Walton, Prokofiev, Ravel & Dvorak

From the Royal Festival Hall London.

Peter Katin - forceful, dynamic energetic and brilliant. With the Prague Symphony Orchestra conducted by Zdenek Košler.
In the Ravel, Vaclav Smetáček.

The sound is so wonderful one might think it had been recorded yesterday but absolutely amazingly these concerts were recorded in 1972 & 1973
The answer is the recording technique, CNSTR (Certified Natural Sound Technique recording).

The Programme

William Walton (1902 - 1983)
Overture Scapino

Sir William Walton built a beautiful villa on the Italian island of Ischia and spent the last 30 years of his life there with his Argentine-born wife.
As a young man he fell in love with Italy and spent the winters there with his friends Osbert and Sacheverell Sitwell. He was fascinated by the characters Arlecchino, Colombina, Pulcinella, and so many others of the Italian Renaissance theatrical tradition. Scapino is a character from that genera and the overture was a commission of the Chicago Symphony on the occasion of their 50th anniversary.
Fireworks indeed from this very lively performance.

Once the smoke settles and the excitement dies down, Zdenék Košler returns to the platform with Peter Katin, who joins the orchestra, to perform Prokofiev’s 3rd Piano Concerto.
One of the finest performance and recording that exists of Prokofiev’s masterpiece.
Just listen to the staccato dialogue between the soloist and orchestra in the 2nd movement. Did you ever hear such bright dynamic sound on CD?
In fact you can hear that very passage in a free download by visiting:
http://www.orchestralconcertcds.com/cd/cd000.html third sample down after approximately 1 minute to download.

Sergei Prokofiev (1891 – 1953)
Piano Concerto No 3 in C major Op 26

In 1921, following 8 years of intermittent attention, Prokofiev completed work on his 3rd piano concerto, whilst spending the summer in Brittany. He premièred the work with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1921 and the following year Serge Koussevitzky conducted a highly successful performance in Paris. It has gone on to become the most popular of the 5 piano concertos of Prokofiev.

When I first met Peter, in about 1959, I was intrigued by the incredible force he exerted in his playing, such an even sound extracted from the piano by each of his finger. I told my friends that I thought Peter had very powerful wrists. That power can be experienced in this most dynamic performance. The sound is quite brilliant, thrusting one into the auditorium of the Royal Festival Hall without respite.

The audience that night was just enthralled by the stunning performance of this, most difficult to perform of concertos.

There is no other recording available of a rather strange composition that followed the Prokofiev.
Miloslav Kabeláč
Reflection Op 49

Miloslav Kabeláč was a conductor and composer, born in Prague in 1908 he died there in 1979.
Kabeláč studied at the Prague Conservatoire, was employed by Czech radio and for a brief period taught composition at the Prague Conservatoire. He wrote 6 symphonies, several other major orchestral works, chamber and choral pieces.
During the Nazi occupation he assumed the pseudonym Jaroslav Blaha and went underground. The Russian occupation also created difficulties, his work being constantly scrutinized because of his association with Dubček, and performances were sparse and restricted as to choice.

The work consists of 9 miniatures in which the music is reflected both by orchestration and in the progress of the score.

I’m sure that, like me, the rest of the audience continued to muse on the structure and substance of the Kabeláč. However, calm and sanity return
For a truly Spanish rendering of:

Maurice Ravel
Rhapsodie Espagnole

Muted strings set the scene and soon Spanish rhythms dominate the gentle sense of evening in, perhaps, Seville. The three movements are not track separated, however, they seem to run into one another naturally and in the second movement castanets emphasise the folkloristic atmosphere.
The final section builds to a final crescendo with the huge thud of the great bass drum closing the work.

Before we can catch our breath Zdenék Košler whips the orchestra into a frenzied Slavonic Dance No 15 Op 72 by Dvořák - the encore closing a concert to remember, in which the Prague Symphony Orchestra has demonstrated its prowess, Peter Katin has given a performance by which others will be judged and the two conductors have moulded fine crafted music from the masters of the art.

Orchestral Concert CDs CD2/2008 Available from: www.orchestralconcertcds.com