Third part
Contents
The third part requires the utmost from orchestra, listener and your hi-fi system. Flashy, soft violin passages that sound like fishing in a brook, in a dark forest, lit by the moonlight, are alternated with an orchestra playing a bright radiant chord at full power as if an atomic bomb were going off. And you don’t get time to catch your breath.
The fourth part loosens up and throws a dash of dynamism on top of it. The whole piece swirls like a group of wolves tearing a prey to pieces. There is not a moment’s rest, it builds and it builds and it builds. A hammer mercilessly taps on a metal tube, like a church ringing the alarm bell for approaching doom, to end in a sweltering final chord where fate is inescapable.
The fire angel descends. Listener and amplifier remain overwhelmed. This is the Mud Run of the classical repertoire.
Arcana
Arcana by Varèse closes the CD. I think this piece is still too avant-garde for many people, but it is definitely worth giving it a chance.
Varèse is a very special composer. He was a pioneer in the field of electronic music in the 50’s. Yes, you read it well, the 50’s. He has introduced a completely new arsenal of sounds. Arcana was written for a classical line-up of an orchestra, but the music is anything but classical.
Think of Varèse as the Aphex Twin of the first half of the last century: an innovator who doesn’t play much himself, but who is inspired by his peers. Chailly has done a whole project around his work and it is right that Arcana has been added to this CD. If Mosolov is a warmer for Prokofiev, then Prokofiev prepares you for Varèse.
Masterpiece
The particularly beautiful recording technique is at the service of the music. This album is a masterpiece that may be cherished by both music lovers and audio enthusiasts. Not the easiest music, not the happiest music, but music that forces you to listen.
Decca, 1994
Alternative listening tip: Valery Gergiev has with the Kirov Orchestra a beautiful performance of Prokofiev’s third symphony. Most striking: the tempo of the first movement is much higher.
Conclusion
It doesn't become any Larger, heavier and more tearing than Mosolov's eardrum, (literally beating with hammers on pieces of metal). So much is happening that you are dynamically drowning or the system keeps it just.The Prokofiev Sonata is a ghost forest at night. It is one of my favourite pieces and also here so much happens in the music. Enormous dynamics. But also very subtle little music. The flashing sounds of the violin strings in the third part like a shoal of fish in a stream shining in the moonlight followed by enormous dynamics. The bear bear that collapses the stream to knock the fish out of the water.
Arcana van Varèse fits very well in the programme. An undervalued piece of music, brought in a fantastic way by Chailly. Arcana is the name of a star and the piece should also sound like a brightly burning star.
This too is an amazingly good recording, lots of dynamics, you navigate between the instruments, you hear the acoustics of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and you should never lose the 'big picture', even if you hear a lot of subtleties.
The fourth movement of the Prokofiev symphony is one in which so many melody lines tumble over each other that a less performing system loses track. It is rustic, square and after three minutes you know if you can stop listening. Very nice piece to make a difference when listening to HiFi equipment.