Word: prokofiev
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet Suite No. 2 (Moscow State Philharmonic Orchestra, Serge Prokofiev conducting; Disc, 11 sides). Nothing like Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet. This is lean, unsentimental music, composed for a Soviet ballet in 1935. It has never been recorded in the U.S. Performance: good...
...eight sides), Serenade for Strings and the theme of the Sixth ("Pathétique") Symphony, titled Now and Forever, with lyrics ("So it was fated, two hearts are mated . . ."*). He also recorded Grieg and Rachmaninoff piano concertos and last week did Dingbat, the Singing Cat, a dance perversion of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. Says Freddy admiringly: "Tchaikovsky is the most commercial of all the classic writers." Martin believes there should be some honor among thieves of classical themes, and thinks it is good of him that he still usually mentions the original composer in titles...
...Prokofiev: Scythian Suite (Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Desire Defauw conducting; Victor, 6 sides), Piano Sonata No. 7 (Vladimir Horowitz; Victor, 4 sides). Two good and noisy pieces by Russia's greatest contemporary. The earlier Scythian Suite (composed for a Diaghilev ballet in 1914) comes out better than the recent (1942) Sonata. Both are recorded for the first time in the U.S. Performance: good...
Disney's setting of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, featuring a wolf whose gullet looks like something out of Dante; a cat which, in a moment of terror, has an all-claws resemblance to a brier bush; and a cute little feeble-minded duck named Sonia...
...sluggish mental habits make so much great music seem esoteric. We shut out our participation because we are afraid. Bartók is one of the imperishable creative artists. His position is less likely to be corroded by the years than that of Sibelius or Strauss or Prokofiev...