Roger Woodward’s recordings have consistently
delivered stunning repertoire at the highest level, and his
Bach,
Chopin
and
Debussy
CDs are all highly desirable. His experiences in Russia resulted in
landmark recordings of
Shostakovich,
and his exploration of
less
well-known composers is essential listening for anyone seeking to
educate themselves beyond what has become the mainstream.
This particular recording was made in 1991 and marked Prokofiev’s
centenary. Roger Woodward’s extensive booklet notes are drawn
from his 2013 book
Beyond Black and White from ABC Books of Sydney,
and they reveal much about what makes this recording something a bit
special. Woodward studied in Warsaw, hearing Sviatoslav Richter playing
Prokofiev and striking up a friendship with Lina Prokofieva. Steeped
in such an atmosphere, Woodward’s insights into this music are
invaluable, and this very fine recording brings together works from
Prokofiev’s early to middle periods.
Prokofiev’s piano sonatas are a central part of 20
th
century piano repertoire, and while these have tended to eclipse many
of the smaller works in this programme the fearsome
Sarcasms
and the superb
Visions Fugitives pop up fairly frequently. The
Sarcasms are a powerful entry into this world. A quote from the
booklet gives some clue as to the earthy tones which emerge from your
loudspeakers as the
Tempestuoso erupts: “According to Lina
Prokofieva and Sviatoslav Richter, both Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri
Shostakovich loathed nuanced piano playing …” This is not
to deny the music its dynamic contrasts or often expressive core, but
creates a directness of communication untroubled by a search for rarity
of timbre. The third piece’s
Allegro precipitato has machine
like pile-driver chords like something out of Mossolov’s
Iron
Foundry, but Prokofiev is always shining shafts of light onto even
the grimmest pictures, and the central section relents and allows us
to soar above the clouds for a moment. Woodward’s playing allows
for all of these changes of mood, and on a grander canvas than Boris
Berman’s Chandos recording, volume 2 of the complete Prokofiev
piano music from which on CHAN 8881 happens to contain both the
Sarcasms
and the
Visions Fugitives. Berman is good of course, but Woodward
sounds more Russian, and more convincingly chased by the demons which
inspire.
The sheer zip and sense of fun in the
Prelude Op. 12 No 7 is
terrific in this recording, Prokofiev letting rip with the most incredibly
banal of melodic ideas and transforming them into something radiant.
This ray of sunshine is placed deliberately next to the shivers of the
Suggestion Diabolique, which is a black and white caper B movie
encapsulated into two and a half minute shocker. The
Four Etudes
are the earliest works here, but show no shortage of that precocious
and always precarious Prokofiev genius. Oleg Marshev’s Prokofiev
CD on Danacord DACOCD395 (see
review)
is excellent, but also shows the difference between a more rhapsodic
performance and Woodward’s less romantic approach. Woodward is
by no means deaf to the traditions echoed in this music, but manages
to make it sound much less like Rachmaninov than Marshev. There is something
in his boldness of colour, allowing the notes to speak for themselves,
which strikes at the heart of Prokofiev’s gritty passions.
The later opus numbers of
Musiques D’enfants,
Pensées
and the pieces
Nocturne and
Paysage are pretty much grouped
together. These just precede 1935 and 1936 which were the years Prokofiev
wrote
Romeo and Juliet and
Peter and the Wolf respectively,
though while the style is unmistakable the moody
Lento of
Pensées
for instance creates a world which defies the forging of anticipatory
links. The latest piece in the programme is the
Nocturne Op. 43bis
No 2 which is another dark statement, and full of Prokofiev’s
marvellous labyrinthine harmonic twists and turns. The occasionally
uneven skipping and narrative feel of the
Gavotta is unmistakeably
Russian, and this sits nicely next to
Paysage which gives the
impression of developing those repeated notes. Carefully chosen programming
puts the most famous piece here, the
March from
L’amour
des trois oranges, which Woodward delivers with superb élan
and a sense of brutal satire.
When it comes to the
Visions Fugitives it is impossible not to
have a listen to Sviatoslav Richter’s incomplete selection as
they appear on the Philips ‘Authorised Recordings’ release
from 1994, 438 627-2. Richter is incomparable, but you have to hand
it to Woodward for being his own man in these pieces.
No. 3 Allegretto
for instance, becomes a quite a jaunty outing in his case, where Richter
is rather more poetic and reserved. The spectacular
Animato which
follows is a firework in both pianists’ hands, Woodward driving
on with a swifter tempo in the final bars and cutting 5 seconds from
Richter’s timing. The remarkable
Molto giocoso is one of
those moments where live performance apparently sees even Richter on
the ropes. Having started too fast, 11 seconds in you hear the tempo
shift into a rather more uphill gear and the piece never really recovers.
Woodward’s excellent vignette shows how it should be done, tempo
consistent and lower sonorities shining through with a clarion sustain.
When you listen to Prokofiev’s own 1935 recording there’s
that shift in tempo again, just as with Richter, but the score shows
no marking to indicate this is the way it should be done.
It’s excellent to have the complete
Visions Fugitives here,
though there is no real shortage of recordings even beyond complete
surveys of Prokofiev’s piano music. It’s more interesting
to return to the source however, and Prokofiev’s
own
recording of extracts from this set indeed makes for fascinating
listening. Without going into inch by inch comparisons there are similarities,
such as the restrained intensity both musicians give to
XVIII Con
una dolce lentezza, and differences, such as with
XVI Dolente,
where Woodward’s first theme is initially a strident declamation
from which echoes grow and seem to stretch into infinity. Prokofiev
is gentler in his opening of this piece, nursing the notes along with
rubato and building more to the rolling waves of the second section.
There are numerous overlaps in programme between the Naxos disc and
Woodward’s, Prokofiev having also recorded the
Paysages,
the
Gavotta and the
Suggestion Diabolique,
so you
will probably want to have both if this repertoire has inspired you.
The early recording is surprisingly good in terms of sound quality by
the way.
Roger Woodward’s Prokofiev,
Works for Piano 1908-1938 is
a superb set of performances and an excellent recording, the Hamburg
Steinway D sounding rich and brilliant in the large but not overwhelming
Eugene Goossens Hall acoustic. Recorded in 1991, this is originally
an ABC production and is released under license, though I’ve hunted
and not been able to find evidence of another physical release from
the period. It seems remarkable that this recording is not better known,
but this superbly presented Celestial Harmonies disc will, I hope, rectify
this state of affairs.
Dominy Clements
See also review by
Steve
Arloff (April 2013 Recording of the Month)
