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Subject:
From:
James Tobin <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 30 Mar 2004 14:42:44 -0600
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Richard Pennycuick asks about the two endings of Prokofiev's last symphony
 [one in c# minor and the other with a short recapitulary coda in D major]
and recordings that feature each.

I have the Jarvi that Richard mentions, and one by Nicolai Malco and the
Philharmonia Orchestra, from 1957, on RCA Victor LM-2092.  Both have the
upbeat final upbeat coda.  The program notes on the latter recording,
by Irving Kolodin, make no mention of the addition of the coda and are
downright Panglossian (if you know Candide.)

Two biographies of Prokofiev, which I recommended recently, discuss this
matter, with complementary detail.  Harlow Robinson includes a section,
in the 2002 afterword to his bio, "Prokofief and the Censors: Symphony
No. 7," simply says that during rehearsals (not long before his death,
"official pressure was brought to bear on Prokofief to alter the ending."
Daniel Jaffe says it was Samosud, the conductor, who told Prokofiev that
the upbeat ending would bring 100,000 rubles in Stalin Prize money; ever
since the 1948 denunciation Prokofiev had been seriously short of cash.
(Robinson called Samosud "one of Prokofiev's most loyal supporters for
nearly a decade" in the 1987 edition.) Jaffe quotes Prokofiev, by way
of Rostropovich, saying, "But Slava, you will live much longer than I,
and you must take care that this new ending never exists after me."

This will not make me think more highly of Jarvi.

Jim Tobin

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