Sergei Prokofiev - Symphony No. 6
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- Опубликовано: 26 июл 2024
- - Composer: Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (23 April 1891 -- 5 March 1953)
- Orchestra: Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Conductor: Gennady Rozhdestvensky
- Year of recording: 1965-1967 (?)
Symphony No. 6 in E-flat minor, Op. 111, written between 1944-1947.
00:00 - I. Allegro moderato (E-flat minor)
13:14 - II. Largo (A-flat major)
27:33 - III. Vivace (E-flat major)
The symphony, written as an elegy of the tragedies of World War II, has often been regarded as the darker twin to the victorious Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major. Prokofiev said of the symphony, "Now we are rejoicing in our great victory, but each of us has wounds that cannot be healed. One has lost those dear to him, another has lost his health. These must not be forgotten."
In 1945, Prokofiev had an accident, a fall caused by a heart attack, resulting in a brain concussion. He later suffered a stroke and would be plagued with ill health for the remaining eight years of his life. Prokofiev was no longer able to conduct, and composing became increasingly difficult. He did, however, manage to continue working until his death, and began working on the Symphony No. 6 not long after the accident. The work was actually sketched out in the summer of 1945, but other projects demanded the composer's time, and the symphony was not orchestrated until two years later. The work shares an opus number with Beethoven's last piano sonata, and Prokofiev, profoundly influenced by Beethoven and specifically by the Op. 111 sonata, is said to have considered dedicating this symphony to Beethoven. The Symphony No. 6, though, owes more to Prokofiev's earlier symphonies than to Beethoven; it is especially close to the composer's own Fifth Symphony. The two works are almost identical in instrumentation, and are similar in texture and character.
The Symphony No. 6 is a work in three movements, instead of the usual four. The form suggests the pre-Classical sinfonia, a work with two fast outer movements and a slow middle one.
- The symphony begins with an Allegro moderato movement in sonata-allegro form. For an opening movement however, it is a little grim, with nostalgic themes and a recurring funeral procession. Nonetheless, the lyricism that one associates with some of Prokofiev's music is still present.
- The second movement is a Largo, and the mood of the opening movement is maintained through dark timbres, solemn thematic material, and subdued dynamics.
- In the third movement, a quick Vivace, the work brightens considerably as Prokofiev uses dance rhythms and a march to invigorate the final themes. Themes from the opening movement return recontextualized in a coda as the work draws to its conclusion. The composer himself commented on the austerity of the first movement and on the similarities between the third movement of this work and the style of the Symphony No. 5.
In 1948, the Central Commission of the Communist Party condemned of most of the leading Soviet composers, accusing them of decadence. Prokofiev, however, was lucky: due to his ill health and to his lack of involvement in any official organizations, he suffered less than his colleagues. Though the Symphony No. 6 was not among those singled out for condemnation in 1948, he was hardly in favor with the Party. Ten years later, however, Prokofiev was "posthumously vindicated," and his favorable evaluation restored. 
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Prokofiev's greatest genius, to these ears, is the intersection of his melodies and their orchestration. NOBODY sounds like him. I don't think anyone can. Call it his voice. You can't buy it, and you can't learn it. It's a gift. And after some of his early works, nowhere is it better displayed than in this symphony. Excoriating.
I agree completely!
So no one knows or cares about this very strange use of "excoriate"? Oh well. I think--best guess, here--that what R W meant was excruciating.
Clearly "excoriating" is not it.
olla-vogala has
Yes.
@@asym52 maybe RW meant exfoliating
The first time I heard this piece I didn't much like it. The second time I heard it I got more out of it, but this time I was riveted by it! Such drama, and such amazing orchestration! Vivid playing by the MRSO too.
Same. For some reason it didn't really strike me on the first listen
Amo 💝 la música de S. Prokofiev, sus sinfonfonias,ballets etc.son bellos y agradables para el alma.
It's written like chamber music with each part intersecting, participating, going forward and back. Very fluent rhythmic structure.
Thank you so much for uploading all this wonderful music on your channel!! This is one of my favorite symphonies.
+Manuel Lipstein You're welcome Manuel!
The second movement is so emotional
24:10 Whoa... I knew about Kazakh influences in Rachmaninoff's symphonic dances, and Turkic influences in the mighty 5, but I've never heard a passage as unapologetically eastern in Prokofiev before. It's like Qigang Chen before he was even born, and, you know, deeply Russian. Mind blown.
Prokofiev is in the top of the list for 20th century's greatest composers. He just might win that some day, in the minds of milliions. His music has yet to fully hatch.
Of course I respect your opinion but I think in the Russian camp Rachmaninoff will always be superior.
In time I believe Prokofiev will be seen as the 20th century's greatest composer.
As for Shostakovich, how sad that a great composer should have descended to such
cheap, churlish jibes. His remarks smack of petty, professional jealousy. A pity that his own career which ought to have blossomed after his early success, was somewhat derailed by his obsession with piling up symphonies which had less and less to say by the end. Still a great symphonist of course, but one critic I think, says it all when he says Shostakovich was a better symphonist but Prokofiev was a greater musician.
The last movement is wonderful.
2:50
Wow, it seems to be one of Prokofievs most depressing themes. Incredibly sad and so searching.
+Gamma1734 Yes I agree! A little later the theme appears once more, but this time more determined.
+olla-vogala by the way, thanks for your upload. I appreciate that :)
In the score, Prokofiev marks this theme "sognando"--Italian for "dreaming." The theme also recurs in the finale, just before the concluding recap of the jubilation music--which sounds more brutal and mandatory.
Prokofiev must have known the other post-war (and post-traumatic) Symphony No. 6 in the same unusual key (E flat minor) by his friend, Nikolai Myaskovsky. There are some other features common to both works, most importantly in the finales. The Myaskovsky ends with resignation, while the Prokofiev ending is loud and forceful, but neither cheerful nor triumphant. The only other extended Russian work I know of in E flat minor is Tchaikovsky's 3rd Quartet, composed after the death of a musician who championed his works. I think the choice of key in these three works is hardly just a coincidence.
I know survivors of the war from the former USSR, so I fully appreciate what they accomplished and endured, which is why Victory Day (May 9) still resonates so strongly in Russia. Because of this, I hesitate to assign a simple political meaning to the symphony. If the symphony is about anything besides whatever was inside the composer at the time, I imagine it a response to loss, though on an enormous scale, with a sense of horror that goes beyond the effects of physical destruction to the sense of being up against forces that are impersonal and inhuman. Like music by Shostakovich around this time (especially his Piano Trio in E minor), I believe the symphony was an attempt to heal, partly by looking death in the eye (not unlike Tolstoy), and by letting other survivors hearing the music address what they experienced as a community--joined by pain rather than isolated by it. For this reason, I think the nod to Myaskovsky is telling about the mission of the symphony--not a statement about a government or wartime adversaries, but an act of solidarity with people of his country.
I can also imagine that this wasn't the kind of symphony Stalin's regime wanted--nor can I imagine this kind of work being generated by an American composer around the same time. It's well known that the symphony met with official disapproval, but then again, so did works of the other best Soviet composers in 1947--including Shostakovich and Myaskovsky.
I wouldn't call it depressing maybe because it could be my favourite melody. Been listening to this symphony for the last few nights, tho my recording (a live itunes mp3) doesn't seem to be as good as this one; it's played faster (less measured/effective). Tis funny I first heard themes from the 1st movement of this as Isao Tomita's Bermuda Triangle fantasy: that melody he calls "the dawn at Bermuda". Known of Prokofiev1 for as long as I can remember but only thinking of other symphonies now. 3 and reputedly 5 (haven't heard yet) seem closer to this 6, maybe because the music sounds like it could almost be programmatic/storytelling music. Not about Bermuda Triangles, though, presumably :)
Appreciate it. I came here for this melody. It happens again at 36:24
Wow so similar to Williams the Witches of Eastwick melody at the beginning. Instrumentation too...
The passage beginning about 8:50, lasting about a minute, seems to me to channel 'Le sacre' and yet remain pure late Prokofiev.
heard it!
@@birgitbofarull4410 Vindication! At last!
:o)
@@finosuilleabhain7781 cheers!
presumably this was originally a Melodya record (the USSR record label). post-91 a lot of those recordings were released on cd "here" inexpensively but then disappeared again. I think I only picked up one: symphonic poems from Russia, I think it was called, but I like the sound of this recording. very good performance, bringing a lot out of the music by not accenting Prok's "never boring but quite agitated, actually", vibe too music. "measured" performance. I'm hearing things in the orchestration I didn't notice in the one recording I have of this...
right then, that's settled...I'm going to go to my local record shop tomorrow and thump the counter with my fist and demand they produce for me a cd copy of this fine Melodya recording.
Masterpiece. (Ruined by commercial interruptions. I hope commercials can be omitted.)
0:06 is a good place to start.
Hahaha....Ridiculous! You MUST start at 0:03.....to FEEL it!
! ЧУйте края-Listen to that ending-Hört ihr euch das Finale !
How do you decide what pieces to do full score, and what pieces to do piano score (such as this one?)
0:06 1st Movement (Allegro moderato--E♭ Minor, ending on a Picardy Third)
13:14 2nd Movement (Largo--A♭ Major)
27:33 3rd Movement (Finale: Vivace--E♭ Major)
Where can you find the 4 piano score seen in the video?
27:32 gosh that’s great
GR uses the correct tempi markings where too many pause in the first movement and sentimentalize the Kazakh folk melody. The temptation to do among the very strong brass and low strings is understandable but rather better done like this. It also develops the anguish of the Largo, which itself is in 3 parts. Then "the penny drops" and one can see that Prokofiev is modelling the work around Beethoven's Op.111 piano sonata -- to similar effect with the hearer being puzzled by complex departures and following willingly through a forest of ideas and sonic glory.
Initial sketches had been for a 4 movement symphony but substantial reworking of the Largo led to the shape being more pre-Haydn in form and that fitted the shape and demeanor of the Beethoven final sonata, reaching beyond earth bound matters yet firmly of the earth and humanity.
The composer wrote that the Vivace 'wrote itself' and some aspects of it clearly arise from the preceding movements. GR subtly underlines some of these in E-flat major as opposed to the minor of the Allegro first movement.
This performance has the ring of authenticity about it, as if the composer were conducting.
while listening to this work of soviet art an advertisement jumped in and ruined the whole experience
i get what the communists were saying now
@LeftRight maybe until the soviets jailed his wife and sentenced her a labor camp for 20 years
@@qwertyuiop-ke7fs to
@@qwertyuiop-ke7fs Just listen to the music. Leave the politics out of it.
Prokofiev, living in communism himself, probably wasn’t that fond of the idea
Just the first four notes and you know it's Rozhdestvensky.
It’s prokofiev though
Gennady Rozhdestvensky conducting Prokofiev
6:04
After such a powerful work (my favourite alongside his Fifth) it's sad to listen to the wistfully autumnal Seventh. If anyone wants evidence of Stalin's crushing effect on artists, worsened by Prokofiev's poor health, that's a prime example.
0:47(for myself)
no, you did it for me.
It sounds like it's about to break out into a tune, but never actually does.
beautiful, but he's no Kabalevsky.
Who else is? :)
Assuming this to be a serious observation, which work(s) by Kabalevsky would you say can hold a candle to Prokofiev 6?
Kabalevsky ain't got shit on Prokofiev
UpAndOut His mum
Salmon We aren't discussing who and who is not a communist, we are discussing the better composer.
C'est quoi ces pub pendant la musique??? Nul.
He must write music like this, flat and banal, because Stalin.
I disagree - Prokofiev is a good example of a composer giving to Caesar what was Caesar's, and the rest to God, or at least to his sense of himself. And this 6th symphony seems to have pleased the apparatchiks less than any other. That he eventually found it almost unbearable to make music in the USSR is obvious from listening to the last movement, but its honesty refutes your claim.
The sixth symphony - elegy is dedicated, according to the composer, to the memory of the victims of the Second World War. It is a memory of the horrors of war, a reflection on life and death. What does Stalin have to do with it? Do you think that Stalin listened to all Prokofiev's symphonies and personally corrected the notes? Listen to music and leave politics aside.
Vlad Tepes=A ss h hole, you must listen to rolling shit; you havve no business here.