Word: prokofiev
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...symphonies he has championed, I have never heard him utter these words; I have only read them and they have always irritated me. He has never clarified this spurious statement, has himself composed in this form. His repeated performances of my symphonies, the symphonies of Copland, Schuman, Sibelius, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and many others are sufficient evidence that he is quite wrong. Bernstein's statement is paradoxical, but as long as he himself composes in the symphonic form, he gives himself the lie. Long live Leonard Bernstein and long live the Symphony...
...surprise to Shostakovich's fans as to his critics. Gone are the characteristic hard-edged rhythms, brittle orchestral sounds and prankish grotesqueries. Instead, the bad boy of Russian music seems to have found a new mood of lyrical quiet and contentment. His artistic debt to Sergei Prokofiev is as clear as ever-embarrassingly so at times-and some of his melodic writing in the first movement is downright dull. But the elegiac sweep of the middle adagio movement and the jauntiness of the finale compensate admirably for these shortcomings. The concerto is not quite a masterpiece, but Oistrakh...
...with his new Piano Concerto No. 2 why it is that conductors, soloists and the public have only the kindest of words for him. He is not afraid of melo dy or tonality, and he has the courage to write in the familiar mainstream tra dition of Bartok and Prokofiev-the titters of twelve-tone, modified twelve-tone, post-Webern and electronic cliques notwithstanding. That is not to say he is old hat. Within the bounds of con ventional forms like the symphony, sonata, string quartet and concerto, Lees manages to be fascinatingly original and thoroughly contemporary...
...PROKOFIEV: THE COMPLETE MUSIC FOR SOLO PIANO (Vox; 2 Vols., each 3 LPs). Composer Sergei Prokofiev was an accomplished concert pianist, and he left a large and lively legacy for his instrument. These recordings include such meditation miniatures as the 20 Visions Fugitives and nine sonatas, among them the famous Seventh, completed during the Battle of Stalingrad. One expects in Prokofiev dissonance, humor, percussiveness and strong drive; yet there is also much sheer lyrical beauty. Budapest-born Gyorgy Sandor plays the melodic passages poignantly and is a sure guide through the harshest chordal clashes-sometimes passionate, sometimes witty, always lucid...
...Graffman typifies what may some day be known as the American school, but isn't yet: a synthesis of the best pianists from prewar Russia and Germany, with a range of styles that adapt to any music. "Rachmaninoff," he says, "approached everything the same way. But I approach Prokofiev totally differently from Beethoven, and Beethoven differently from Bach. The difference in approach has to do with many things: rhythm, phrasing, even the tone of a single note...