heroio Archive

PROKOFIEV: Sym. No. 5 in B-flt Major – Royal Concertgebouw Orch. / Mariss Jansons – RCO Live

by Audiophile Audition | May 26, 2016 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews

Chief Conductor Mariss Jansons leads his Concertgebouw Orchestra in a spirited, sonorous reading of the Prokofiev Fifth. PROKOFIEV: Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major, Op. 100 – Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra/ Mariss Jansons – RCO Live multichannel SACD 16002, 43:06 [Distr. by Naxos] (4/29/16) ****: Recorded live at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam 17-21 September 2014, the Prokofiev 1944 Fifth Symphony enjoys a performance history in Holland that dates back to 1948, when Eduard van Beinum brought the music before the orchestra. Composed in relative retreat from the cruelties of WW II, the music assumed a colossal import for the composer. Prokofiev said of his Fifth, “I wanted to sing the praises of the free and happy human being—of such a person’s strength, generosity and purity of soul. I cannot say I chose this theme; it was born in me and had to express itself.” From my own first impression of this potent and elegant work – from an RCA recording by Serge Koussevitzky – its combination of militant and lyrical energies struck me with the vigor and resolution of the spirit driving the music in the face of obvious, cataclysmic turmoil. Mariss Jansons does not understate the heroic impulses that emerge in […]