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Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky (Complete Original Film Score)
Recommended recording:
Evgenia Gorohovskaya (mezzo-soprano) / Chorus of St. Petersburg Teleradio Company / Chamber Chorus of St. Petersburg / St. Petersburg Chorus Capella "LIK" / St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra / Yuri Temirkanov (RCA VICTOR RED SEAL 09026-61926-2)
Prokofiev is the only composer whose film scores, in one incarnation or other, often became better known than the films for which they were written. And, keep in mind, those films in some cases were cinematic masterpieces, directed by the likes of Sergei Eisenstein, himself a genius at his craft. That a music score could overshadow his great work speaks volumes of the man behind the music. Yet, had Prokofiev not extracted off-shoots from his scores--the (pre-Eisenstein) Lieutenant Kije Suite and the Alexander Nevsky Cantata--most people might never have gotten to know the music. The problem has been that the musical establishment in the former Soviet Union was negligent in excavating and promoting its film scores. We're lucky to have gotten to know the score to Ivan The Terrible at all, music which Prokofiev unaccountably never reworked into a suite. (Many thanks to Abram Stasevich, who pioneered the resurrection of the music from the two parts of the Eisenstein classic.)
With this release, we at last get to hear the original 1938 film score to Nevsky--well, more or less the original film score. Prokofiev wrote music for the Eisenstein film for a studio-sized orchestra, which was far smaller in number than the modern orchestra. (In watching the movie, you can hardly tell from the execrable soundtrack how large the ensemble is, or at times even how well it is playing.) In 1986 orchestrator William Brohn was engaged by this recording's executive producer, John Goberman, to expand Prokofiev's score to a full-sized orchestral work. It must be noted that a few emendations were made. Goberman wanted an overture to introduce the work; so Brohn pieced together music from the cantata to come up with an effective opening number. A few other minor changes excepted, everything else is pretty much a literal translation of studio-sized Prokofiev into normal-sized Prokofiev. Shortly after Brohn produced the score Vladimir Askenazy, Andre Previn, and Mstislav Rostropovich conducted various orchestras in performances of the score to showings of the film. But, incredibly, not one of these notable figures recorded it. The task was left to Yuri Temirkanov and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. The results are impressive, from the music itself to the performance to RCA's splendid sonics.
There is considerable difference between the two Nevskys. Music found in the Cantata's famous The Battle on The Ice, for example, is here found in several cues, most of which impart considerable color and aural impact. And when you hear sections like The Ice Breaks (track 14), with its brutal percussion theme that only Prokofiev could have composed, you'll hear intensely shattering music missing from the Cantata altogether. In The Teutonic Camp (Track 7) familiar music from the Cantata appears, but in different guises and instrumentation. A small-sounding organ, for instance, is employed apparently to emulate the field organ specified in the score. And some themes, such as the one depicting Alexander's triumphal entry into Pskov (Track 16, 1:46), are also different, if only slightly.
In sum, this is essential Prokofiev, insightfully interpreted by Temirkanov (with Prokofiev's intended tempos, since this recording has also been issued on laser disc as accompaniment to the film) and brilliantly performed by the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, soloist Gorohovskaya, and the three choral groups. Urgently recommended.
Written by Robert Cummings
Copyright © 1996 Robert Cummings (rcumming@csrlink.net)
