Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 - Myaskovsky: Symphony No. 21

Album review

This release from the Lawo Classics label has the virtue of delivering what its Constructivist graphics promise: a clean, rather dry reading of Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 in B flat major, Op. 100. Conductor Vasily Petrenko reins in his well-trained Oslo Philharmonic at almost every turn, beginning with his generally slow tempos. Listeners who remember the monumental, percussion-driven performances of this work by Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic will find Petrenko at the opposite pole, with percussion, including the piano, employed as a kind of a wash. Only in the finale does Petrenko unleash the musicians, and even then, until the end, the effect is somewhat skittery. Reactions to Petrenko's approach will be individual, and one cannot help but note, once again, that he has turned the Oslo Philharmonic (as well as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic) into one of Europe's top ensembles. However, the Symphony No. 5 was written at the height of World War II, and some may find it requires a weightier approach than it gets here. No reservations apply in the case of Nikolai Myaskovsky's Symphony No. 21 in F sharp minor, Op. 51, a single-movement, three-section neoclassic work that's full of great tunes and seemingly descended from Tchaikovsky's Serenade. This is right in Petrenko's wheelhouse, and many listeners will want the album for this performance alone; recordings of the work, although more common than for Myaskovsky's other symphonies, are not abundant.

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