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Release Date: 17-09-12
Label: Celestial Harmonies
Catalog Number: 13292-2
Barcode: 13711329223
Musical Style: Classical
Prokofiev's Works for Piano 1908-1938 was recorded in Sydney in 1991, made on the occasion of the composer's centenary.
Woodward had heard Sviatoslav Richter play Prokofiev a number of times during his studies in Warsaw, and his friendship with Lina Prokofieva gave him additional insight into how to approach the music. Woodward had become increasingly fascinated with Prokofiev's complex dichotomies; he writes that contrasting characteristics emerged from a tumultuous first period which took root and dominated a lifetime's artistic growth that might be described as both abrasive and lyrical. The first is characterised by percussive, motoric rhythms and dissonant harmonies evident in piano pieces such as Sarcasmes (1912). The second style is totally different and more evident in the neoclassic charm of the C-major Prelude Op. 12. Prokofiev's cycle Visions Fugitives - its twenty parts not often heard complete - concludes the recording.
Both of Prokofiev's characteristics are represented to good measure; the work symbolizes the transition into the modern world of the 20th century without disconnecting from the past, and it also guides effortlessly, following common practice at the time as heard in Debussy or Bartok, on a journey between different musical worlds.
| 1 | Sarcasmes Op. 17 (1912-14):Tempestuoso | 02:16 |
| 2 | Sarcasmes Op. 17 (1912-14):Allegro rubato | 01:14 |
| 3 | Sarcasmes Op. 17 (1912-14):Allegro precipitato | 01:38 |
| 4 | Sarcasmes Op. 17 (1912-14):Smanioso | 01:49 |
| 5 | Sarcasmes Op. 17 (1912-14):Precipitosissimo | 02:19 |
| 6 | Prelude Op. 12 No 7 (1906-13) | 02:12 |
| 7 | Suggestion Diabolique Op. 4 No 4 (1910-12) | 02:27 |
| 8 | Four Etudes Op. 2 (1909): Allegro | 02:40 |
| 9 | Four Etudes Op. 2 (1909): Moderato | 02:25 |
| 10 | Four Etudes Op. 2 (1909):Andante semplice | 03:36 |
| 11 | Four Etudes Op. 2 (1909): Presto energico | 01:33 |
| 12 | Musiques D'enfants Op. 65 (1935): No 6 Valse | 01:17 |
| 13 | Musiques D'enfants Op. 65 (1935): No 12 Sur les pres la lune se promene | 01:05 |
| 14 | Pensees Op. 62 (1933-34): Adagio penseroso | 03:31 |
| 15 | Pensees Op. 62 (1933-34): Lento | 03:11 |
| 16 | Pensees Op. 62 (1933-34): Andante | 06:45 |
| 17 | Nocturne Op. 43bis No 2 (1938) | 04:53 |
| 18 | Gavotta Op. 32 No 3 (1918) | 01:28 |
| 19 | Paysage Op. 59 No 2 (1933/34) | 02:17 |
| 20 | March from L'amour des trois oranges Op. 33bis (1922) | 01:30 |
Currently resident in San Francisco, Roger Woodward performs with the Leipzig Gewandhaus, New York, Los Angeles and Israel Philharmonics, Orchestre de Paris, the Cleveland Orchestra, London orchestras and European Community Gustav Mahler Jugend-orchester, with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Paavo Berglund, Pierre Boulez, Charles Dutoit, Eliahu Inbal, James Judd, Eric Leinsdorf, Lorin Maazel, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Roger Norrington, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Witold Rowicki, Walter Susskind, Georg Tintner, Edo de Waart, and Hans Zender.
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