Kurt Masur - Masur conducts Alexander Nevsky (2021)

In the spring of 1938 Sergei Eisenstein, the Russian film director, invited Prokofiev to compose the music for a film about Alexander Nevsky, the Prince of Novgorod who defeated the Baltic Knights, invading Teutonic Crusaders, in a great battle on the ice at Lake Chud in 1242. Prokofiev had previously written film scores for Lieutenant Kijé and] The Queen of Spades, and had just returned from a visit to the United States, where he studied the techniques of recording film music in Hollywood. He admired Eisenstein’s films, and when he started work on the new commission he was delighted to discover that the film director was himself very knowledgeable about music. Prokofiev also involved himself in the technicalities of recording and sound mixing. The film, which was first shown in December 1938, has been internationally recognised as one of the classic masterpieces of screen art.