Word: prokofiev
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Saving the good wine for last, however, Serban offers as an appetizer to the evening's feast "A Gozzi Surprise," The Love of Three Oranges. A condensed adaptation of the Prokofiev-Gozzi opera of the same name, it is a frantic farce, of unparalleled foolishness, concerning a hypochondriacal prince who will die unless he laughs. In the course of the show, the prince is stranded in a desert with three oranges that turn into three beautiful, but thirsty, maidens. An audience must be snatched up into the realm of such nonsense, but the "Gozzi Surprise," despite the comical efforts...
...PROKOFIEV: No. 5 (St. Louis Symphony, Leonard Slatkin, conductor; RCA). Prokofiev's most popular symphony requires an accomplished orchestra with strings and woodwinds able to negotiate the Russian's tricky, sassy writing, as well as a brass section prepared to blast away with dignity when the time comes, as it often does. It also needs a conductor with an ear attuned to its harmonic piquancies and piston-engine rhythms. Slatkin and his crack orchestra, who are evolving the most exciting orchestral partnership since George Szell transformed the Cleveland Orchestra about 30 years ago, have what it takes...
Cinderella is neither parody nor camp extravagance, nor is it a conventional story ballet. The sets and costumes, by Santo Loquasto, are opulent, if heavy on glitter. The fairy tale is told straight, as indicated by Sergei Prokofiev's richly melodic score. But instead of emphasizing welling emotions and magic spells, the choreographers are brisk...
Though the choreographers cooperated on all aspects of the piece, Baryshnikov's mark is on the corps de ballet work in the ballroom scene, and he has clearly progressed since the tame groupings in the Nutcracker seven years ago. Prokofiev's waltzes are drenched in melody, yet edged with dark, thrilling shivers, and the choreography exploits their almost crude drama...
...them, Eros stretches provocatively. Each intense, chromatic line is achingly detailed, and when the climax of the Love-Death is reached, the effect is shattering. "Music," says Celibidache, "is a meditation. When it is transcendent, it is as transcendental as a prayer." In the concluding Scythian Suite, Celibidache unleashes Prokofiev's panoply of barbaric orchestral splendor...