Valery Gergiev and Mariinsky Orchestra - Prokofiev: Symphonies 4, 6 & 7 - Piano Concertos 4 & 5 (2016) [Hi-Res]

This major release launches the Mariinsky label’s projects to honour the 125th anniversary of Prokofiev’s birth. A long-time champion of the music of Prokofiev, Valery Gergiev conducts Symphonies Nos 4, 6 & 7, performed masterfully by the Mariinsky Orchestra and coupled with Piano Concertos Nos 4 and 5. The result is a double-album set programmed to showcase some of Prokofiev’s finest works written before and after the Second World War.

Prokofiev began his Symphony No 4 in 1929, drawing from the musical material of his ballet The Prodigal Son. The Symphony was premiered the following year, though he substantially revised the work seventeen years later.

Symphony No 6 was written in 1947 as an elegy of the tragedies of World War II. Speaking of the Symphony, Prokofiev said, ‘Now we are rejoicing in our great victory, but each of us has wounds which cannot be healed. One man’s loved ones have perished, another has lost his health. This must not be forgotten.’

The composer's final symphony was completed in 1952, the year before the composer’s death. The Symphony was well-received following its premiere in Moscow, and was awarded the prestigious Lenin Prize in 1957 at Miami’s Knight Concert Hall.

Acclaimed for his highly sensitive touch and technical brilliance, Alexei Volodin performs Prokofiev Piano Concerto No 4. Written for the one-armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein, the concerto was completed in 1931. It was the only one of Prokofiev’s piano works that never saw a performance during his lifetime. Premiered in Berlin in 1956, it was played by the West Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. Alexei Volodin’s performance of the Concerto is described as ‘superbly controlled and beautfiully subtle’ by The Guardian.

Praised for his ‘fast and furious hand-crossing’ the American-Armenian musician Sergei Babyan performs Prokofiev’s last complete piano concerto, No 5. Written in 1932, the Concerto is made up of five short movements, each of which contains a wealth of virtuosity and invention.

"Continuing an already impressive own-label cycle, this well-filled set is even finer… The finale of the sixth is as exciting as any on record – and, with an excellent album sound, this is shaping up to be an unmissable series." (Classical Music Magazine)

"Here soloists, conductor and orchestra seem fully engaged, delivering strongly characterised performances of great emotional depth and musical insight… Alexei Volodin (in the Fourth) and Sergei Babayan (in the Fifth) approach the fast movements with mercurial wit and dazzling clarity of fingerwork… Gergiev and the Mariinsky orchestra accompany with razor-sharp precision and play the three post-war symphonies with conviction and commitment…" (BBC Music Magazine)

Sergei Babayan, piano
Alexei Volodin, piano
Mariinsky Orchestra
Valery Gergiev, conductor