Prokofiev: Symphony No. 4, Op. 112 (reference recording: Eugene Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra)

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Sergueï Prokofiev / Сергей Сергеевич Прокофьев (1891-1953) Symphony No. 4 Op. 112
00:00 I. Andante, Allegro eroico (2024 Remastered, Philadelphia 1957)
13:36 II. Andante tranquillo (2024 Remastered, Philadelphia 1957)
23:53 III. Moderato, quasi allegretto (2024 Remastered, Philadelphia 1957)
29:40 IV. Allegro risoluto (2024 Remastered, Philadelphia 1957)

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
Recorded in 1957 at Philadelphia
New mastering in 2024 by AB for https://classicalmusicreference.com/
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The Fourth Symphony (1930) was completely revised in 1947. It is more acerbic: a small clarinet squawks through a passage that was once lyrical; a piano adds a percussive chopping effect. Faced with such a radical change, Prokofiev admitted that this version could have been called his Seventh Symphony.

Heather O'Donovan: « The metamorphosis of Prokofiev’s Fourth Symphony — from the “well-received” ballet Prodigal Son, premiered in Paris in 1929; to a tepidly-met symphony (Op. 47) on the ballet’s themes, premiered in Boston in 1930; to a reworked symphony of more “Soviet” nature (the present Op. 112), completed in 1947 but not premiered in the composer’s lifetime — reveals the tragic arc of Prokofiev’s career.

In 1918, Sergei Prokofiev departed Russia, newly a Soviet state, and sailed for America. During the next nine years in America and Europe, his music faced mixed receptions, lambasted in one country while lauded in another, with success elusive. Before leaving, Prokofiev had conferred with Anatoly Lunacharsky, Soviet Minister of Culture: “You are a revolutionary in music,” Lunacharsky said, “as we are in life. We should work together, but if you want to go to America, I will not stand in your way.” By 1936, Prokofiev had made up his mind: better the certainty of celebrity than chasing after the fickle European and American publics. How ill-fated his return to Russia would be.

Like the prodigal son, Prokofiev arrived in Russia to a warm embrace. But he soon witnessed the dangers to which he’d exposed himself and his family. In January 1936, a composer fifteen years Prokofiev’s junior was attacked in the Party-controlled newspaper Pravda: “Muddle Instead of Music.” His name was Dmitri Shostakovich. If Prokofiev's transformation from youthful enfant terrible to selfdescribed advocate of “new simplicity” (aligning with Soviet ideals) was self-motivated, it was certainly also driven by survival instinct.

Arriving on the heels of his first “Soviet” symphony (the Fifth), Prokofiev’s reworking of his Fourth Symphony was likewise swelled with the broad musical gestures of the patriotic Soviet style. Yet, since the original symphony (Op. 47) and ballet aligned with Prokofiev’s “new simplicity” — less biting irony, a sedating of the raw rhythmic drive that characterized earlier works — Prokofiev retained much original thematic material. The first movement is almost an embarrassment of riches (though not quite), drawing from the ballet’s second episode, the Prodigal Son’s raucous meeting with friends. The subsequent Andante tranquillo evokes its tranquility from familiar love — the Prodigal Son’s return home — closing triumphantly. The third movement sinuously develops material from the encounter with the Seductress in dance-like fashion. The final Allegro risoluto returns to the ballet’s inciting episode, the Prodigal Son’s departure.

Prokofiev never enjoyed a premiere of his reworked symphony. In 1948, his music fell victim to Stalin’s cultural purges. More bitter still, his estranged wife, Lina, was unjustly arrested and sent to the gulag, perhaps as an example. Prokofiev died on March 5, 1953, fifty minutes before the death of his infamous oppressor, Stalin. »

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