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Prokofiev Symphonies 3/4/6/7: Gaffigan or Litton?

98.255.239.35
Posted on September 18, 2016 at 11:23:04
jdaniel@jps.net
 Tons of reviews for Litton, one or two for Gaffigan, inluding our Kal's very positive review.

Also on the lookout for a good hi-res Romeo and Juliet. The Balcony Scene is make or break moment for me, and frankly Litton and Gergiev are clueless to what's going on. Prokofiev needs a bit of voluptuousness along with the iron and steel. Going by samples alone, Vedernikov on Pentatone delivers the most moving Balcony Scene. (eClassical allows samplings of complete tracks, which I really appreciate.)

 

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Dimitri Kitajenko/ Gurzenich Orch. Koln in the symphonies, posted on September 18, 2016 at 14:28:48
steve.ott@kctcs.edu
Audiophile

Posts: 795
Joined: January 16, 2009
 Kitajenko in R&J also (Chandos).

Too bad you've gotten out of vinyl; Maazel/Cleveland in R&J, and Walter Weller/London Phil. & Symphony Orch. are superb.

 

RE: Dimitri Kitajenko/ Gurzenich Orch. Koln in the symphonies, posted on September 18, 2016 at 15:14:31
jdaniel@jps.net
 Thanks, I know Maazel is all time favorite, but I've always felt a bit short-changed in the "amour" dept, esp. Balcony scene.

Also, Weller's TAS listed 6th is a bit soft-edged for my tastes. I imprinted on Jarvi's.

Edit: forgot to mention though, man: Kitajenko's Rachmaninoff "The Bells" on Melodiya is IMHO fantastic when it comes to atmosphere, esp in 2nd mov't. It's the only K I know, so I'll definitely look out for his Prokofiev.

 

RE: Dimitri Kitajenko/ Gurzenich Orch. Koln in the symphonies, posted on September 18, 2016 at 16:37:14
steve.ott@kctcs.edu
Audiophile

Posts: 795
Joined: January 16, 2009
 Don't know if K's Prokofiev is available in high-resolution download, but I swear the redbook CD
set sounds as good as his Shostakovich series on Capriccio SACDs. My Cary player says it's 44.1, but it doesn't sound like it to me. Marvelous performances. Not soft-edged at all.

I am on the lookout for Jarvi's Prokofiev 6th on Chandos vinyl. I've heard good things about it.

 

I've got one album of each, posted on September 18, 2016 at 16:50:19
Chris from Lafayette
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Posts: 26434
Location: SF Bay Area
Joined: February 17, 2004
Contributor
  Since: February 6, 2012
 They're both really excellent, although, as you can see, I don't have exactly the same symphonies to compare. (They're each using different versions of the Fourth.) I have the Gaffigan on SACD and the Litton as a 24/96 download from eClassical (for some ungodly low price - eClassical is just wonderful with the pricing of many of the BIS new releases!). I would find it extremely difficult to choose between them and, at some point, I do plan to complete both sets - they're both first class in every way. (My February post about the Gaffigan album is at the link at the bottom of this post.)



BTW, I just wanted to comment on the Maazel album of R&J and the Weller album of the symphonies. (I no longer have the Maazel set, but I still have the Weller set.) Yes, these are both magnificent recordings, but there have also been some wonderful sets (including the two above) of Prokofiev's music released since the 70's. I'm very sorry that the Gergiev/LSO set on Warner wasn't issued in some kind of hi-rez format, but, even on CD, those come across as strong performances too. I haven't heard any of Kitajenko set, and, of course, I wouldn't touch the Alsop set on Naxos with a ten-foot pole! ;-)

 

RE: Dimitri Kitajenko/ Gurzenich Orch. Koln in the symphonies, posted on September 18, 2016 at 19:28:59
Kal Rubinson
Reviewer

Posts: 12435
Location: New York
Joined: June 5, 2002
 Indeed, wonderful but only 16/44.1 and only 2 channels.

 

Sounds great. I'm a fan of the Ormandy's 4th, but it's the Op 112, will be interesting to compare. nt, posted on September 18, 2016 at 21:35:33
jdaniel@jps.net
 .

 

Nicolai Malko conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra , posted on September 19, 2016 at 11:43:44
Jay Buridan
Audiophile

Posts: 10271
Location: Michigan
Joined: January 21, 2004
 Are any of these performances as good as the old Malko 7th?

"Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. "
― W.C. Fields

 

I've got the Malko recording too, posted on September 19, 2016 at 13:58:43
Chris from Lafayette
Audiophile

Posts: 26434
Location: SF Bay Area
Joined: February 17, 2004
Contributor
  Since: February 6, 2012
 The simple microphoning of the early EMI stereo sound is wonderful, and, as you suggest, the performance is very engaging and well played. However, I'd say that a number of subsequent performances are just as interesting and worthy. BTW, I don't agree at all with the slew of Prokofiev writers and biographers from the West who denigrate the Seventh Symphony for the composer's alleged submission to Stalin and Zhadanov by writing "less formalistic" music (whatever that might mean!). Sure, that magnificent secondary theme in the first movement might evoke vistas of Russia's vast landscape with Stalin's hydroelectric power plants dotting the rivers, but I still find it AS MUSIC very inspired. I believe ballerina Galina Ulanova once said that the Seventh was her favorite among the Prokofiev symphonies.

 

I've heard only the Litton Fourth... , posted on September 19, 2016 at 17:18:35
Jim Treanor
Audiophile

Posts: 2167
Location: Pacific Northwest
Joined: June 1, 2003
 in 24/96, and I like it as much as I like Ormandy's take on it. One of its other attractions is that it's paired with an excellent performance of Prokofiev's Seventh and allows you to choose which ending you want to hear--the original--which to me makes the most artistic sense--or the "affirmative" one Prokofiev pasted on (it's really a nod to an earlier theme) in a bid to snag the Stalin prize.


Jim

 

Yes - good point about the ending of the Seventh - I forgot to mention that [nt], posted on September 19, 2016 at 20:04:29
Chris from Lafayette
Audiophile

Posts: 26434
Location: SF Bay Area
Joined: February 17, 2004
Contributor
  Since: February 6, 2012

 

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