Prokofiev, Romeo & Juliet: Drama & Dance
Tracks and clips:
1. Introduction
2:17
a. Sergey Prokofiev (SP), Romeo & Juliet, Op. 64 (R&J), Cleveland Orchestra (CO),
Lorin Maazel, Decca 4529702 recorded 1973.*
2. L’Ancien Régime
11:00
a. SP, Velikan, Mikhailovsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, Mikhail Leontiev, this is in
three youtube.com clips: y80AXfBSYkw, oBARsx4Wy5c, and 9jcJjI_TUF8, all
were recorded 5/23/2010.
b. Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev, String Quartet No. 4 in a, Op. 11, Taneyev Quartet,
Northern Flowers NF 9933 released 4/5/2011, available from eClassical.com.
c. Reinhold Glière, Sextet No. 3, Op. 11, members of the Berlin Philharmonic String
Octet, MDG 308 1196-2 recorded 12/19/2002.
d. Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov, Violin Concerto in a, Op. 82, Jascha Heifetz,
RCA Symphony Orchestra, Walter Hendl, RCA RCD1-7019 released 1963.
e. Anatol Konstantinovich Lyadov, Eight Russian Folksongs, Op. 58, Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski, Music & Arts CD-847 recorded
6/15/1969.
f. SP, Piano Concerto No. 1 in D♭, Op. 10, Gary Graffman, CO, George Szell, CBS
MYK 37806 recorded 1966.
g. SP, Scythian Suite, Op. 20, Philadelphia Orchestra (PO), Eugene Ormandy (EO),
Columbia ML-4142 recorded 11/22/1947.
h. SP, Piano Concerto No. 2 in g, Op. 16, Tedd Joselson, PO, EO, RCA ARL1-0751
recorded 5/14/1974.
i. SP, Sinfonietta, Op. 5/48, Philharmonia Orchestra, Riccardo Muti, EMI 97982 2
probably recorded 7/1977.
j. SP, Symphony No. 1 in D, Op. 25, PO, EO, Sony SICC-1587/89 recorded
3/26/1961.
3. Prokofiev Abroad
10:44
a. Gustave Charpentier, Louise, Mary Garden, Victor Studio Orchestra, Rosario
Bourdon, Romophone 81008-2 recorded 12/24/1926.
b.
SP, The Love for Three Oranges, Op. 33, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Netherlands
Opera, Stéphane Denève, Opus Arte OABD7016D recorded 2005.
c. SP, Chout, Op. 21, WDR Symphonie Orchester, Mikhail Jurowski (MJ), CPO
999 975-2 recorded 2/3/1997.
d. Gabriel Fauré, Piano Trio, Op. 120, Eric Le Sage, Pierre Colombet, Raphaël Merlin,
Alpha 603 recorded 10/25/2012.*
e. Edgard Varèse, Arcana, PO, RM, Philadelphia Orchestra Centennial Edition
recorded 2/1/1985.
f. Bohuslav Martinů, Concertino for Piano Trio & String Orchestra, Halbr. 231,
Gürsenich Kölner Philharmoniker, James Conlon, Capriccio C71053 released
9/12/2005.*
g. Maurice Ravel, Concerto for the Left Hand, Mar. 82, Robert Casadesus, PO, EO,
Sony MHK 63316 recorded 1/22/1947.
h. Igor Stravinsky, Oedipus Rex, Washington Opera Society, Igor Stravinsky, Sony
SM2K 46300 recorded 1/20/1961.
i. Francis Poulenc, Concerto for Two Pianos in d, Katia & Marielle Labèque, Boston
Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa, Philips 4262842 recorded 6/12/1991.*
j. SP, Piano Sonata No. 5 in C, Op. 38, Yefim Bronfman, Sony SK 53273 recorded
6/22/1995.
k. SP, Piano Concerto No. 4, Op. 53, Rudolf Serkin, PO, EO, Columbia MS-6405
recorded 3/30/1958.
4. Comrade Composer
8:32
a. SP, Lieutenant Kijé Suite, Op. 60, PO, EO, Columbia MS-6545 recorded 12/9/1962.
b. SP, Le pas d’acier, Op. 41, Westdeutscher Rundfunk Orchester, MJ, CPO
999 974-02 recorded 1/22/1996.
c. SP, Semyon Kotko, Op. 81, Kirov Opera, Valery Gergiev, Decca 478 2315 recorded
11/19/1999.
d. SP, Symphony No. 5 in B♭, Op. 100, PO, Christoph Eschenbach, Philadelphia
Orchestra private label recorded 5/8/2008, available from HDTracks.com.
e. SP, Piano Sonata No. 7 in B♭, Op. 83, Sviatoslav Richter, Artia ALP-154 released
1960.
f. SP, Cinderella, Op. 87, CO, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Decca 455 349-2 recorded
3/1983.
g. SP, War & Peace, Kirov Opera, Valery Gergiev, Decca 478 2315 recorded 7/1991.
h. SP, Alexander Nevsky, Op. 78, PO, Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, EO, RCA
ARL1-1151 recorded 10/24/1974.
5. The Writing of the Ballet
5:33
a. SP, Egyptian Nights, Op. 61, Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester Berln, MJ, Capriccio
C67059 recorded 2003.
b. Dmitry Shostakovich, Lady MacBeth of the Mtsensk District, Op. 114, Orchestre de
l’Opéra Bastille, Myung-Whun Chung, Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft
E4375112 recorded 2/1992. *
c. SP, RJ op. cit.
6. Romeo & Juliet
33:58
a. SP, Romeo & Juliet Suite No. 2, Op. 64ter (S2), PO, RM, EMI 97982 2 recorded
2/18/1981.
b. Ibid. but Romeo & Juliet Suite No. 1, Op. 64bis (S1).
c-h. SP, S2 op. cit.
i-j. SP, S1 op. cit.
k-o. SP, S2 op. cit.
7. Envoi
1:10
8. Catharsis
a. SP, RJ op. cit.
6:23
* These recordings are available as paid downloads from PrestoClassical.com.
Thanks, Bibliography & Comments
Whenever I interview Stéphane Denève, I know that it’s going to go well — and be
lots of fun, besides. He’s exactly the way he comes across on this disc: intelligent,
engaged, upbeat — an exciting conversationalist. On top of all that, it almost seems
too much that he’s an extraordinarily fine musician with a real ability to convey his
insights to others. I owe any success with this effort to him.
I had this bright idea: everyone knows the play so why not intersperse the text with
quotes from Shakespeare? The problem is that the immortal bard would never have
become so had his reputation depended on me. Fortunately, Charles McMahon, actor
and Artistic Director of Philadelphia’s Lantern Theater Co., came to my rescue. Al
Lesitsky pointed out a way that I could improve the narrative, besides saving me
with several reissued recordings that were much better than the ones that I had
found: he’s an unbelievable resource, the thinking man’s record collector. Stan
Scordilis identified a different serious problem in the narrative and suggested several
amplifications that were easily achieved, but had escaped me to that point. Connie
did the graphics and served as listener of first resort. In several places on the CD that
was trickier than one might think: I was lucky I had her around and luckier that she
is always willing to help.
In my narrative, I split Prokofiev’s life into three parts, biographers usually divide it
in two. I had reference to two wonderful texts: for the first half: David Nice, Prokofiev,
From Russia to the West, 1891-1935, Yale University Press, 2003; and, for the second:
Simon Morrison, The People’s Artist, Prokofiev’s Soviet Years, Oxford University Press,
2009. Morrison was also the editor of Sergey Prokofiev and His World, Princeton
University Press, 2008. A footnote in The People’s Artist led me to Deborah Annette
Wilson’s Ohio State University doctoral dissertation, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet:
History of a Compromise, 2003. It was absolutely invaluable for background on the
tortured path that this great masterpiece traveled between conception and
performance. Study scores of R&J, as Connie and I came to call it during the six
month genesis of this CD, were once available from Kalmus, but are no longer, not
even second hand. I suspected copyright problems, and a call to Kalmus verified
that. After being absolutely positive that I was going to tear out what little hair I have
left trying to coordinate clips by sound alone, I finally thought of a piano score:
Musikverlag Hans Sikorski GmbH & Co. KG, Hamburg, Prokofiev Romeo & Juliet, Op.
64 Piano Score, ed. nr. 2176. An orchestral score would have been better, but this
served and will keep my barber in business. Anything of this sort requires seemingly
innumerable trips to general reference works. For this CD I used three: The New
Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Stanley Sadie, ed., MacMillan, 1980; The New
Grove Dictionary of Opera, Stanley Sadie, ed., MacMillan, 1992; and wikipedia.org. The
Penguin Shakespeare edition of Romeo & Juliet provided the quotes and also allowed
me to renew my acquaintance with this perpetual favorite: quite shocking literature
when one considers it carefully and in line with contemporary concerns. Finally, for
many reasons, I like to feature Philadelphia Orchestra recordings. The clip list that
began this booklet is much better than its predecessors because of a recent
publication: Richard A. Kaplan, The Philadelphia Orchestra, An Annotated Discography,
Rowman & Littlefield, 2015.
My first exposure to Prokofiev was his Classical Symphony: the Ormandy recording
that I use in this CD, but in its rather screechy original LP issue. Thrilled hardly
begins to express my feelings on hearing it then. It wasn’t until years later that I saw
the Pennsylvania Ballet dance the John Cranko setting of Romeo & Juliet. I’ve seen it
several times since there and once, in the Kenneth MacMillan version, at Covent
Garden. Its great romantic and tragic sweep never loses its appeal for me and I still
marvel at the wonders of the score. I think that dance is 90% music, that’s true of
opera, too — yes, I know that I’m a philistine. Outside of Tchaikovsky, you can’t find
a more mouth-watering score than this one. Stravinsky wrote some beautiful ones,
Appollon musagète is a favorite; Leo Delibes’s Sylvia is no slouch; but they don’t reach
the heights of Romeo & Juliet. I felt ratified when Stéphane agreed with my opinion.
Prokofiev is unusual among the modernist composers because he is so melodic. Only
Aaron Copland comes to mind as his equal in this area. Much is made of the
influence of the soviet state on Prokofiev’s use of melody, but his gift was innate and,
as he matured, he seems to have realized how unusual it was. He began the turn
towards melody about halfway through his career; it strengthened as he matured.
The wild key choices, weird dissonances and other characteristics of his early work
continue, but the melody seduces one’s ear away from shock by its transcendent
beauty. His music is as ravishing as anything Handel, Schubert or Dvořák wrote, and
of much higher quality than the last delivers. It’s as good as the first two. This raises
the interesting esthetic question of what makes beauty in music. Hanslick’s essay, The
Beautiful in Music, failed to thrill me when I read it decades ago. I just love Webern
and Schoenberg and their melodies are hard to detect. I am unable to reconcile these
problems. Perhaps you can help. If you have an idea, contact me through The
Philadelphia Orchestra. I’ll be glad to listen. Maybe it’s you that I should interview
for another CD. Forwarding your thoughts to me will give me input as to where to
go and how to get there as this series of educational materials continues.
Even the most beautiful music fails when it is improperly performed. Some years
ago, I heard a conductor ruin Beethoven’s Ninth, something that I had thereto
thought impossible (no, it wasn’t in Philadelphia). But I know that I may always rely
on the musicians of The Philadelphia Orchestra to deliver the goods. Looking for
examples, I went through a number of recordings of Romeo & Juliet, the ballet and all
three of its suites. I kept coming back to The Philadelphia Orchestra ones. This CD,
and the series of which it is a part, is really dedicated to those musicians. During the
season, I know Thursday nights will be intellectually stimulating. That the music will
be well thought through, considered with nearly academic rigor. That the timbre will
be full when it should be, and lean when it shouldn’t. That every nuance will be
observed. That the enthralling sound that is classical orchestral music will be
flawlessly delivered. And that I will leave exhausted, excited, and pleased to have
heard these great artists once again. My hat’s off to them!
Mike Cone
Track
1. Introduction
2. L’Ancien Régime
3. Prokofiev Abroad
4. Comrade Composer
5. The Writing of the Ballet
6. Romeo & Juliet
7. Envoi
8. Catharsis
Total Timing
Seat K-101 Productions 011
Duration
2:17
11:00
10:44
8:32
5:33
33:57
1:09
6:23
1:19:35