SERGEY PROKOFIEV.  THE TALE OF THE STONE FLOWER, OP. 118
BBC Philharmonic, cond. Gianandrea Noseda.  Chandos 10058 (2).  TT:
148:19.

This is the last of the evening-length ballets Prokofiev wrote in the
Soviet Union.  Although he completed it, to the degree that his works
were allowed to be "finished' in Stalin's USSR, he did not live to see
it performed, because of the harassment and virtual blacklisting Prokofiev
had experienced since the official denunciation of his music in 1948.
It was finally produced the year following his--and Stalin's--death.  A
production was in fact underway while he lived but objections were made
to some of the music, notably concerning the dissonances he used to
accompany the villain of the piece.  Aside from those, this is just about
the most consonant and least jarring of all his scores.  He even
incorporated some of the music he had written expressly for children.
And the scenario was based on a fairytale fantasy, The Malachite Box,
by Pavel Bazhov.  But there were limits to what Prokofiev could bring
himself to do.

The music is characteristically that of Prokofiev: melodic, brilliantly
and sparingly scored, sometimes reminiscent of Tchaikovsky or Rimsky-Korsakoff
but usually not.  Although, as often with Prokofiev, he recycles some
of his old material, in the main this music is fresh and newly inventive.
I find the music pleasurable and engaging.  If you like Prokofiev's later
music, such as Cinderella, I think you will enjoy this also.  Because
of the length of the ballet, I found it best to pause it between each
of the four acts.  There are nine scenes, in addition to a Prologue and
(brief) Epilogue, with 46 numbers in all.  Many of the numbers, and some
of the scenes are played without pause, as one might expect in a work
for the stage.  I also found it helpful to follow the descriptions of
the scenes and numbers, because the changes in character of the music
made more sense that way.  I won't summarize the action but there is
dramatic tension from more than one source, all nicely resolved by the
end.

The performance and recording leave nothing to be desired, to my mind
and ears.  I have heard the Rozhdestvenskii Bolshoi recording from the
1960's, which has been reissued at various times, including a 1999 CD,
but I am not "imprinted" on it, and I do not feel a need to go back and
make a one on one comparison.  My memory tells me that this performance
compares favorably with that, and the 2003 sound is surely better.  There
is also a video of Grigorovich at the Maryinsky in St.  Petersburg; and
a CD by Urovskii and the Hannover Rundfunkorchester, neither of which I
am familiar with.

Jim Tobin

Copyright 2004 by R. James Tobin