Prokofiev - Violin Concerto 1 [Chung/ Previn-London Symphony Orchestra]This was a good experience listening to this disc today, i am not very familiar with the Prokofiev Concertos, so this listen was enlightening, i feel i crossed some thresholds today, especially with the First Concerto, i feel i'm beginning to love it, and understand it, things are still in their infancy, but it just takes hard footwork [time and listening] to 'assimilate' a piece of Classical music, this is the first time a Prokofiev Violin Concerto has appeared in my Blog.
Kyung Wha Chung is South Korean, now 63 years old, she recorded this work in 1975, Chung's extensive catalogue has been re-issued by Decca, coupling different Violin Concertos, very well done, and on the whole using excellent photos for the front covers, this one is by Christian Steiner, a nice head and shoulders shot, violin and bow at the ready, and well lit from the right.
Prokofiev loves to compose complex things, there's a lot of sonorities, rhythms and percussive elements, actual melodies can take a back seat, but certainly on this listening, i can hear those tunes, once you understand the Prokofiev language, he's a wonderful Composer, it was the third movement that caught my ear the most, marked as Moderato, it starts with a tick tock theme on strings, which the woodwinds take over later, it gets more fiery as the movement progresses, and more tense too, almost halfway through there's a more expansive and airy feel, as the violin has some soaring lines, and the strings follow [3:11-3:57], right after there's a nice strumming on the harp [3:57+] sounding like the coda from Holst's Saturn at times, and later like Neptune [4:47-4:56 & 5:32-5:42], and it's good to notice how Prokofiev uses the harp, it's an excellent instrument, the highlight of the movement is a quieter passage, where the violin trills away high in the treble [5:49-6:43], just so beautiful with a woodwind chorus, now i notice it i will never forget this passage, and i'll look forward to it next time, the closing pages of the Concerto are inspired, more violin trills in the treble, but this time backed up by ghostly flutes [6:43+], which end in tremolo strings softly strummed like flamenco banjos!, a superb effect, and the flute has a last ghostly outro [7:36-7:47], Prokofiev can certainly cook up some nice sounds.
Here's Hilary Hahn playing the third movement on YouTube.
