Prokofiev: Orchestral Suites

Czecho-S

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Cat No: 8550381

Release Date: 12 January 1999

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 4891030503816

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: PROKOFIEV

Description
Sergey Prokofiev (1891 - 1953) Lieutenant Kije (Suite Op. 60) The Love for Three Oranges (Highlightsfrom Suite Op. 33bis) Romeo and Juliet (from Suites 1 & 2Op. 64) Cinderella (Suite No.1 Op. 107)Sergey Prokofiev was born in 1891 atSontsovka in the Ukraine, the son of a prosperous estate manager. An onlychild, his musical talents were fostered by his mother, a cultured amateurpianist, and he tried his hand at composition at the age of five, later beingtutored at home by the composer Gli?¿re. In 1904, on the advice of Glazunov, hisparents allowed him to enter the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where hecontinued his studies as a pianist and as a composer unti11914, owing more tothe influence of senior fellow-students Asafyev and Myaskovsky than to theolder generation of teachers, represented by Lyadov and Rimsky-Korsakov.Even as a student Prokofiev had begun tomake his mark as a composer, arousing enthusiasm and hostility in equalmeasure, and inducing Glazunov, now director of the Conservatory, to walk outof a performance of The Scythian Suite, fearing for his sense ofhearing. During the war he gained exemption from military service by enrollingas an organ student and after the Revolution was given permission to travelabroad, at first to America, taking with him the scores of The Scythian Suite,arranged from a ballet originally commissioned by Dyagilev, the ClassicalSymphony and his first Violin Concerto.Unlike Stravinsky and Rakhmaninov,Prokofiev had left Russia with official permission and with the idea ofreturning home sooner or later. His stay in the United States of America was atfirst successful. He appeared as a solo pianist and wrote the opera The Lovefor Three Oranges for the Chicago Opera. By 1920, however, he had begun tofind life more difficult and moved to Paris, where he re-established contactwith Dyagilev, for whom he revised The Tale of the Buffoon, a balletsuccessfully mounted in 1921. He spent much of the next sixteen years inFrance, returning from time to time to Russia, where his music was stillacceptable.In 1936 Prokofiev decided to settle oncemore in his native country, taking up residence in Moscow in time for the firstofficial onslaught on music that did not sort well with the political andsocial aims of the government, aimed in particular at the hitherto successfulopera A Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by Shostakovich. Twelveyears later the name of Prokofiev was to be openly joined with that ofShostakovich in an even more explicit condemnation of formalism, withparticular reference now to Prokofiev's opera War and Peace. He died in 1953 onthe same day as Joseph Stalin, and thus never benefited from the subsequentrelaxation in official policy to the arts.As a composer Prokofiev was prolific. Hisoperas include the remarkable Fiery Angel, first performed in its entirety inParis the year after his death, with ballet-scores in Russia for Romeo andJuliet and Cinderella. The last of his seven symphonies wascompleted in 1952, t
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