Word: scythian
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Anglican minister who has labored a good part of his 43 years among South Africa's underdog black men. "My religion," he says, "knows no color bar." He likes to quote Paul's Epistle to the Colossians: "There is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ...
...dark but thematically appealing, the slow movement harmonically and rhythmically as dull as dishwater. The fast finale oompah-oompahed along in Russian style until about 30 bars from the end. Only then, for about a dozen bars, did listeners hear the powerfully dissonant Prokofiev they had known in the Scythian Suite and the first violin concerto. After that the Sixth Symphony oompahed its way to an ending. In the U.S. it might be panned, but it would not be banned...
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...
Prokoieff: Scythian Suite, Opus 20, (DM 1040) displays almost to a fault Prokoieff's acute sense for the bizarre. Originally written as a ballet, its frenzied turbulence made it unsuited to that form. The Suite is Prokoieff's first work of any major importance and its lack of profundity puts it within the reach of the somewhat limited capabilities of Desire Defauw and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, but even the technical difficulties are sometimes too great for them. Recording is poor...