Serge Prokofiev : Cinderella, Summer Night : Mikhail Pletnev - Russian National Orchestra - 2CD's - 1995.

Serge Prokofiev : Cinderella, Summer Night : Mikhail Pletnev - Russian National Orchestra - 2CD's - 1995.
Serge Prokofiev : Cinderella : Ballet in Three Acts, Op.87 - Complete Recording
Libretto : Nikolai Volkov
Summer Night Suite Op.123
from the Opera "Betrohal in a Monastery"
Russian National Orchestra
Mikhail Pletnev : Conductor
Recording : Moscow, Moscow Conservatory, Great Hall, 4/1994

Gramophone Magazine : Top Recordings of the 1990s
"This is an outstanding release. There is simply no other way to describe it. The sound is good, the orchestral playing, superb." - Gramophone Classical Good CD Guide.


"Prokofiev's ballet score "Cinderella" ... is available in a splendid recording with the Russian National Orchestra, conducted by Mikhail Pletnev, who deftly conveys the kinetic vitality, grandeur and refinement of this inspired music."
New York Times (July 2003)


Eac / ape (img + cue).
Recovery : 3%.
Total rar size : CD / Covers / Full Booklet : 522 MB / 6 parts.
Total playing-time : 139',15" .
Included : Full Covers, Full Booklet, CD in 300 dpi.


Reviews :
Prokofiev.org Staff Reviews : Robert Cummings , Prokofiev.org Staff Writer
"A sprightly reading, alert to the lyricism"
Cinderella is generally viewed as lightweight Prokofiev, charming and tuneful, to be sure, but a kind of Peter and The Wolf take to the dance floor. It is, admittedly, a fairy-tale ballet. But it has a dark side, with ominous waltzes and midnight clocks striking, and that dark side is far removed from anything found in the composer's children's music. Most conductors don't play up the grimmer elements of the score, though. Previn (EMI) and Ashkenazy (London), while taking their own individual routes through the score, end up emphasizing the sweeter, lyrical side of the music. Previn is symphonic and massive, while Ashkenazy is balletic and propulsive.
Unfortunately, Pletnev does not break from tradition in his new DG recording. His is a sprightly reading, alert to the lyricism, all right, but overlooking some of the mischief and darkness. Still, he makes a good case for his approach, with consistently lively phrasing and scrupulous attention to detail from an orchestra responsive to his demands. I do wish, however, that the Amoroso, the closing number and the highlight of the work, were taken at a slightly slower pace. Most of his tempo choices, though, are quite judicious, and the listener is apt to hear more of the score here than in any other recording. Of course, Pletnev is abetted by superb sonics from DG's 4D sound process.
Gennady Rozhdestvensky, in a recent re-release (Consonance), manages to capture more mischief and melancholy than anybody else, but is hampered somewhat by mid-sixties Soviet sonics, which usually showcased blaring brass and shrill strings, serving to grate more on the nerves than to please the ears. (A plethora of mostly brazen-sounding, brass-dominated Prokofiev recordings streamed out thirty years ago on the Melodiya/Angel label). The sound here is better than average from that source, but still not up to today's standards. And Rozhdestvensky also short-changes the lyrical side of the music, caught so well by Pletnev.
All in all, then, this is a welcome release, not least because it also offers a performance of Summer Night, a suite taken from Prokofiev's opera, Betrothal In A Monastery, based on Sheridan's play, The Duenna. It is a delightful work, which, while not scaling the heights of other Prokofiev orchestral suites (those from Romeo and Juliet, for instance), is a first-class treat, especially in its infectious opening and obsessive closing numbers. Pletnev's reading marginally surpasses the slightly sluggish Jarvi's on Chandos, his only other competition on CD.


Gramophone Magazine : David Gutman - 6/1995
This is an outstanding release, well up to the standards of the same team's Rachmaninov Second Symphony (6/94 ; my personal choice for the best orchestral recording of 1994) and arguably more important in that it features music currently under-represented in the catalogue. As many readers will have discovered for themselves, Pletnev on the podium can be as effective as he is at the keyboard, effortlessly combining Toscanini's crispness and tension with Karajan's unfashionable concern with the longer line. To highlight the emotional coolness in his work , in live performance Pletnev's manner is as diffident as Frans Bruggen Brόggen's, is to ignore its formal strength and immaculate surface.
If Pletnev launches Summer Night somewhat brusquely here, with just a hint of the straitlaced efficiency that occasionally marred his collection of Russian overture overtures (12/94), what follows is beyond reproach. At first hearing, the outer sections of the composite "Dreams" movement may seem unduly fast, not unlike the controversial (no longer) slow movement of that Rachmaninov symphony, but the phrasing is sensitive and, my goodness, it works. The surpassingly beautiful "Serenade" on the other hand is actually more deliberate than it was on a fondly remembered Paavo Berglund LP (EMI, 12/75 , nla) subtler too. Most striking of all is the radical clarity of texture which makes Prokofiev's modest suite seem at once unprecedentedly modern and that much more shrewdly realized in terms of colour. The score was extrapolated from the opera The Duenna (or Betrothal in a Monastery) in 1950 and its neglect, as Pletnev shows, is unaccountable. The only available alternative comes from Chandos where the main work is a Christopher Palmer confection after War and Peace. It was well received in these pages, but Pletnev's Russian National Orchestra outclass Jarvi Jδrvi's Philharmonia even without the advantages conferred by a degree of timbral authenticity.
It is curious that a ballet as familiar as Cinderella should be so seldom heard in its entirety. The Royal Ballet version omits several numbers (including the first six from Act 2), and the orchestral suite suites (two out of three of them frequently aired) cannot do justice to the careful balance of lyric and dramatic impulses in the complete work. Like Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella gives an impression of immense assurance, belying the obvious hazards of cultural production under Stalin. It is strong without being daring, colourful without being extravagant, and once again exhibits an emotional involvement often hidden in the past. This sounds reassuringly Tchaikovskian and yet there is also something pale and elusive in its make-up, perhaps designed to reflect the character of its main protagonist. The element of austerity in Pletnev's interpretation won't necessarily appeal to those weaned on the Rozhdestvensky or Previn recordings (EMI, 11/68 and 12/83 respectively both nla). But then Rozhdestvensky might be said to lack refinement while Previn's generally relaxed manner did not preclude one or two moments of insecurity alongside much gorgeous, naturally-inflected playing. Only Ashkenazy's comparatively featureless reading is still listed in The Gramophone Classical Catalogue and that has no coupling.
It has been claimed that Prokofiev showed great imagination in conjuring Cinderella's distinctive, 'silvery' sound-world, but, with the strings in particular called upon to demonstrate expressive warmth at the extremes of the register, technical problems can sometimes obtrude; not so on DG. What then are the drawbacks? None at all; unless you feel that the lovers' expressions of joy are unnaturally inhibited in the final numbers. Elsewhere, it is difficult to see what the objections might be. The motif of Cinderella repressed, first heard at the very start of the ballet, is given a heavy tread, the orchestra dragging their metaphorical feet to intensify the pensive mood. As for the second motto theme, anticipating her eventual happiness with her dream prince, it is not so much broad and impassioned as achingly beautiful. Nor is the conducting without humour. The sisters' "dancing lesson" has never been more vividly evoked, their unruly behaviour and slow learning curve precisely delineated in the truculent attack of the two solo violins. "The Prince's first galop" (thrice he rushes off impetuously in search of his beloved) is as light as a feather, executed with matchless finesse by the Russian strings. The celebrated "Midnight" episode on the other hand is slow to build, analytical as much as evocative, not quite the dramatic catharsis of flesh and blood passions as projected by Previn's LSO.
While EMI should of course restore that set, I would not want to be without Pletnev's leaner, cleaner, supremely articulate view. Any problems with the quality of sound achieved in Moscow by DG's recording crew (noted on earlier releases from this source) would seem to have been overcome. The orchestral playing is superb. I have not seen a finished product but can vouch for the notes. Strongly recommended.
More infos about Mikhail Pletnev & Russian National Orchestra :Here
More infos about this album : Here


Tracklist :
CD: 1-2 : Serge Prokofiev : Cinderella, Summer Night : Mikhail Pletnev - Russian National Orchestra - 1995.
01. Summer Night : Introduction : Moderato, ma con Brio [0:02:20.00]
02. Serenade : Adagio [0:05:18.00]
03. Minuet [0:02:41.00]
04. Dreams (Nocturne) : Andante Tranquillo [0:06:39.00]
05. Dance : Allegretto [0:03:20.00]
06. Cinderella : Act I. : Introduction : Andante Dolce [0:02:32.00]
07. Shawl Dance : Allegretto [0:03:21.00]
08. Cinderella : Andante Dolce [0:03:23.00]
09. The Father : Andantino [0:02:41.00]
10. The Fairy Godmother : Adagio [0:02:45.00]
11. The Merchants and Sisters' New Clothes : Vivo [0:02:19.00]
12. The Dancing Lesson : Allegretto [0:03:15.00]
13. Departure of the Stepmother and Sisters for the Ball : Vivo [0:01:23.00]
14. Cinderella Dreams of the Ball : Adante Dolce [0:02:32.66]
15. Gavotte : Allegretto [0:02:24.33]
16. Second Appearance of the Fairy Godmother : Adagio [0:01:51.00]
17. Variation of the Spring Fairy : Presto [0:01:32.66]
18. Monologue of the Summer Fairy : Andantino Sognando [0:01:35.33]
19. Grasshoppers and Dragonflies : Vivace con Brio [0:01:00.00]
20. Variation of the Autumn Fairy : Allegro Moderato [0:01:53.82]
21. Variation of the Winter Fairy : Allegro Moderato [0:01:26.17]
22. The Interrupted Departure : Vivo [0:00:52.00]
23. Clock Scene : Allegro Moderato [0:01:31.46]
24. Cinderella's Departure for the Ball : Allegro Espressivo [0:02:03.52]


CD: 2-2 : Serge Prokofiev : Cinderella, Summer Night : Mikhail Pletnev - Russian National Orchestra - 1995.
01. Cinderella : Act II : Dance of the Courtiers : Andante Grazioso [0:02:38.00]
02. Passepied : Allegretto [0:01:41.00]
03. Cavaliers' Dance (Bourree) : Allegro Pesante e ben Ritmato [0:01:28.89]
04. Skinny's Variation : Allegretto [0:00:54.10]
05. Dumpy's Variation : Allegretto Capriccioso [0:01:46.00]
06. Dance of the Courtiers : Andante Grazioso [0:01:00.00]
07. Mazurka and Entrance of the Prince : Allegro [0:03:17.49]
08. Variation of the Prince's Four Companions : Allegro Moderato [0:01:02.50]
09. Mazurka : Allegro ma non Troppo [0:02:40.00]
10. Cinderella's Arrival at the Ball : Allegretto [0:03:07.93]
11. Grand Waltz : Allegretto [0:05:18.06]
12. Promenade : Allegro Tranquillo [0:01:43.00]
13. Cinderella's Variation : Allegro Grazioso [0:01:28.33]
14. The Prince's Variation : Andante con Brio [0:01:09.66]
15. Refreshments for the Guests : Moderato [0:01:26.00]
16. Duet of the Sisters with the Oranges : Allegro con Brio [0:01:36.00]
17. Duet of the Prince and Cinderella : Adagio [0:05:02.66]
18. Waltz-coda : Allegro espressivo [0:01:36.29]
19. Midnight - Allegro moderato [0:02:29.04]
20. Act III : The Prince and the Cobblers : Allegro Scherzando [0:01:47.49]
21. The Prince's First Galop : Presto [0:01:35.50]
22. Temptation : Moderato [0:04:06.00]
23. The Prince's Second Galop : Presto [0:01:00.00]
24. Oriental Dance : Andante Dolce [0:02:39.00]
25. The Prince's Third Galop : Allegro Marcato [0:01:34.00]
26. Cinderella Awakes : Andante Dolce [0:05:12.00]
27. The Morning After the Ball : Allegretto Capriccioso [0:02:37.93]
28. The Prince's Visit : Vivace [0:04:19.06]
29. The Prince Finds Cinderella : Adagio Passionato [0:02:46.00]
30. Slow Waltz : Adagio [0:04:55.00]
31. Amoroso : Andante Dolcissimo [0:02:43.98]


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