Prokofiev: Symphony No. 7 London Symphony Orchestra & Gianandrea Noseda

• Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953): Symphony No. 7 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 131:
• 1 Prokofiev: Symphony No. 7 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 131: I. Moderato 09:41
• 2 Prokofiev: Symphony No. 7 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 131: II. Allegretto 08:46
• 3 Prokofiev: Symphony No. 7 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 131: III. Andante espressivo 05:39
• 4 Prokofiev: Symphony No. 7 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 131: IV. Vivace 08:50
• Total Runtime 32:56

Info for Prokofiev: Symphony No. 7

On this new album from LSO Live, Principal Guest Conductor Gianandrea Noseda leads the London Symphony Orchestra in a stirring performance of Prokofiev’s Symphony No 7. Completed in 1952 while struggling with denunciation by the Soviet regime and deteriorating health, the Seventh Symphony would be Prokofiev’s final completed major work.

Commissioned by the Soviet Children’s Radio Division and often described as the “Children’s Symphony”, Prokofiev’s Symphony No 7 presents a nostalgic reflection on youth. Yet despite its wistful melodies and childlike innocence, there lies an undercurrent of sadness. With shades of melancholy throughout and an ending reminiscent of a beating heart, the symphony resolves in an enigmatic sense of farewell.

Prokofiev’s Seventh and final symphony came at a time of insecurity, despair and ill health for the composer. The late 1940s had been a distressing period for Russian artists. In February 1948, the Central Committee of the Communist Party issued a decree that denounced composers following what was deemed a ‘formalist’, anti-popular trend. Near the top of the list was Prokofiev. (Dmitri Shostakovich was named the chief culprit.) They were seen to be peddling ‘anti-democratic tendencies … alien to the Soviet people and to its artistic tastes’. Their dissonant, chaotic music was ‘redolent of the contemporary modernistic, bourgeois music of Europe and America’. Prokofiev was effectively blacklisted. His first wife, Lina, a Spanish singer, was arrested and spent eight years in labour camps. His income dwindled and his health suffered for the last five years of his life.

The Seventh Symphony was Prokofiev’s last major work. Perhaps with an eye to it receiving official acceptance, he claimed it was going to be ‘a symphony for children’. The Communist Party newspaper Pravda reported with glowing approval that the work was able to ‘satisfy the aesthetic demands of the artistic tastes of the Soviet people’. As with many public announcements made by composers in Stalin’s era, words could mask the truth. This said, it’s also true that, even before returning to Russia in 1936, Prokofiev was purposefully seeking out a more melodic, less complex musical style. Were the clear structure and accessible melodies of the Seventh Symphony a sign of the ever-adaptable Prokofiev carefully writing within the confines of official artistic policy, or did this happen to be what he wanted to write?

The first movement opens with a dark, stirring violin theme in the strings, with potential for anguish, but it is soon lifted by a quicker running accompaniment. Then comes a brighter theme with a broad sweep. This will return near the end of the finale, but for now it is interrupted by a crisp but delicate balletic theme with a ticktock accompaniment complete with a tinkling celeste. Most of the movement is based on these three themes.

The second movement opens with a hint of Romantic wistfulness, before finding its feet in a gently spinning waltz, which undergoes a range of moods, including nonchalant and coy, but also festive. There’s some good-humoured rasping of trombone and tuba before the music spins to a sizzling conclusion.

The most tenderly lyrical movement of the symphony is the third, which begins with strings and winds in exchange as they continue each other’s sentences. Solo winds – bassoon, then clarinet, then oboe – begin a middle section, equally lyrical at first, though a more rhythmic accompaniment suggests a march, which then takes on various moods.

The finale is an extrovert romp, its bright colouring and quick cuts suggesting a silent-movie accompaniment. The broad sweeping tune from the first movement makes a surprise entrance. The end is characterised both by childlike tinkling glockenspiel and an impression of time ticking away to a gentle but inevitable end.

London Symphony Orchestra
Gianandrea Noseda, conductor

Gianandrea Noseda
54, is widely recognized as one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was named the National Symphony Orchestra's seventh music director in January 2016, with a four-year term beginning in the fall of 2017 for the 2017–2018 season.

Noseda has served as Music Director of the Teatro Regio Torino since 2007, ushering in a transformative era for the company matched with international acclaim for its productions, tours, recordings, and film projects. His visionary leadership and ambitious global touring initiatives over the last decade have brought the opera house firmly into the realm of the leading international companies on the global stage, where it has become one of Italy's most important cultural ambassadors. Noseda took the Teatro Regio Torino on two major residencies recently: at the Edinburgh Festival in August 2017 which focused on Verdi with the Messa di Requiem and performances of two fully staged operas and at the Royal Opera House of Muscat, Oman with a production of Aida; the Edinburgh residency was among the longest by a visiting company in the Festival's history.

Noseda also serves as Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Principal Conductor of the Orquestra de Cadaqués, and Artistic Director of the Stresa Festival in Italy.

In addition to eight weeks with the NSO, highlights of Noseda's 2017–2018 season include appearances with the Israel Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, and Orchestre de Paris, and a tour of the Far East with the London Symphony Orchestra, in addition to concerts in London. In May 2018, he leads the Met Orchestra at Carnegie Hall for the first time.

Noseda is a frequent guest with the leading opera houses and orchestras in the world, including the Cleveland Orchestra, La Scala, Munich Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Opera House, Wiener Symphoniker and Zurich Opera. He made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in 2015 and at the Salzburg Festival in 2015 leading the Vienna Philharmonic with performances of Il Trovatore.

Noseda also continues to work with institutions where he previously held posts, including the BBC Philharmonic, which he led from 2002–2011; the Pittsburgh Symphony, where the Victor de Sabata Chair was created for him as principal guest conductor; and the Mariinsky Theatre, which appointed him its first-ever foreign principal guest conductor in 1997, a position he held for a decade. He was Principal Guest Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra from 1999-2002 and of the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI from 2003 to 2006.

Gianandrea Noseda has a cherished relationship with the Metropolitan Opera

The London Symphony Orchestra
resident at the Barbican Centre, is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading orchestras. The LSO works with an enviable family of artists, including Valery Gergiev, Michael Tilson Thomas and Daniel Harding, and has long-standing relationships with some of the leading musicians in the world. The orchestra enjoys residencies in New York, Paris and Tokyo, in addition to regular tours around the globe. The LSO is set apart from other international orchestras by the depth of its commitment to music education through LSO Discovery, reaching over 65,000 people each year and offering people of all ages opportunities to get involved in music-making. The orchestra is a world-leader in recording music for CD, film and events, and was the official orchestra of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Ceremonies.

Booklet for Prokofiev: Symphony No. 7