PROKOFIEV: Symphonic Suite from Semyon Kotko, Op. 81b; Four Portraits from The Gambler, Op. 49 – Scottish National Orchestra/Neeme Jarvi
Chandos CHAN 10485 X, 61:48 [Distrib. by Naxos] ****:
Prokofiev’s opera Semyon Kotko (1939) was based upon an autobiographical story by Valentin Katayev, a tale that depicts events in the Ukraine following World War I, including the German invasion and the ensuing civil war in Russia. Set in forty-three scenes, the opera embraces many contrasting elements, but its theme of noble struggle remains dominant. Essentially a lyric folk opera, the score brings out the color and rich orchestration of which Prokofiev was a past master by the late 1930s. Kotko’s love of Sofya, daughter of a rich peasant Tkachenko, finds martial counterpoint in the German invasion of their district, with its ensuing pillaging and burning. The suite takes eight scenes from the opera in loosely chronological order, given the leaps in the linear story line. Pageantry and lyric tragedy combine in scene four, The Southern Night, an Adagio that might have found a fit place in Romeo and Juliet. The pictorial, latter scenes of the village burning, the funeral music, pastoral, and the finale–a paean to the Red Army– each project the neo-realist imagery we experience in his film music for Alexander Nevsky. The troika quality of the last scene, “Ours Have Come,” resonates with hint at both Lt. Kije and Cinderella.
Prokofiev composed his sixth opera, The Gambler (after Dostoievsky), between 1915-1917. Its vibrant scoring and coloration immediately found a champion in British conductor Albert Coates, who himself had made a powerful reputation in Russia. After Prokofiev extracted the five-movement suite in 1931, more champions arose in the persons of Bruno Walter (in Berlin) and Serge Koussevitzky (in Boston). The ubiquitous spinning of the roulette wheel permeates the various character-sketches of Alexis, The Grandmother, The General, and Pauline, each of whose fates either succumbs to or suffers the effects of gambling. Viola and harp suggest Alexis’ unrequited love for Pauline; even his colossal winnings at the roulette wheel will not capture her affections.
The dark themes of obsession and moral blackmail bring forth some of Prokofiev’s most pungent harmonies and orchestral colors, all of which find virtuosic realization in this reissue. Originally inscribed 12-13 August 1989, when Jarvi committed a substantial Prokofiev legacy for Chandos with the Scottish ensemble. Excellent sonics make it hard to accept the recording’s being almost 20 years old.
–Gary Lemco
