Attention Prokofiev fans! A new 2-disc recording of his IVAN THE TERRIBLE score, conducted by Frank Strobel, will be released in early 2018 by Capriccio, according to what I've heard. Although not referenced in this link, it must have derived from this project with the European FilmPhilharmonic Institute: http://www.frankstrobel.de/en/projekte/ivan-the-terrible.html
Strobel's NEVSKY, METROPOLIS, and Schnittke film music recordings are all essential, in my opinion.
Very exciting news. I've been on the fence about buying the Fedoseyev recording for some time, but now I think I'll wait for this new recording. In the meantime, I've have the Gergiev recording of the oratorio to tide me over.
Looking at that tracklist, it looks as though it's arranging the music as it appears in the films, with the music depicting Ivan's childhood appearing midway through Part 2 as it did in the films rather than near the beginning of Part 1 as Eisenstein originally intended (on that note, the March of the Young Ivan and The Sea cues seem to be conspicuously absent from this recording).
Edit: Upon sampling some of the clips on ITunes, it turns out that the piece that on previous recordings was labeled “The Sea” is on this album as the Disc I “Prologue.”
Just a heads-up that this is currently on sale via Presto Classical -- part of a wider sale on Capriccio titles that runs through late March. Even after shipping to the US, it comes in at under $20.
Can't say I enjoyed Strobel's admittedly technically fine Alexander Nevsky so I'll probably pass here even though it won't be trying to recreate what amounted to be a glorified scratch track like that other venture.
I hate to say it but the clips for this recording are not impressing me. The sound seems sort of muddy. Granted, they're only clips, but I'm not inclined to buy if I suspect I may be disappointed and the Fedoseyev version is very satisfying.
Odd, because all the other Strobel recordings I have sound great.
Halfway through this new recording. On the upside, it sounds absolutely gorgeous, with quite a punch to the performances of orchestra and choir.
On the downside...I've become so used to the Concert Scenario and the Neeme Jaervi recording, that everything that sounds different from it needs at least five more listens for an as-objective-as-possible assessment.
Halfway through this new recording. On the upside, it sounds absolutely gorgeous, with quite a punch to the performances of orchestra and choir.
On the downside...I've become so used to the Concert Scenario and the Neeme Jaervi recording, that everything that sounds different from it needs at least five more listens for an as-objective-as-possible assessment.
Ah, woe is me.
The Muti reading of the Oratorio is still my favourite. He really seems to interpret Prokofiev's music so well.
A most unpleasant "discovery": they appear to have done this almost in a "Phantom Menace - Ultimate Edition" way. Unfortunately, the booklet doesn't discuss the actual music AT ALL or how the reconstruction of the score was done, so I'm left to ponder how this rates in comparison to the Jaervi recording, as presented by Leonard Slatkin on the VoxBox recording and the (previous) complete recording by Fedoseyev.
In all likelihood, a combination from these four sources I currently have seems to be in order...
Re-listening to this release today, and I like it less than before. The "film edit" approach, while technically accurate, with shortened cues and odd-sounding repeated measures within a cue robs the music a lot of its natural flow (which, I'll grant, may have been an artifact of subsequent re-arrangements and/or the re-working into suite form). There are some passages that seem overly slowed down to me, but this may again be due to my being familiar with three other versions of this music.
Most unforgivable, however, is the hacking up of the gorgeous choral piece "Do Not Weep for Me, Mother" (a traditional song, not written by Prokofiev). Compare for yourselves:
The piece as written:
and on the Capriccio release:
It is beautifully performed by mixed choir, but by having been torn apart and its sections being out-of-order, this completely invalidates the song for me. Shame, shame, shame.
Yeah this is a weird release, and seems to have some music actually missing from the Nimbus release even if it has more overall. And as mentioned above, the booklet is very lacking (doesn't even credit the non-Prokofiev music!). I'm not too bothered as others by the sequencing but it does suck that it's not as definitive as it claims.
