Nobel Prize Concert – Martha Argerich & Yuri Temirkanov (2009/10)
The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra/Yuri Termikanov
Program: SHOSTAKOVICH: Festive Overture; RAVEL: Piano Concerto in G; CHOPIN: Mazurka in C; PROKOFIEV: Suites 1 & 2 from Romeo and Juliet ballet
Studio: EuroArts 2057898 [Distrib. by Naxos]
Video: 16:9 color
Audio: DTS 5.1, DD 5.1, PCM Stereo
Length: 80 minutes
Rating: *****
A classical concert is offered each year in Stockholm as part of the tribute to the Nobel Laureates. This is last year’s, recorded in the Stockholm Concert Hall in December with the Russian conductor visiting. The program is an excellent one which should have wide appeal. The hall is spacious and beautiful and the visual presentation closely follows the musical sense without getting on the viewer’s nerves. In fact, most symphony orchestra videos today are a genuine pleasure to view, with none of the inappropriate closeups or missed cues of yore.
Argerich tears into the exciting and witty Ravel Piano Concerto with relish and the Swedish orchestra provides perfect support. For an encore at the conclusion of the first half, she offers the tiny Chopin Mazurka Op. 24 No. 2 in C. The concert’s second half is taken up by excerpts from both of the suites which Prokofiev drew out of his complete ballet score for Romeo and Juliet. In neither suite did he follow the sequences of the actual ballet, so it makes no difference that Temirkanov conducts the Suite No. 2 first and then only includes three movements of the Suite No. 1. Each of the sections is identified with a title at the beginning of the selection, which is most helpful. I have always preferred the full-length ballet version of Romeo and Juliet, but the orchestra does such a rich and sensitive reading of the suite selections – in forceful but non-harsh DTS surround – that I’m sure I will be putting this DVD on many times in future.
– John Sunier
