Youtor
Prokofiev Symphony No 2 in d minor Op 40
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When Prokofiev was living in France in the 1920s he came under criticism for failing to write truly innovative or daring music; in the thrall of the fashionable Les Six, some charged that he was relying on older works to prop up his reputation. This unforgiving attitude toward the composer emerged when Honneger's Pacific 231, a work depicting the sounds and mechanistic rhythms of a locomotive -- fashioned in the so-called style mécanique -- had just scored a colossal triumph. Therefore, Prokofiev decided he would give Parisian audiences what they wanted -- or what he thought they wanted: a symphony constructed of iron and steel. In the process he turned out one of his most dissonant and difficult major compositions, but also, despite its general neglect, one of his most rewarding. • Structurally, the Symphony No. 2 is fashioned after Beethoven's last piano sonata: the first movement is an austere Allegro in sonata form, and the second a lengthy theme-and-variations scheme of considerable complexity and subtlety. While both were innovative works for their respective composers, there is no thematic or other musical similarity between them. • Prokofiev's first movement main theme here is angular and long-breathed, racing along and seeming to aspire to grand expression one moment, then appearing to crush everything in its downward path the next. A chorale (3:25) is then introduced, but its underpinnings and orchestration are as mechanistic and brutal as anything else in the symphony. A development section (4:31) ensues, bringing on more sonic mayhem, with blaring brass and surging strings, yet producing music of startling innovation, not least because of Prokofiev's brilliant orchestration. The recapitulation (6:56) and coda (9:44) present the main material with some important changes, but the brazen tenor of the music remains. The whole movement rages on and on, with only one brief moment of rest in the middle. • The second movement opens with a lovely, and by contrast, soothing melody on oboe that, like its counterpart in the first movement, is long-breathed, but with no hint of agitation. Six variations follow, each imaginatively conceived and ingeniously orchestrated, some recalling the dissonant nature of the opening movement. The last of these (Allegro moderato) allows for the return of a sinister motif from the first movement, and then builds to a crushing climax (33:08), where march-like chords slash and stomp angrily to finally bring on the peaceful return of the opening theme. • The Symphony No. 2's premiere in Paris on June 6, 1925, in a performance led by Serge Koussevitsky was a failure, and Prokofiev later remarked, probably with tongue in cheek, that neither I nor the audience understood anything in it. He planned to revise it, even assigning the opus number 136 to the projected endeavor, but died before he got around to it. • 0:00 - Allegro ben articolato • Theme and Variations: • 11:04 - Theme: Andante • 13:28 - Var. 1: L'istesso tempo • 16:26 - Var. 2: Allegro non troppo • 18:39 - Var. 3: Allegro • 20:36 - Var. 4: Larghetto • 26:24 - Var. 5: Allegro con brio • 28:56 - Var. 6: Allegro moderato • 33:52 - Theme • Performed by the London Philharmonic • Walter Weller, conductor
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