Prokofiev’s ballet music in an anniversary set

MOSCOW. A gift to music lovers for the anniversary of Prokofiev is the release of a set box with recordings of his ballets.

“Melody” again proposed an anniversary set box. The previous set, released to the 100th anniversary of Svyatoslav Richter, enjoyed great success. His entire circulation was sold out, on the way already additional. This time, the "culprit" was Sergei Prokofiev, whose 125th anniversary will be celebrated on April 23. On nine discs - the composer’s ballets. Among them are those names that can be found in the repertoire of theaters quite often, and those that rarely appear on posters. The rare box recording of 1938 is included in the set box, on which the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra performs a suite from Romeo and Juliet, and Prokofiev himself is behind the conductor’s desk.

The main part of his innovative compositions for ballet was played by an orchestra conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky, an excellent conductor and a fearless man. Over the course of his career, he more than once undertook the compositions of the so-called disgraced composers, which included Shostakovich and Prokofiev. Great musicians were called representatives of the formalistic and anti-people movements.

The ballets “Romeo and Juliet” and “Cinderella”, in which Galina Ulanova shone, are presented on discs. The latter was written by Prokofiev specifically for the great ballerina, whose performance of the party of Juliet captivated him. Magical music emphasized the purity and victorious power of the main character of the ballet Cinderella, which was far from the low-worshiping elements that prevailed at that time in society. Ulanova Boris Pasternak wrote about this, expressing admiration for the beautiful ballet.

“The Tale of the Jester, the Jester of the Jokes” - a grotesque ballet on the theme of Russian folklore, created for Diaghilev’s entreprise and staged by… artist Mikhail Larionov and dancer Slavinsky. Steel Leap is an innovative work dedicated to post-revolutionary Russia. It was also created by order of Diaghilev, who did not consider this idea propaganda. One-act ballet, which reflected the composer’s hobbies with constructivism. On other discs you can hear music for the ballets The Tale of a Stone Flower by Bazhov, The Prodigal Son (Balanchine’s triumphant production and the masterpiece role of Serge Lifar), On the Dnieper, whose stage fate was very difficult. The plans of “Melodies” include box sets dedicated to Shostakovich and Gilels.

Elena Tanakova © Gallerix.ru