{"id":1172,"date":"2009-02-21T22:18:37","date_gmt":"2009-02-22T03:18:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=1172"},"modified":"2018-08-10T00:16:46","modified_gmt":"2018-08-10T04:16:46","slug":"prokofievs-classical-symphony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=1172","title":{"rendered":"Prokofiev\u2019s \u201cClassical\u201d Symphony"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Sym\u00adpho\u00adny No. 1 in D major, Op 25 was des\u00adig\u00adnat\u00aded \u201cClas\u00adsi\u00adcal Sym\u00adpho\u00adny\u201d by Prokofiev when it pre\u00admiered in 1918, in Pet\u00adro\u00adgrad. \u201cNeo-clas\u00adsi\u00adcal\u201d would be more appro\u00adpri\u00adate. Prokofiev said it was a sym\u00adpho\u00adny \u201cthat Haydn would com\u00adpose if he lived today\u201d. There are no quo\u00adta\u00adtions from Haydn in the work, how\u00adev\u00ader, and the melodies are unmis\u00adtak\u00adably Prokofiev, with his usu\u00adal sar\u00addon\u00adic humour. The work must be hard for a con\u00adduc\u00adtor to inter\u00adpret, because the three record\u00adings I have all feel rather dif\u00adfer\u00adent. I have two vinyls: one by Jean Mar\u00adti\u00adnon, which is per\u00adformed at break\u00adneck speed, and an old Sovi\u00adet record\u00ading by Gen\u00adnady Rozhdestven\u00adsky which is done a lit\u00adtle more respect\u00adful\u00adly. On <span class=\"caps\">CD<\/span>, I have Neeme J\u00e4rvi\u2019s set of the com\u00adplete sym\u00adphonies, with the Roy\u00adal Scot\u00adtish Nation\u00adal Orches\u00adtra. I find this one the most satisfying.<!--more--><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Like most of Prokofiev\u2019s music, the sym\u00adpho\u00adny is intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly stim\u00adu\u00adlat\u00ading, but calls up no unam\u00adbigu\u00adous emo\u00adtions. Are the folk-dance-like polon\u00adaise and gavotte meant to put across inno\u00adcent plea\u00adsure, or are they sar\u00adcas\u00adtic? Tonal\u00adi\u00adties shift like quick\u00adsand in a sup\u00adpos\u00aded\u00adly sim\u00adple \u201cclas\u00adsi\u00adcal\u201d form. Prokofiev was a psy\u00adcho\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal puz\u00adzle to every\u00adone who knew him, and to his biog\u00adra\u00adphers. He gives the impres\u00adsion of a man over\u00adstuffed with tal\u00adent, but unable to think of some clear pur\u00adpose to pur\u00adsue with it. His incred\u00adi\u00adbly stu\u00adpid return to the Sovi\u00adet Union, only to serve as one of Stal\u00adin\u2019s docile slaves, is per\u00adhaps one of the most bizarre choic\u00ades ever made by a cre\u00adative artist. But that lay long in the future from this youth\u00adful first sym\u00adpho\u00adny, in which he attempt\u00aded, suc\u00adcess\u00adful\u00adly, to inhab\u00adit both the 18th and the 20th centuries.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sym\u00adpho\u00adny No. 1 in D major, Op 25 was des\u00adig\u00adnat\u00aded \u201cClas\u00adsi\u00adcal Sym\u00adpho\u00adny\u201d by Prokofiev when it pre\u00admiered in 1918, in Pet\u00adro\u00adgrad. \u201cNeo-clas\u00adsi\u00ad\u00adcal\u201d would be more appro\u00adpri\u00adate. Prokofiev said it was a sym\u00adpho\u00adny \u201cthat Haydn would com\u00adpose if he lived&nbsp;today\u201d.&nbsp;\u2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=1172\">Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[947,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-c-listening","category-cr-listening-2009"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1172"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8103,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172\/revisions\/8103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}