Description
SKU/Barcode: 730099405522
Brilliant music, brilliant performances, brilliant sound, and even brilliant programming: this disc has it all. Prokofiev's L'enfant prodigue, Op. 46, is surely his best Western ballet, a work with lyrical melodies, warm harmonies, irresistible rhythms, and colorful orchestrations. Prokofiev's Symphony No. 4 is surely his best Western symphony, a work with rigorous structures, vigorous rhythms, glorious themes, and radiant orchestrations. Theodore Kuchar and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine's performances are surely as good as the best either work has ever gotten. Their L'enfant prodigue is lyrical, dramatic, powerful, and always danceable. Their Symphony No. 4 is strong, serious, and always luminous. Naxos' sound is as good as the best of the major labels: clear, deep, detailed, reverberant, and always ravishing. Even the programming is better than any either work has ever received because the symphony is for once coupled with the complete ballet from which much of its music is drawn so that the two works can be compared side by side.
1. The Prodigal Son Op. 46: Scene I: The Departure
2. The Prodigal Son Op. 46: Scene I: Meeting Friends
3. The Prodigal Son Op. 46: Scene I: The Seductress
4. The Prodigal Son Op. 46: Scene I: The Dancers
5. The Prodigal Son Op. 46: Scene Ii: The Prodigal Son And The Seductress
6. The Prodigal Son Op. 46: Scene Ii: Drunkenness
7. The Prodigal Son Op. 46: Scene Ii: The Despoiling
8. The Prodigal Son Op. 46: Scene Ii: Awakening And Remorse
9. The Prodigal Son Op. 46: Scene Iii: Interlude: Sharing The Spoils
10. The Prodigal Son Op. 46: Scene Iii: The Return
11. Symphony No.4 Op. 112: Andante Allegro Eroico Allegretto
12. Symphony No.4 Op. 112: Andante Tranquillo
13. Symphony No.4 Op. 112: Moderato Quasi Allegretto
14. Symphony No.4 Op. 112: Allegro Risoluto