Ah the first Classical disc in my Blog of this new year, i was feeling that non Classical music might be taking over, and that's not a bad thing, i really do need to make Classical music less than 50% of my musical love, so on to this fabulous two disc set from Toradze and Gergiev, it's good to have the whole of the five on one set, even if 2 and 3 are superior to the rest, i've actually played this set fairly extensively, more than a dozen times, and yet still crazily this is its first appearance in my Blog, and even more crazily pre-Blogging i have some sort of amnesia towards the interpretation of certain performances, i really couldn't tell you what makes this set unique from other sets of the same, but one of the great things about a Blog, is that i'm 'forced' to analyse the music i listen to, now i'm looking at that 'why', not just the why of a certain interpretation, but the why of 'why did a Composer compose it this way?', i'm glad for another chance to analyse this set.
Alexander Toradze is Georgian, he is now 60 years old, he recorded this Concerto in 1996, this is one of those inch thick fatbox double disc sets, very nice, and a great addition to any growing library / collection, the front cover photograph is by Maarten Corbijn, a black & white double portrait of Toradze and Gergiev, in a nice candid moment, the red and black lettering goes very well.
The second movement Theme and Variations are just full of incredible invention by Prokofiev, here it's over 10 minutes of music, with a theme and five variations, the movement is couched in the key of E Minor [and makes its bedfellows with Shostakovich's Tenth, and Vaughan Williams's Sixth],
Theme [0:00-1:00] is very much a lazy woodwind affair in a way, dominated by the flute, nice gentle dissonances,
Variation One [0:58-2:08] the piano comes in as a solo, basically copying the orchestral opening, though towards the end there's some delicious ringing treble notes [1:38-1:50],
Variation Two [2:07-2:53] and then the fireworks break loose, lots of nice dissonance that Prokofiev is so expert at, the trumpet blows out some discordant stuff, and nicely grates against the piano, with a mute i believe,
Variation Three [2:53-4:12] next up is a gallumping piano thing, almost as if Toradze is playing with his clomping feet instead of his fingers, i love the way the bass notes resonate, or is that augmented by the orchestra?,
Variation Four [4:13-7:27] makes gentle mysterious sounds Ravel would have been proud of, the piano plays solo for a good portion of the time, conjuring up a magical kingdom,
Variation Five [7:27-8:48] another Allegro, building up and up, in speed and volume,
Coda & Ending [8:48-10:23] bringing back the main theme, but this time with a more complex piano accompaniment, there's a slow and solemn ending where the piano has the last word in the deep bass.
Here's Martha Argerich playing the second movement Theme and Variations on YouTube.
Alexander Toradze is Georgian, he is now 60 years old, he recorded this Concerto in 1996, this is one of those inch thick fatbox double disc sets, very nice, and a great addition to any growing library / collection, the front cover photograph is by Maarten Corbijn, a black & white double portrait of Toradze and Gergiev, in a nice candid moment, the red and black lettering goes very well.
The second movement Theme and Variations are just full of incredible invention by Prokofiev, here it's over 10 minutes of music, with a theme and five variations, the movement is couched in the key of E Minor [and makes its bedfellows with Shostakovich's Tenth, and Vaughan Williams's Sixth],
Theme [0:00-1:00] is very much a lazy woodwind affair in a way, dominated by the flute, nice gentle dissonances,
Variation One [0:58-2:08] the piano comes in as a solo, basically copying the orchestral opening, though towards the end there's some delicious ringing treble notes [1:38-1:50],
Variation Two [2:07-2:53] and then the fireworks break loose, lots of nice dissonance that Prokofiev is so expert at, the trumpet blows out some discordant stuff, and nicely grates against the piano, with a mute i believe,
Variation Three [2:53-4:12] next up is a gallumping piano thing, almost as if Toradze is playing with his clomping feet instead of his fingers, i love the way the bass notes resonate, or is that augmented by the orchestra?,
Variation Four [4:13-7:27] makes gentle mysterious sounds Ravel would have been proud of, the piano plays solo for a good portion of the time, conjuring up a magical kingdom,
Variation Five [7:27-8:48] another Allegro, building up and up, in speed and volume,
Coda & Ending [8:48-10:23] bringing back the main theme, but this time with a more complex piano accompaniment, there's a slow and solemn ending where the piano has the last word in the deep bass.
Here's Martha Argerich playing the second movement Theme and Variations on YouTube.
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