Sergei PROKOFIEV (1891-1953)
Valery Gergiev – In Rehearsal and In Concert
Scythian Suite (1915) [23:43]
Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra/Valery Gergiev
rec. Rotterdam De Doelen (Concert Hall) 1997
Format: NTSC, 4:3 Full Screen; LPCM
KULTUR VIDEO D4570 [1 DVD – Suite: 23:43; Documentary: 34:11] 
This disc is part of a series by Kultur Video called Great Conductors.
While it contains a concert performance of the Scythian Suite led by
Valery Gergiev, it can be viewed largely as a documentary about Prokofiev
and the Russian conductor’s relationship to the composer’s music. Gergiev
declares that Prokofiev is “maybe my favorite composer”. He’s lived up to
that declaration, having conducted numerous concert and operatic performances
of Prokofiev’s works and having recorded more Prokofiev than any other conductor,
with the possible exceptions of Neeme Järvi and Gennady Rozhdestvensky. Filmed
in 1997, this Kultur Video DVD contains some interesting archival footage
and photographs of the composer.
In addition there is much rehearsal footage of Gergiev leading the Rotterdam
Philharmonic in the Scythian Suite. Gergiev, who served as the orchestra’s
principal conductor (1995-2008), comments extensively on the music and its
history. He is from Ossetia, the region of the Caucasus Mountains where the
ancient Scythians lived, and thus feels an even greater affinity for the music’s
subject matter. There is also considerable commentary by the composer’s son
Oleg (b. 1928), who died in 1998. Oleg was the composer’s second son; the
oldest son, Sviatoslav - an interesting fellow whom I interviewed via email
in the late-1990s for another web publication - was born in 1924 and is apparently
still alive.
Prokofiev derived the music for the four-movement Scythian Suite from
his early unfinished ballet Ala and Lolli. Gergiev takes great care
in shaping the score, as is evidenced by his painstaking directions to the
orchestra during rehearsals, which are conducted in English. His instructions
often extend to the more remote parts of the orchestra, including the percussionist
and tuba player, to whom he explains at length how to play two seemingly innocuous
notes in the third movement! In the end, Gergiev, with fairly broad tempos,
gives greater weight and darkness to the music than does Abbado, for example,
in his recent recording with the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra on Accentus.
Gergiev leads the work’s first movement, Invocation to Veles and Ala,
with a powerful and sinister statement of the dissonant main theme, while
in the latter half he turns the music exotic in its mystery, but with hints
of danger lurking. The second panel, The Evil God and the Dance of the
Pagan Monsters, is rhythmic and muscular in its primitive, wild music,
Prokofiev invoking a truly grotesque dance scene.
The third movement, Night, is appropriately mysterious and ominous
in Gergiev’s hands, with a powerful eruption at the climax that sends the
music into a sort of mesmeric tailspin, with swirling strings and howling
wind instruments reeling in the darkness. The finale, The Glorious Departure
of Lolli and Sunrise, begins with brass somewhat more prominent than is
usual in this fleet sequence. The tongue-in-cheek march that follows is colorfully
played as is the ensuing humorous section. Sunrise features brass and
percussion that almost crush you at the climax with their insistent fortes.
Tracks of the concert performance of the Scythian Suite are scattered
across the disc, interleaved with rehearsal takes and commentary. If you want
to hear an uninterrupted performance you’ll have to program your player to
access the tracks in this order: 4, 6, 8, 10 and 13. There are five tracks
because the first movement is split over nos. 4 and 6. The sound is good for
its time and the camera work fine. Other worthy recordings of the Scythian
Suite include Dorati/Mercury, Mata/Dorian, Järvi/Chandos and the aforementioned
Abbado, as well as his 1987 effort with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on
DG. Fans of Prokofiev and this work, as well as Gergiev mavens, should find
this Kultur Video DVD of considerable interest.
Robert Cummings
Fans of Prokofiev and of this work as well as Gergiev mavens should find this
DVD of considerable interest.