Prokofiev & Scriabin: Piano Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Sergey Prokofiev, Alexander Scriabin
Label: Philips
Magazine Review Date: 3/1987
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 412 742-4PH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Sonata for Piano No. 3 |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| (10) Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Movement: Scena (The Street Awakens) |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| (10) Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Movement: Juliet as a Young Girl |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| (10) Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Movement: Montagues and Capulets |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| (10) Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Movement: Friar Laurence |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| (10) Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Movement: Mercutio |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| (10) Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Movement: Dance of the Girls with Lilies |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| (10) Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Movement: Romeo and Juliet before Parting |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| Sonata for Piano No. 2, 'Sonata-fantasy' |
Alexander Scriabin, Composer
Alexander Scriabin, Composer Bella Davidovich, Piano |
| (2) Poèmes |
Alexander Scriabin, Composer
Alexander Scriabin, Composer Bella Davidovich, Piano |
| (9) Mazurkas, Movement: E minor |
Alexander Scriabin, Composer
Alexander Scriabin, Composer Bella Davidovich, Piano |
| Valse |
Alexander Scriabin, Composer
Alexander Scriabin, Composer Bella Davidovich, Piano |
| (2) Mazurkas |
Alexander Scriabin, Composer
Alexander Scriabin, Composer Bella Davidovich, Piano |
Composer or Director: Sergey Prokofiev, Alexander Scriabin
Label: Philips
Magazine Review Date: 3/1987
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 58
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 412 742-2PH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Sonata for Piano No. 3 |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| (10) Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Movement: Scena (The Street Awakens) |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| (10) Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Movement: Juliet as a Young Girl |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| (10) Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Movement: Montagues and Capulets |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| (10) Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Movement: Friar Laurence |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| (10) Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Movement: Mercutio |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| (10) Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Movement: Dance of the Girls with Lilies |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| (10) Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Movement: Romeo and Juliet before Parting |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| Sonata for Piano No. 2, 'Sonata-fantasy' |
Alexander Scriabin, Composer
Alexander Scriabin, Composer Bella Davidovich, Piano |
| (2) Poèmes |
Alexander Scriabin, Composer
Alexander Scriabin, Composer Bella Davidovich, Piano |
| (9) Mazurkas, Movement: E minor |
Alexander Scriabin, Composer
Alexander Scriabin, Composer Bella Davidovich, Piano |
| Valse |
Alexander Scriabin, Composer
Alexander Scriabin, Composer Bella Davidovich, Piano |
| (2) Mazurkas |
Alexander Scriabin, Composer
Alexander Scriabin, Composer Bella Davidovich, Piano |
Composer or Director: Sergey Prokofiev, Alexander Scriabin
Label: Philips
Magazine Review Date: 3/1987
Media Format: Vinyl
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 412 742-1PH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Sonata for Piano No. 3 |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| (10) Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Movement: Scena (The Street Awakens) |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| (10) Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Movement: Juliet as a Young Girl |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| (10) Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Movement: Montagues and Capulets |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| (10) Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Movement: Friar Laurence |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| (10) Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Movement: Mercutio |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| (10) Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Movement: Dance of the Girls with Lilies |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| (10) Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Movement: Romeo and Juliet before Parting |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Bella Davidovich, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
| Sonata for Piano No. 2, 'Sonata-fantasy' |
Alexander Scriabin, Composer
Alexander Scriabin, Composer Bella Davidovich, Piano |
| (2) Poèmes |
Alexander Scriabin, Composer
Alexander Scriabin, Composer Bella Davidovich, Piano |
| (9) Mazurkas, Movement: E minor |
Alexander Scriabin, Composer
Alexander Scriabin, Composer Bella Davidovich, Piano |
| Valse |
Alexander Scriabin, Composer
Alexander Scriabin, Composer Bella Davidovich, Piano |
| (2) Mazurkas |
Alexander Scriabin, Composer
Alexander Scriabin, Composer Bella Davidovich, Piano |
Author: Robert Layton
Apart from the Scriabin Deux Poemes, none of these pieces is otherwise available on CD, though they are, of course, well represented on LP. This might make an excellent broadcast or concert recital but it does seem to me an oddly planned programme so far as records are concerned. Surely it would make better sense from the collector's point of view to have an LP or CD of all Scriabin or all Prokofiev sonatas or an anthology of smaller pieces rather than the present somewhat arbitrary compilation. On LP each composer occupies one side.
Bella Davidovich, a first-prize winner at Warsaw in 1949 is, as one might expect, no mean interpreter of Scriabin and her account of the G sharp minor Sonata has authority—as, indeed, do the companion pieces, and if technical justice had been done to her artistry this would doubtless be a recommendable release. When one thinks of the piano quality that Philips produced for Zoltan Kocsis in his Debussy recital (412 118-1PH; CD 412 118-2PH, 4/85), the sound in the Scriabin sonata is little short of amazing. There is no space round the instrument at all: the acoustic is small, the microphones very closely placed—the octave below middle C is horribly near and the bass thick and tubby. Perhaps she does not differentiate sufficiently between the piano and pianissimo markings in the first two pages of the Scriabin sonata but neither sounds so soft as it would in a more expertly balanced recording, and the forte and fortissimo markings a little later on sound unpleasing, as there is no ambience into which they can expand. The loud opening of the Poeme in D sounds quite grotesque. The Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet transcription made in 1985, three years after the other items on this disc, is a little (but not much) better. Not recommended.'
Bella Davidovich, a first-prize winner at Warsaw in 1949 is, as one might expect, no mean interpreter of Scriabin and her account of the G sharp minor Sonata has authority—as, indeed, do the companion pieces, and if technical justice had been done to her artistry this would doubtless be a recommendable release. When one thinks of the piano quality that Philips produced for Zoltan Kocsis in his Debussy recital (412 118-1PH; CD 412 118-2PH, 4/85), the sound in the Scriabin sonata is little short of amazing. There is no space round the instrument at all: the acoustic is small, the microphones very closely placed—the octave below middle C is horribly near and the bass thick and tubby. Perhaps she does not differentiate sufficiently between the piano and pianissimo markings in the first two pages of the Scriabin sonata but neither sounds so soft as it would in a more expertly balanced recording, and the forte and fortissimo markings a little later on sound unpleasing, as there is no ambience into which they can expand. The loud opening of the Poeme in D sounds quite grotesque. The Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet transcription made in 1985, three years after the other items on this disc, is a little (but not much) better. Not recommended.'
Prokofiev & Scriabin: Piano Works
Prokofiev & Scriabin: Piano Works
Prokofiev & Scriabin: Piano Works
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