burning. This audience had to have been bound and gagged. Stage shuffling is barely audible.

Do we finally get a palatable soprano for the role of Natasha? Yes. Morozova's voice is light and fresh, if a little detached. Prokofiev gives his most beautiful music--that ecstatic 7th leap!--to Natasha and her willing but doomed suitor Prince Andrey, sung by Roderick Williams. Williams has a lovely, rich voice. Of the three performances I've heard, (Rostropovich, Gergiev, Hickox), the Morozova/Williams duo is most satisfactory to me, both in the opening moonlight scene and in Andrey's death scene. Hickox's handling of the orchestral atmospherics in the death scene is exceedingly satisfying-Prokofiev brings back the beautiful moonlight music but this time he shrouds the melody with the most delicate harp glissandi. In a word, haunting.

I don't know what to make of Alan Ewing's Kutuzov. His voice is strong, his intonation dead-on, and his portrayal full of character. But for a bass he's got a vibrato tighter than Sarah Brightman's. Matthew Boyden (?) of "Rough Guide to Opera" describes Ewing's voice as bellowing; I would call it more like braying. Being that Ewing gets the "big" aria, his voice--unique to say the least--may be an issue to some. I find it tolerable enough. The only other voice that (unquestionably) detracts is that of Igor Matioukhin, or Dolokhov-very wobbly.

Hickox's youthful Spoleto Festival Orchestra produces a wonderfully idiomaticProkofiev-esque sound, and I've got to hand it to the Chandos recording team for capturing all the goings on so successfully. For a live recording, the depth and voluptuousness of sound is remarkable. Though I feel that Rostropovich captures the overall grandeur and excitement of Prokofiev's epic the best, his achievement is only marginally better than Hickox. And with Hickox, the more intimate scenes of the opera-those moments between Natasha and Andrey-are better served with the voices of Morozova and Williams. (IMHO Gergiev's performance is too hard-pressed to give the composer's delectable orchestral colors proper bloom. And those absurdly intrusive stage noises!)

"War and Peace" is not like Prokofiev's other operas, such as "The Fiery Angel," "Love of Three Oranges," or "The Gambler." The lyricism and action sequences of W&P are more akin to his later ballets, "Romeo and Juliet" and "Cinderella," written while the composer was integrating himself into the new Soviet culture of his homeland. Though revised time and time again to satisfy the whims of the Soviet Artistic Committee, War and Peace is hardly the musical equivalent of "svimwear." (Remember that great commercial?) It's inspired and potent stuff. If you're squeamish about dropping the [money] on the complete opera, Chandos offers a single-CD recording of a suite from the opera arranged by C. Palmer. (CHAN9096)

John Smyth

This recording is NOT sung in English! This is true even though Amazon lists this recording as sung in English. Again, it is NOT sung in English. It is sung in Russian, which was the language in which it was first written and most commonly sung. Chandos is a record label well-known for producing operas that are sung in English, as opposed to their original languages of composition (e.g. Italian, French, German, etc.). It was easy to assume, therefore, that Chandos released this recording of War and Peace in English by whoever put together the product information for its Amazon web page.

This recording, however, is very good. All the artists sing well and the orchestra and chorus are admirable. Alan Ewing's Kutuzov does have a very quick vibrato that initially hinders enjoyment of his singing, but the listener adjusts to this as the recording continues. Otherwise, Hickox's conducting doesn't quite have the epic sweep so essential to an opera of this length and scope.

If there is a recording of the opera War and Peace sung in English, I don't know it. If someone knows of a recording in which it is sung in English, I would definitely like to know! There is a recording of the opera sung in Italian, conducted by Artur Rodzinsky, starring Bastianini, Carteri, Corelli, Tajo, Corena, Barbieri, Picchi, Sarri, Novelli, and de Palma with the Florence Maggio Musicale Orchestra and Chorus, dating from 1953 on the Melodram label. I have only heard the excerpts provided by Amazon on the web page for this item, so I can't really comment on the quality of the recording.

Prokofiev's unruly beast of an opera on Tolstoy's War and Peace has been relatively well served on disc. Comparing the available versions is more than a little tricky, however - no lover of the opera can get around Melik-Pashaev's blistering performance from the 1960s, for instance, but that one is also severely cut and the Chandos issue at hand adds a full hour of music (!). While the cuts arguably make for a musically tauter drama, much splendid music is also lost. Hence, one probably has to acquire either this one, the Gergiev version or Rostropovich. I have not heard the Rostropovich (neither have I heard the various DVD versions around, though some of them have received very favorable reviews), and while it could be argued that Gergiev overall has the better soloists, honors are pretty even when it comes to the orchestral and choral contributions (though Hickox's take is very different from Gergiev's, of course). But Hickox wins hands down in terms of sound quality, and to such a degree that I think this Chandos issue may be the top choice for the complete opera (at least among the audio-only versions).

Take the choral work first. It is simply marvelous, creating a lot of energy and momentum (the song of the Muscovites is stunning). Hickox doesn't pressure the orchestra as intensely as Gergiev does, but then Gergiev's version often sounds rushed, and although there is no shortage of momentum in this Chandos version - some of the big scenes are blazingly powerful - there is also much attention to detail and color. Hickox even makes the somewhat sprawling work sound remarkably coherent, and while Melik-Pashaev might be in a slightly different league that version is as mentioned not really comparable.

The soloists are a little variable. Justin Lavender's Pierre is good, however, though stronger on character, perhaps, than beauty of voice - I am not going to complain too much about that in this work, however. Ekaterina Morozova is a very compelling Natasha, although - as opposed to Lavender's Pierre - stronger on beauty of tone than characterization. Roderick Williams is unsurprisingly a very fine Prince Andrey. For the most part the other singers are good, although - as most reviewers have pointed out - many listeners will probably take issue with Alan Ewing's Kutuzov (I got used to it). Another factor that counts in favor of this issue is of course Chandos's lavish production and packaging; the huge booklet contains the complete libretto in five languages plus Cyrillic Russian, for instance. In short, this is a very recommendable if not perfect version (and the sound quality, though live, is really very good), and even though critics tend to agree that it is a "problematic" work it is surely an unforgettable operatic experience.

This version could become a standard. Great version, great singers, great orchestra...Better than Gergiev with low budget (?)...may be not as good as the Galina Vizhnestkaya (Patchayev) but more complete. A beautiful opera